scenery - grass

Glenthorne meadow - click on image to enlarge

How to get convincing grass and meadow is always open to discussion. Where animals are grazing most of the grass will be very short.  There are often clumps of longer less palatable grass and there will also be thistles, fat hen and small meadow flowers. Our model is set in 1935, long before the use of selective herbicides.

This is how we do it.

step1

First, we just paint the plaster surface with matt brown emulsion paint. The surface is then painted with PVA and Woodland Scenics blended grass scattered on to form the undercover.

step2

We then add Silfor tufts if required and some Woodland Scenics medium turf (as clumps). For ungrazed areas we use the same methods but include patches where dyed lint has been glued down and when dry, ripped off. The blades are then teased up with a toothbrush. Reeds and very long grasses are represented by plumbers rope, cut to length and pushed into the Polyfilla substrate when it is still soft. They are then trimmed to size and spray painted. This is best done early during the model construction.

meadow with just scatter and tufts

ungrazed land using scatter and tufts

step3 Using a Noch

We then use a Noch electrostatic grass system for those areas at the front of the layout. The Noch is an expensive piece of kit, and some (including myself) have tried to build one using an electric fly swat. These swats are pretty useless for killing flies although rather satisfying (it's the sizzle, you know). Most flies just seem to recover and eventually fly away, presumably with total memory loss, or at best, no longer suffering from depression!

a previously clinically depressed fly following treatment with the electric fly swat

The fly swat version does not work any better as a grass system, rather sadly although all and sundry continue to post about them on Yahoo Groups. I am told that the swats are not allowed in Australia as it is considered cruel to flies.......the World has really gone mad! Perhaps they could be useful for playing badminton.

It is also possible to make one from scratch if you are that way inclined and I am told the result works well. I have republished the article from www.ztrains.com see here

To see a video of using an electrostatic grass maker click here

Firstly, one has to say that the machine is monstrously large. It might be excellent for covering large areas but very wasteful and messy for detail work. We use PVA diluted 25% with water and add a bit of salt, that acts as an electrolyte. Where we are going to apply, the glue is put on with a brush. We then dig in a pair of forceps at about the centre and attach the anode crocodile clip to it.

One then starts to tap the container and after about a minute, the grass starts to fly out and attach itself to the glue. Once you are happy with the coverage, (which will also be half way across your layout) run a vacuum cleaner over it, about 1" away. This removes the excess and also helps the grass to stand up.

Even the short grass is long for 4mm scale, however it is excellent for hay fields and ungrazed land. We find that many of the supplied colours are as gaudy as a fairground galloper, but the Noch short 'Dark Green' is about right for lush Devon grass. We do mix a few other colours with it to obtain variation.

hot tips

• Replace the battery supplied with a new one.

• Line the inside of the container with foil...it must touch the base of the unit.

• The grill size can be suitably blanked off to reduce the application area.

step4

Hopefully one now has a very furry field! Even the short grass is too long for a grazed meadow, so now we get to detailing. Again, I must point out that we are modelling for early June, and the techniques have to be changed for the month. Firstly we lightly touch the tops of the upright longer grass and tufts with a light stone coloured paint. While wet, we stroke in the paint with a finger and the effect seems to work to give the impression of grass going to seed.

The long grass in then reduced in height by scattering Woodland Scenics blended grass and gently rubbing this in. Suddenly, the effect starts to look so much better. We use some brown scatters too, say where the soil is thin, or under the shade of trees. The trick is to make sure that none of this scatter remains sitting on top of the blades of grass. It is now time to judiciously scatter yellow, red and mauve flowers. The scatter can come out far too big. Once applied, we tease out to reduce in size and just remove the bigger clumps. Usually, more is less with wild flowers.

We then add small pieces of asparagus fern (previously soaked in glycerine and water) to represent fat hen and thistles. Last year's fat hen will have flowered (bolted), and many will still stand, coloured a rich brown. Thistles can have a flower added.

Where appropriate, bracken can be added. You can use the etched brass variety. We use paper which is laser cut for us.

Other plants, such as Docks can also be planted.

step5

Stabilise the meadow using artist fixative spray. One problem is how to remove excess unattached grass from the model. For us, this is the hardest problem to solve as it gets into locos, bogies and everywhere else.

the result - click on image to enlarge

the result - click on image to enlarge

see here

Tended lawns are represented by very fine scatter of a slightly richer green.

You may prefer to use our new ORGANIC METHOD using renewable materials see here.

Tended lawns are represented by very fine scatter of a slightly richer green.

This is the method used by Tom Dauben, a skilled modeller.

Carpet Underlay grass
by Tom Dauben

This method describes the use of old fibrous carpet underlay to simulate long grass, this is especially useful for modellers who are trying to create moorland etc. I obtained mine from a friend who is a carpet fitter, I'm sure if you were to ring a carpet fitting firm and ask if they had any off cuts they no longer wanted then you could get some quite easily.

Take a roll of carpet underlay, separate into layers, if you pull it apart you will find that there is a plastic mesh in the middle, remove this. Once it is separated cut it into strips to length you require the grass to be once it is on the layout. N.B. you can either use strips or bunches to create small patches, strips are easier for creating larger areas more quickly.

Once you have enough strips to cover the area you are modelling on coat the scenic base with PVA glue slightly diluted with water, this will eventually hold it to the layout once complete. Repeat until the entire area is covered with strips or bunches of underlay. Now leave this to dry overnight.

Once the glue is dried get some tweezers and grip the top of the underlay, pull upwards and this will remove some of the fibres. As you do this some of the fibres will come away, and some will break off. The broken off ones give a more realistic appearance of varying lengths of grass. Keep pulling until you are happy with the look, don't worry if you have pulled off too much, you can always add more and do it again. Once you are finished wipe over the area and remove any loose fibres.

Now the grass is ready to be coloured, I used watercolours for the grass in the photo as they won't colour the grass 100%, they still leave some yellowish colour giving a more realistic appearance, however some less watery paint could be used if a bolder colour was required.

This method can also be applied to creating grass tufts around the layout, or weeds if scatter is added to the fibres to bulk it up a little.