Static Grass Flock Applicator from Ebay - It works!!!
I was partially through the creation of my Blood Bowl field when I realized that I would have to put some flock down over the dirt edges in order to pretty it up a bit. I considered just using white glue and dumping it on, when I remembered that there were a number of products out there that purported to make the flock stand on end. That sounded interesting!
I checked out the Noch Puffer Bottle, but I was unimpressed with its reviews. Then I went to Scenic Express and checked out their offerings. What?!? $150 dollars? Another for $185?!? The GrassMaster 2.0 and the Grass Tech II might do a great job, but that is too steep for me. If I were doing a 10x25' train layout, I'd consider those, but until that time I'd have to consider a cheaper version. So I went to Ebay and looked around... and I found...
The Easy Mini Static Flock Grass Applicator SCENIC MODELLING O HO N Scale Layout
Whoa! That's quite a name. Hmmm... $22... that was reasonable. It looked like it might work. So I bought it. It arrived in today's post from Haverhill, Massachusetts. I eagerly ripped it out of its packaging and ran to the garage to try it out. The short answer is: holy crap the grass is standing up and it works!
As you can see from the above photo, I tried it out on four spots. The upper left was straight white Elmer's Glue. The upper right and lower left were done on Woodland Scenics Scenic cement. The lower right was done with Elmer's White Glue and water mixed in equal parts. I held the red clamp attached to a nail that was placed in the glues while I was wearing a rubber glove (as I would not be able to stick the nail in the scenery on the Blood Bowl pitch).
See how it sticks up? It's great!
The straight white glue didn't work at all. The grass didn't jump to it. The Scenic Cement worked nicely and gave a light covering; it shows the paper underneath. That would be good for when you painted different colors on the base and wanted it to be seen through the grass. The best, thickest coverage came from the glue/water mix. It is thick, opaque and the grass sticks up nicely.
You can see from the photos that this product works as advertised. The mini version applicator is perfect with my 2mm static grass. Now what should I do with that $140 I saved?
Thanks for recommending this - I'll have to go get one myself!
ReplyDeleteCouple of questions about it.
1. Can you explain in a little more detail how you used it to achieve the standing grass effect on the actual playing surface, what that process was?
2. Does the grass hold its shape pretty well once applied? My only worry with the cool static grass effect is that it would quickly just get trampled down flat anyway the first time you moved metal figures around on top of it.
Thanks!
Brett
Brett - Good afternoon! Let me answer your questions.
ReplyDelete1. The playing surface is actually a grass mat from Department 56. I picked it up a number of years ago and I had it rolled up in my garage when I decided to have a go at making a Blood Bowl pitch. The static grass applicator will be used on the areas surrounding the pitch.
2. From what I've seen, that all depends on three things: the glue fixing the grass to the substrate, the length of the grass, and whether or not you spray the grass with something to protect it (like Scenic Cement). Like I said before, my static grass on the field is on a pre-made mat. But from what I can see from using the applicator I'm getting a similar result on the side area... but it is a little less even and therefore looks more natural.
I hope that answers your questions! If not, comment below. I'll have a finish picture of the field up soon.