Hi all, i have a layout underway and am using Atlas track on woodland foam roadbed ontop of pink 1inch hard styrofoam (so far so good), but when i spray my mix of white glue and water on the foam it tends to pull away from the smooth styrofoam surface and leave bald spots where the turf does not stick, I have added alcohol to the glue but didnt help much, and when i try to spray on more glue/water to touch up it gobs up the turf no matter how carfull i spray even if the first coat was left over night. do i have to paper and plaster the entire surface of the styrofoam inorder to get the glue to stay put??
Need tips on Turf and grass
- Thread starter ChadYelland
- Start date
You might want to make sure you have removed the clear plastic from the pink foam. It is a little difficult to see, but it's there. Pulls away like tape......:thumb:
Try painting the foam with a neutral earth color and then put the turf or ground cover down while it's still wet. After it dries, then spray the whole thing with water/glue to set it all....
Uhh, what does abraided mean????
Uhh, what does abraided mean????
sorry it would help if i had spelled it correctly, lol
a·brad·ed, a·brad·ing, a·brades
1. To wear down or rub away by friction; erode. See Synonyms at chafe.
2. To make weary through constant irritation; wear down spiritually
a·brad·ed, a·brad·ing, a·brades
1. To wear down or rub away by friction; erode. See Synonyms at chafe.
2. To make weary through constant irritation; wear down spiritually
I used flat latex from Ace Hardware to paint the ground a color close to the earth around me after trying the same thing with glossy latex as recommended a couple places. I could see using the gloss if you use a green that is close to your turf but I wanted to leave some muddy spots and dirt roads so I went with flat earth colors for dried earth.
I did mine:
paint. Paint on layer of glue and sprinkle grass while it's wet.
After glue dries, mist with alcohol mix then spray scenic cement. Add more grass and mist and spray again. If you can see white glue add more grass.
paint. Paint on layer of glue and sprinkle grass while it's wet.
After glue dries, mist with alcohol mix then spray scenic cement. Add more grass and mist and spray again. If you can see white glue add more grass.
I get the idea but,,
1. glue/water mix does not lay even and seems to pull away from areas. i hope the paint primer fixes that.
2.when re-spraying glue it washes the turf off where it was and piles it up in a heap I bought a woodland sprayer thinking it was better then a spray9 bottle but same problem, short of standing on a chair and spraying from 6ft up i dont know how to get nice mist rather then a damaging spray,
1. glue/water mix does not lay even and seems to pull away from areas. i hope the paint primer fixes that.
2.when re-spraying glue it washes the turf off where it was and piles it up in a heap I bought a woodland sprayer thinking it was better then a spray9 bottle but same problem, short of standing on a chair and spraying from 6ft up i dont know how to get nice mist rather then a damaging spray,
Mist vs downpour
Oh yeah, I know that problem with the "Woodland Scenics (WS)" 'hydro-blaster'! wall1
If you are near a "Michaels" craft store, go over near the paint and clay isle to see if they have the little 2 or 4 oz "Spray-Splatter Applicator" bottles from "Mark Enterprises". If they do, buy 2.
I shake the WS cement well and fill one mister about 1/2 way. Dilute as needed but do not fill 100% or you may get dripping around the nozzle and cap. Fill the second bottle with water and bring along a plastic bowl you can spray into to clear the nozzle.
Shake often because the heavier particles seem to separate pretty quick even in undiluted form.
Once the first bottle starts to lose its circular mist pattern, swap heads on the bottles. Make sure to shoot some water through the first one to clear the head before continuing with the second bottle nozzle/top.
When you go to clean up, spraying water out through the nozzles cleans everything but edge film near the nozzle ports. I use an old toothbrush under the faucet to clean the film off. (You will know if you have built up film as the spray pattern goes from circular to oval, with one side of the oval being close to a solid stream.)
As for the WS spray bottle, I use it to lay down a heavy covering of cement on a new area. I tried hooking up to a cement bottle once but that stuff seems to settle fast and gum up the nozzle so now I fill the bottle it came with about 1/2 way and dilute, shaking often too.
