What to lay static grass on?

[Fish12]

Hi all, new to the forum and modelling again I guess.

i have my layout sorted and have done a couple of mountains that have turned out quite well. 
I want to use some static grass along side the track and maybe then Heading up a bit of a bank but not much. At the moment I just have my flat ply surface, if apply the static grass to the ply I feel it will look very flat and unrealistic, what could I use to give the ground a bit of contrast of being uneven? Would loads of clay along there and press it down work? Or some paper with plaster on it? Just winding what people have used before.

any help or tips would be good

 

thanks 

andrew

[ianLMS]

Good morning Andrew. You can use paper mache (paper towel soaked in pva or wallpaper glue etc) small pieces of polystyrene covered woth modroc or plaster, blobs of plaster. Anything to break up the flatness! I then cover with grass flock before covering with static grass

[cypherman]

Hi Andrew.

I concur with Ian here, But might I also suggest that when you use grass flock you use several different shades in different locations. Grass is never a uniform colour in the wild, only in manicured gardens.

[Fish12]

If I use flock isn’t this taking away the point of useing static grass and laying? Also does the flock lay in the grooves and sit down in the uneven surface iv made? Or does it just flatten it back out a bit?

 

thanks for your help again, 

[Rowsley17D]

I wouldn't use flock. You could do no better than look at the videos on the WWS website to see how they used static grass.

 

https://www.war-world.co.uk/

[Fish12]

It’s just the surface on which to lay the grass on I need to crack, ( as just have flat ply now ) but thanks will have a look.

[zarniwhoop]

10 hours ago, Fish12 said:

If I use flock isn’t this taking away the point of useing static grass and laying? Also does the flock lay in the grooves and sit down in the uneven surface iv made? Or does it just flatten it back out a bit?

In many places (particularly "grass" areas beside pavements, areas around trees and under hedges, garden lawns in many cases, and bare ground in some seasons) what looks from a distance to be grassy has patches with what many people call weeds (I call some of them wildflowers of minimal height). For that, flock is great. More generally, I paint ground shades as the base layer (emulsion, artists acrylics, whatever).

 

If you are using flock on slopes, brush on PVA, scatter the flock, remove the flock which has rolled off.  And on flat level surfaces brush off the excess (and also brush off the excess static grass fibres after glue has dried).

[sb67]

Hi Andrew, depending on the look you want, paper mache, plaster or polystyrene covered with plaster could all be used. Then I would paint it an earthy colour then, lay the static grass. Depending on how uneven you want it to be, you could also just paint your board and put the grass on flat then subtly  build up unevenness by adding a second layer of grass over the top or ''planting'' individual clumps. 

You could also roughly ''paint'' your board with plaster then I would smooth out any deep furrows, then paint an earthy colour and static grass over the top. 

Have you looked at layouts on here to get an idea of what you want? 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by sb67

[TheQ]

I use plaster as a base,  give it a wash of an appropriate green then  grass it. 

If you look at this picture (this is N gauge ) you can see the grass has conformed to all sorts of shapes. 

The only thing I want to change is to make a small nozzle adaptor for the grass gun to get into tight areas.

 

 

[ianLMS]

I use a bed of grass flock under the static grass in case any areas are missed, difficult to get at or it the static grass dislodges for any reason. As others have said, you can easily get away without it as long as the ground is painted green/brown. Static grass is in the foreground, just flock is on the far fields. The fields have no all been covered in static grass. I use flock to add texture to the grass and break up the monotonous colour. Not perfect, but I am happy with the results. 

 

[Fish12]

It’s just the surface on which to lay the grass on I need to crack, ( as just have flat ply now ) but thanks will have a look. As I guess this was flat before what did you use to make the hills and the elevated section so it above the lower 

[ColinK]

The layout I’m currently building had a strip of bare baseboard between the edge of the ballast and the boundary wall.  I have just put down some thin filler (ready mixed Tetrion) on top of the bare baseboard (I’ve used DAS for the same purpose elsewhere).  When its dry I will paint it various  green & soil colours.  When that is dry I’ll put some static grass and a few small bushes on it. 
 

My last attempt at static grass was very disapointing as lots of the grass didn’t stand up.  Someone told me I had put the glue on too thickly - seems like it needs to be a THIN coat of glue.

 

Good luck.

[Fish12]

cool, that sounds a plan and the effect I would want. Thank you 

[sb67]

3 hours ago, ColinK said:

 

My last attempt at static grass was very disapointing as lots of the grass didn’t stand up.  Someone told me I had put the glue on too thickly - seems like it needs to be a THIN coat of glue.

 

 

I'll vouch for that, I've done exactly the same, it does need to be a thin layer.

[chuffinghell]

This is worth a watch

 

 

 

[saxokid]

I normaly use hanging basket liners for rought grass like ground cover and then build on it with Noch static grass colours like "burnt yellow" and different greens...

Then add coloured flock afterwards..

[ianLMS]

16 hours ago, Fish12 said:

It’s just the surface on which to lay the grass on I need to crack, ( as just have flat ply now ) but thanks will have a look. As I guess this was flat before what did you use to make the hills and the elevated section so it above the lower 

I used a 12mm square timber frame to make the elevated sections and covered over with lattice strips of cereal box card. I then covered over woth mod-roc, painted and then covered with grass flock and static grass. The fields over the fiddle yard are hinged so i can access the track. I also used polystyrene to make the lower levels undulate etc. 

[Campaman]

If you just want undulating terrain and not steep hills just cut some contours out of corrugated card and stick to your flat ply, then cover those with masking tape to smooth out the edges, then cover with a layer of plaster/poly filler before adding you coulour and grass.