Scenery advice please!

[Crepello]

I'm finding difficulty making my landscape look realistic. I built it using Sundeala formers with Faller aluminium mesh fixed with bent over Peco small track pins. I then covered it with two layers of plaster bandage to make a hard shell , then  some Woodland Scenics blended turf to turn it green.

The problem is, the formers and the individual pieces of plaster bandage still show, despite a layer of 1mm static grass (I model in N-gauge, so I can't really have it any longer for sheep pasture).

I'm puzzled what to do next to eliminate the in-natural look I've achieved. Should I cover it with grass mat, but that must be more than 1mm? Old towels?

Thanks in anticipation for some sound advice.

[bgman]

Did you paint the plaster bandage prior to using the scenic turf ?

If not then I suggest you paint it with a cheap acrylic or emulsion before carrying out your scenics.

[HLT 0109]

I have never used static grass but have read many other user comments.  I suspect that a single layer of static grass will never be sufficient to hide the underlying layer - would a ssecond application (over the first) work?  When you say the plaster bandage still shows, do you mean you can see the mesh texture and/or the joins between pieces?  If so, you could sprinkle powdered plaster (eg dry DIY filler) over the plaster bandage while it is still wet - I was successful with this when I had the same problem on part of my layout - but i had used a lot of bandage by then and had collected the powder from the bottom of each package.

 

Harold. 

[Mike Storey]

I suspect, given your statement that you can still see the formers, that you packed nothing in between them? It may be too late now, but next time, make sure you use scrunched up newspaper or other filler which will eliminate the shape of your formers. Better still, don't use wood formers - polystyrene foam, ideally the sort used for roof insulation, but otherwise the type commonly used for packing white goods, will give you more natural contours.

 

For your present problem, I suggest you need to go back to the hollows between the formers and fill them with perhaps papier machee (newspaper soaked in wall paper glue or flour paste) to get the contours you want. Any other solution will entail further disguise by building up the layers of static grass, and will not always work. Grass mats, unless stretched by use of nailing, will not necessarily achieve the disguise you want, and will be more expensive. If you go down that route, try out the matting used for hanging baskets, which will give you more bulk. This can be fixed by copious amounts of diluted PVA. You can then apply static grass and almost anything else to your heart's content, without worrying.

[MarcD]

I'm not going to say that this is the best way to produce landscape but its what I have done on "Scratchy Bottom".

 

1. built the track bed raised off the base board on 25mm foam board.  it knocks out any droning.
2. shape the foam to look like an embankment but if you want to go up instead of down stack the board or use thicker board.
3. once you are happy with the shape paint everything with standard PVA and sprinkle builders sharp sand onto the wet PVA
4. when it dry then get some muddy coloured emulsion paint and paint over the sand. this gives you the base colour of the ground surface. Also means that if you miss a but with the static grass it just looks like a muddy patch.
5. static grass layer 1 short grass coat. you either need to use the grass glue or mix some salt into some PVA. standard PVA is not great as a conductor.
6. Next spray the area that you have grassed with the cheapest and nastiest super sticky hairspray
7. get a balloon rub it on your hair and bring it over the grass before the hairspray goes off
8. In most cases you will need to apply a second longer coat of grass. depending on the scale that your working in you either repeat step 5 or as I did, as I was working in 7mm, you can apply individual tufts by hand
9. repeat steps 6 and 7

hope this helps

 

Marc

[darren01]

Hi

Have you looked at https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjc6qLP3JDTAhWnLcAKHRZeCo4QFggaMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.treemendus-scenics.co.uk%2Fgroundwork%2F&usg=AFQjCNFPdJ9vgm3MzbTEf7YNKRIDrGSnqA&bvm=bv.152174688,d.d24

Have used them a lot on my layout, very happy with them.

Darren

[BoD]

I'm not going to say that this is the best way to produce landscape but its what I have done on "Scratchy Bottom".

 

1. built the track bed raised off the base board on 25mm foam board.  it knocks out any droning.
2. shape the foam to look like an embankment but if you want to go up instead of down stack the board or use thicker board.
3. once you are happy with the shape paint everything with standard PVA and sprinkle builders sharp sand onto the wet PVA
4. when it dry then get some muddy coloured emulsion paint and paint over the sand. this gives you the base colour of the ground surface. Also means that if you miss a but with the static grass it just looks like a muddy patch.
5. static grass layer 1 short grass coat. you either need to use the grass glue or mix some salt into some PVA. standard PVA is not great as a conductor.
6. Next spray the area that you have grassed with the cheapest and nastiest super sticky hairspray
7. get a balloon rub it on your hair and bring it over the grass before the hairspray goes off
8. In most cases you will need to apply a second longer coat of grass. depending on the scale that your working in you either repeat step 5 or as I did, as I was working in 7mm, you can apply individual tufts by hand
9. repeat steps 6 and 7

hope this helps

 

Marc

 

Sounds very good - but what if you don't have any hair to rub the balloon on?

[Crepello]

Thanks for the replies guys, plenty to consider. Just got back from a short break in Hull; studied plenty of scenery en route on the ECML. Will report progress in due course.

[MarcD]

Hair is optional a cat or dog will do. The best thing to use is a nylon rod with rabbit fur but not easy to source

Marc

[Mike Storey]

Hair is optional a cat or dog will do. The best thing to use is a nylon rod with rabbit fur but not easy to source

Marc

 

Oh, that's what it's for?? Not what the lady in the shop told me.

[Campaman]

I always rub my balloon on the wife to get the static required to stand my grass up.... For some reason women's clothing seem to produce more static than men's.

[Mike Storey]

I always rub my balloon on the wife to get the static required to stand my grass up.... For some reason women's clothing seem to produce more static than men's.

 

....as per Benny Hill? Well endowed lady faints in park. Concerned onlookers wonder what to do. Hill walks past hedge with his wares floating above. "Rubber balloons!!"