Best Of Static Grasss vs. No Static Grass

[lashedup]

Darryl,

Looks like you have the application down pat. The next critical thing is the type of static grass you use. Looking at your photos it looks like you used the Noch or Scenic Express bulk stuff and it is way to vibrant in the individual fibers (bright reds, greens and yellows).

Order some Silflor static grass. The late summer has the best blend that looks more natural. Plus if you're using any of the other Silflor stuff, it all blends nicely. You can mix in some Woodland Scenics static grass to vary the blends a bit. The Woodland Scenic static grass is very muted in color, so it makes for good mixer to tone things down or create different blends.

We'll likely have the Modutrak layout setup here at my office in Lombard in the next couple weeks. If you're interested in doing a little static grass clinic, I'd be happy to show you some of the different techniques we use.

-jamie

[Sokramiketes]

For me static grass is a must. You need to mix heights and colors along with other scenery materials. I will never go back to laying down WS ground foam after having used static.

WS still makes a great base.  I cover most everything with tan paint and WS green blend fine turf as the first step.  Then comes the static grass.

[DKS]

WS still makes a great base.  I cover most everything with tan paint and WS green blend fine turf as the first step.  Then comes the static grass.

Depends entirely on the scene you're making. Grassland? Low growth along a woodland area? Railroad property that's maintained/not maintained? Lawn? Farm? Eastern or western scenery? Each will require a different starting point.

[Chris333]

I was going to comment on the colors as well, but the scene still looks better with than without.

I have some grasses that look neon green/yellow  :-\

[Sokramiketes]

Depends entirely on the scene you're making. Grassland? Low growth along a woodland area? Railroad property that's maintained/not maintained? Lawn? Farm? Eastern or western scenery? Each will require a different starting point.

Sorry, I thought we nailed this topic down to Midwestern scenery near the ROW... 

In the specific case of using static grass along a RR right of way in the Midwest, I think static grass looks better, with more depth, over a base of Woodland Scenics ground foam. 

Look for my 200 page treatise on scenery techniques from coast to coast covering your expanded topic later. 

[DKS]

Sorry, I thought we nailed this topic down to Midwestern scenery near the ROW... 

You are correct, of course. Obviously I failed to gasp the original context of thread. I am an idiot, and I apologize for my irrational and highly disruptive post.

[93cram]

Daryl,

With static grass and turf, I'd guess you have, as the saying goes, 'the best of both worlds' 

Your experiment really appeal to me, since my last experience with static grass was moons ago, when you had no applicator but
a tea strainer and a few hammer light blows under the benchwork to try to get the grass stand a bit, which didn't worked so well BTW... > )
When scenicking wargaming bases sometime ago, I tried applying 2mm grass auto adhesive tufts (Silflor ?), followed by a very light
sprinkling of WS fine blended turf watered down and glued with matte medium.
Results convinced me to try one day with static grass and fine turf on larger areas.
Your photographs are thus twice inspiring 

[Zox]

Oddly, my blend of ground foam and sawdust seems to have some of the same effect as "static grass":



I think it may be that the sawdust, being somewhat aerodynamic, tends to fall point-forward and stick that way in the wet paint, and the ground foam keeps it from falling over before the paint dries...

[TiVoPrince]

What
is the consensus best Rube Goldberg device?  Looking for reasonably easy construction method to produce urban weeds and such for current construction but able to handle vast expanses of central California hillsides should I ever get the chance...

[wazzou]

What
is the consensus best Rube Goldberg device?  Looking for reasonably easy construction method to produce urban weeds and such for current construction but able to handle vast expanses of central California hillsides should I ever get the chance...

I think that the one described in Z Trains http://www.ztrains.com/pages/tech/grassinator/grassinator.html most closely mimics the Noch machine.  It is powered by 110V as opposed to a 9V battery.  I built one following the instructions for around $31.00 and 1-1/2 hours work.  Check Joe Fugate's website also, his is similar in construction to the Z Trains one.

[93cram]

WS green blend fine turf as the first step.  Then comes the static grass.

Have you experimented the other way around yet ?

[lashedup]

I have an old thread from 2006 (crap, 4 years already!) on Trainboard about static grass. I created this chart back then showing the differences in static materials:



It is probably worth mentioning that the modutrak group often will generically cover an incomplete module with static grass just to get something down on it. We've more recently been trying to blend a lot more texture and variation into it so it doesn't look like green wheat fields. Bill Denton's New Lisbon and one of our newer curves is a good example of how to mix them up a bit. This is the only picture of the curve that I have and doesn't show much detail:




Hope that helps.

- j

[93cram]

Thanks for the chart ! 
Scenic express 'tri-colored' grass reminds me of some grass I used back in the 80's.
Too bad there was no such thing as the Noch applicator then (though I wouldn't have the monies to buy one then  : )
There is really a great choice of grass to represent different locales/seasons now 

[Ian MacMillan]

WS still makes a great base.  I cover most everything with tan paint and WS green blend fine turf as the first step.  Then comes the static grass.

I meant as in straight WS foam all over everything and nothin else dummy 

I wish WS made the Burnt Grass in different lengths. I found that in certain areas that Silfor's Autumn was too light for my liking in tests.


And for cheap applicators, there's a recent thread on Railroad-Line of a very easy setup
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=31460

[93cram]

I wish WS made the Burnt Grass in different lengths. I found that in certain areas that Silfor's Autumn was too light for my liking in tests.

I had (must have some still buried somewhere) some WS blended fine turf mix, which included burnt grass (or something very near),
a reddish fine turf, and a yelllowish tone too (or was it dark green).
I really liked that blend.
I sifted it and since the burn grass part was often among the smallest turf, I could use it as a sub base, then use the slightly
larger turf (including some burnt grass as well as other tones) for small shrubs, around structures, etc...
Don't remember its name currently, yet I wonder if it wasn't 'Earth blend fine turf'.

Is it still extant ?
I haven't looked at WS for a long time  :-[

Marc