In the long grass

[bertiedog]

I am having problems with long grass with flock, the short and medium is OK, either commercial or wool choppings in various colours.

 

All stand up OK when applied to the glue, with a home made applicator driven at about 14 KV, and a version driven by a fly swatter circuit.

 

The trouble only surfaces in the long grass, the flock arrives upright, but falls over before the glue can grab, when flock of over about 12mm ( 3foot grass).

 

I have tried various glues like PVA and copydex, and the equivalent pva wood glues. None seems to grab and dry quick enough to work with 12mm plus grass.

 

Has anybody else had this problem with flock and glue, or is it back to a pinch at a time planting methods!!!

 

Stephen

[pctrainman]

If you're having problems with longer static grass or trying to build up the length try using WWS scenic layering spray it works well.

[RexAshton]

Just an observation but real grass tends to fall over at 3 feet high. On a serious note, have you tried building it up onto a layer of shorter grass so there's something to support the longer fibres while the glue goes off? Talking to Maggie Gravett at a recent(ish) show she said that when you think you've applied enough fibre keep going until it is much denser than you think you need - the surplus can be reclaimed once the glue dries but again the extra density will support the fibres.

[bertiedog]

Just tried several glues etc., but I noticed an area where shorter flock had settled and the longer was supported better, so that must work as long as the glue can remain tacky long enough.

It is not to get it all straight up, but to ensure it is not all over the place to start with, as it can be flattened as need later on. If the long grass, intended for an Industrial line, is near the track, it is a nuisance to find it falling over the track, rather than neatly standing up, leaving only a little trimming to get clearance for operations.

I did get better results with Cascamite type adhesive, powdered wood glue, which has good tack and sets quite fast.

I had intended to spray with a cellulose lacquer, well diluted to bind the grass together generally.

Thanks for any and all of the suggestions.

 

Stephen.

[bertiedog]

The WWS layering spray with acrylic varnish looks interesting, the demos are very fast application as mine tend to be very small areas done one at a time. It is not finally always to do actually grass, but weedy scrub plants with added flakes etc as seed heads, for which a tall clump is called for as the base. In the past it was all done by rolling small amounts between the fingers to aline the fibres and pecking down over an area, long before static was proposed as a method.

 

Stephen

[bertiedog]

The effect I am after is like this, but with the rail section exposed for practical running

 

 

Stephen

[ianLMS]

The WWS layering spray with acrylic varnish looks interesting, the demos are very fast application as mine tend to be very small areas done one at a time. It is not finally always to do actually grass, but weedy scrub plants with added flakes etc as seed heads, for which a tall clump is called for as the base. In the past it was all done by rolling small amounts between the fingers to aline the fibres and pecking down over an area, long before static was proposed as a method.

 

Stephen

I use the WWS layering spray and it works a treat for adding layers of static grass and covering the top of the grass and seafoam with flocks and scatter. I then give it all a light covering of hairspray to hold it. I haven't tried 12mm plus grass yet though so cannot say for sure it would work on that length.