Hi!
I’m looking for a spray adhesive that will dry relatively invisible. I would like to try it for scenicking vertical rock walls, and also for adhering additional foliage to existing trees.
On my previous layout I used hairspray, but being that was in the early '90s, I’m thinking there may be something better out there today.
Thanks all!
Because of the mess involved in using spray adhesive, may I offer you a suggestion? Brush straight or slightly thinned white glue on the surface. I then use a 3x5" index card, folded in half lengthwise. Pour some ground foam into the card and gently blow it into the glue. Let that coat dry, then add more foam using the traditional diluted white glue method. The first coat will give your vertical surface some tooth, helping in preventing subsequent coats from just running down the hill.
I agree with Marlon about the high potential for spraying any adhesive well beyond where you want or intend to. if you insist on a spray adhesive, 3M makes a popular one that is easy to find. The Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement can be sprayed and WS even sells a sprayer intended for that purpose although frankly I suspect the average household throws away a perfect good sprayer of household cleaners or garden pest sprays almost every week that would work just as well with proper cleaning.
I would further suggest that you try to find some way to control where the spray goes. Two ideas come to mind – a large sheet of cardboard such as from a large box, with an opening cut into it so that the spray goes through the hole but is also caught by the cardboard before it can spread.
The other idea would be a fairly large plastic jug – such as the kind our kitty litter comes in, but I have also seen very large containers of laundry detergent – with the top and end cut off so you have basically a tube of plastic about a foot long, and spray through that with the end edge very close to the area where you seek things to stick. I use a tube of that sort when I have a need to weather track that is already in place and ballasted, so that the spray of paint does not spread to backdrops and structures and such.
Dave Nelson
Hey guys - can you hear me laughing ???
Your suggestion of the diluted white glue, bent cardboard and blowing on the mix (with a straw) is EXACTLY what I did in the early '90s! In fact, I even have the very same “IBM card” I used back then!
You did answer my question, and it looks like the tried and true method prevails!
Thanks!
Sometimes, there are new ways to do things. But other times, the old way still works just fine!
–Randy
You do know that dirt, grass, and weeds don’t normally stick to or lay on vertical rock surfaces, don’t you? Vines will crawl on them some.
What I do is paint the rock walls with dilute white glue, then sift on some ground foam from above letting it fall and stick to the horizontal surfaces only. I am also careful that there is no breeze caused by a fan or A/C while I am doing this so the ground foam doesn’t hit the vertical surfaces. I use a tea strainer for the application of the ground foam.
Hi,
Thanks for the advice on where to put the ground cover on the rock walls. Having traveled by auto over much of these United States, I’ve managed to take pics of a huge assortment of colors and patterns of growth on rocks, fields, etc. Believe me, “anything” is possible out there!
While I do tend to apply adhesive to the flat or almost flat surfaces, I will occasionally run “lines” of glue in various directions and blow green ground cover on that to give the feel for vines and such.
I haven’t yet tried to model kudzu - which has no respect for ANY surface whatsoever, it covers all.
As my RR resides in a generic midwestern/Texas setting, Kudzu has not yet arrived…