static grass techniquesresults for N scale

[arbomambo]

Hello all...Wednesday I had the chance to try something I hadn't attempted before...applying static grass electrostatically (I had used static grass flock as regular ground cover before)...
My Sweetie found this handheld version on Amazon pretty cheap ($15.00 with free shipping)...so we finally decided to attempt it on one of the T-Trak modules, the "Triple D Farm/Ranch"...
 I had already used the Woodlands Scenics flock as ground cover so I already had a base for the flock...
I'm pretty satisfied with the results and the height (any taller and I'd definitely have to get out the clippers)...I'm very pleasantly surprised at how firmly attached it is...very little to almost none was reclaimed by the vacuum.
I can't really imagine using any flocking than is longer/taller than this for N scale.
Here are some images of the areas that have been 'flocked'...
Bruce

[Jesse6669]

Those look like some very happy cows!   

[wazzou]

I built my own following some instructions on John Cubbin's Z Trains website.  I think it cost a little over $30 dollars to construct and feel it's every bit as good as the Noch unit.
This is the only picture I have in my album that shows it pretty well.

[arbomambo]

I built my own following some instructions on John Cubbin's Z Trains website.  I think it cost a little over $30 dollars to construct and feel it's every bit as good as the Noch unit.
This is the only picture I have in my album that shows it pretty well.

that grass looks great for high weeds and marsh grass....!
Bruce

[arbomambo]

here is a pic of the one I used...I think it's a 'Grasstech' design/unit...
the only thing I'd like to do better is to control the application better...I may mask the outer edges of the basket, creating a smaller opening...giving me a more precise ability to apply to smaller areas...
Bruce

[JMaurer1]

$15 on Amazon! Then you got the only one since the only ones there are $145 and $200. What does yours look like? I've built one like Arbomambo's but I just have never got around to actually using it.

[wazzou]

It looks like yours Bruce, is based off of the flyswatter method which IMO, doesn't pack enough of a wallop to get the grass to stand up.  It always seems there is more laying down than standing upright, though YMMV.

[RBrodzinsky]

The main trick to getting the grass to stand up, with any of the applicators, is to make sure the mesh is fairly close to the surface (just not so close as to cause a spark, or a continuous "thread" of grass). If too far away, all you are really doing is sifting, with the electrical field not strong enough to align the fibers.

[rsn48]

I have the modified fly swatter flocker and it works just fine.  The only thing I'd like is to be able to have two or three selections of the sifter available, but at the price, its easy to just build another one with a different size sieve.

[basementcalling]

Hello all...Wednesday I had the chance to try something I hadn't attempted before...applying static grass electrostatically (I had used static grass flock as regular ground cover before)...
My Sweetie found this handheld version on Amazon pretty cheap ($15.00 with free shipping)...so we finally decided to attempt it on one of the T-Trak modules, the "Triple D Farm/Ranch"...
 I had already used the Woodlands Scenics flock as ground cover so I already had a base for the flock...
I'm pretty satisfied with the results and the height (any taller and I'd definitely have to get out the clippers)...I'm very pleasantly surprised at how firmly attached it is...very little to almost none was reclaimed by the vacuum.
I can't really imagine using any flocking than is longer/taller than this for N scale.
Here are some images of the areas that have been 'flocked'...
Bruce

Any chance of a link to the one your sweetie found on Amazon?

[arbomambo]

searching online reveals that it is, indeed, a grasstech applicator, but Amazon doesn't seem to offer them anymore...cheapest I've found is at Micromark-$39.99
Bruce

[superchief]

Bruce I paint or use hair spray and then coat with the static grass, I have only used the woodland scenic brand. When I was in Chicago and saw the Reid Bros layout the new section of Clearbrook(was in n scale mag about a year ago or so) and Bill was using a different brand and had short or longer pieces listed in length in Millmeters, he had put down one layer and then hit it again with hairspray and recoated to get a bit taller grass and then took an eraser and made a cow trail through it, coolest thing I have seen!!!!!! ........BTW the t trak modules are looking GREAT!!!!!!!!! Gordon