As for the 'pulling away' of the turf - do not be afraid of getting the turf soaking wet with cement. I do use layers where I - mist until I see the cement appear on the exiting turf , layer on some material, spray to coat the layer and then let dry a day (or more if the humidity is high and it usually is over 70% here, even in winter). Time consuming, maybe but I can now run a 3.5 HP vacuum with a brush head over the turf and not suck up more than a few hairs (yeah, dust is bad here too :cry
.
Oh yeah, I know that problem with the "Woodland Scenics (WS)" 'hydro-blaster'! wall1
If you are near a "Michaels" craft store, go over near the paint and clay isle to see if they have the little 2 or 4 oz "Spray-Splatter Applicator" bottles from "Mark Enterprises". If they do, buy 2.
I shake the WS cement well and fill one mister about 1/2 way. Dilute as needed but do not fill 100% or you may get dripping around the nozzle and cap. Fill the second bottle with water and bring along a plastic bowl you can spray into to clear the nozzle.
Shake often because the heavier particles seem to separate pretty quick even in undiluted form.
Once the first bottle starts to lose its circular mist pattern, swap heads on the bottles. Make sure to shoot some water through the first one to clear the head before continuing with the second bottle nozzle/top.
When you go to clean up, spraying water out through the nozzles cleans everything but edge film near the nozzle ports. I use an old toothbrush under the faucet to clean the film off. (You will know if you have built up film as the spray pattern goes from circular to oval, with one side of the oval being close to a solid stream.)
As for the WS spray bottle, I use it to lay down a heavy covering of cement on a new area. I tried hooking up to a cement bottle once but that stuff seems to settle fast and gum up the nozzle so now I fill the bottle it came with about 1/2 way and dilute, shaking often too.
As for the 'pulling away' of the turf - do not be afraid of getting the turf soaking wet with cement. I do use layers where I - mist until I see the cement appear on the exiting turf , layer on some material, spray to coat the layer and then let dry a day (or more if the humidity is high and it usually is over 70% here, even in winter). Time consuming, maybe but I can now run a 3.5 HP vacuum with a brush head over the turf and not suck up more than a few hairs (yeah, dust is bad here too :cry
.Paint the foam an earth color. Put down your dirt, grass etc, in wet paint. Even dry paint is ok. Use a spray bottle with as fine a mist as you can, I get mine at the local Drug Fair. Spray rubbing alcohol, saturate the grass. At first, spray upwards a bit, let the alcohol fall like rain. When the grass is a bit wet, you can spray more directly. When thoughroughly wet, glue in place using 50/50 mixture of white glue/water, applied with pipette (large eyedropper), or, if you are doing a large area, use an extra empty white glue bottle to hold diluted glue mixture and use that to apply. Apply plenty, when it looks like a white soupy mess, you have enough. When it dries, it will look fine, and all will be fastened securely.
Thats what I do. I just paint my foam directley with burnt umber. Foam stays in semi-wet paint.
Chad: If you have a woman in your life (mother, sister or more involved) ask for an empty hair spray bottle. These will produce a mist rather than the fire-hose spray of the WS bottle or a window cleaner bottle.
Thanks guys i will be trying a number of those suggestions, i painted some the other day with a water based flat paint with hopes to kinda prime the surface. I'll let you know shortly
scenics
It seems Gary was the only one touching on it, but you mentioned grass and stuff pulling away, or balling up when you spray it. You have to use "wet" water first. A couple drops of liquid soap, denatured alcohol, or windshield washer fluid, in a small spray bottle of water cures that problem. When you've wet it this way, just dribble on the diluted glue mix and it just spreads out.
Lynn
It seems Gary was the only one touching on it, but you mentioned grass and stuff pulling away, or balling up when you spray it. You have to use "wet" water first. A couple drops of liquid soap, denatured alcohol, or windshield washer fluid, in a small spray bottle of water cures that problem. When you've wet it this way, just dribble on the diluted glue mix and it just spreads out.
Lynn
Yes, Lynn, I was going to suggest a bit of soap as well, to break the surface tension of the water.
well, its improving, I paiint any foam that is not covered with plaster so as to prime it, i mix a fair amount of alcohol with the glue/water, i still find that a 50/50 mix wants to bead ontop of the grass and have to go with more water, seems to hold ok so far. more testing needed