Make  sure u break up the

Make  sure u break up the clumps  before  feeding the grass into the hopper of your machine, otherwise it will ball up, as u try to apply it.  What  machine  are you using to apply the grass. And what type of   grasses?

Regards Phil

6 horizontal and 1 vertical

Has been my experience with my home made applicator. Also shaking it seems to help the grass through the screen. 

Suggestions

1. Material is easy to clump so I use my fingers to "un-clump" the material when loading it into my applicator.  (I use   Grass Tech USA's economy applicator) 

2. You can move up to the maximum distance your ground wire allows.  It's a slow process, so to get a "thick coat" of grass in an area, you will need to shake the applicator over a small area until you get the look you want.  

3. To apply static grass to existing scenery such as ground cover, clump foliage, etc... Apply a 50/50 white glue/water mixture before applying.

4. What brand of material are you using? 

When first using static grass, I tried Woodland Scenics brand.  Was very disappointed.  It did not stand up and the finished appearance was more like a "wild field of long grass that had just been mowed". 

I tried "Silflor's" static grass and was very impressed!  It's more expensive but you get great results.  Plus Silflor offers choices in grass "length" which allows you to get the look you want.

"Don't get discouraged"!  It's all part of the learning process! 

Joe

You can check your

applicator by holding it real close to the nail.  There should be a healthy spark between them.  Different generators produce higher static charges than others.  The openings in your screen might be a little on the small side, like a tea strainer will not work.  I used window screen on mine and still have to shake the bageebers out of it.  Keep practicing...you'll find the "sweet spot"

Tools

Thanks for the comments. Am using Woodland Scenics grass (2 colors) and will break it up better. That may have been part of the problem. Got a tea strainer type applicator from Dallas Model Works and may have to slightly "enlarge the holes" with a large hat pin or other tool. I understand that you don't want the stuff to just fall through because the opening is too large.

Am going to try the waater/glue mixture on the spots that I scraped clean to get the technique down. After that, I'll try the hairspray again on spots that have some ground cover on them already. I do get a spark by touching the nail used for grounding; unit uses 2 D Cell batteries. 

Will post some before and after pics when I've got soome success to show for my efforts.

Hmmm  Woodland  Scenics 

Hmmm  Woodland  Scenics  doesn't  work that  well. Its only  2mm or slightly larger. i  tried it  when i first  started using   static  grasses, but  ditched it cause  it was too short, and half of it  would just lay flat. Instead  i just  using Silflor  range now.  Below is   6mm  late fall Silflor  static  grass

I like the look you have

I like the look you have achieved, hobbes1310.

Layering:

Another modeler reported success using Elmer’s spray adhesive (available at Michael’s) to add additional layers of static grass to already applied areas of static grass (don’t try using 3M Super77). WWS’ layering spray works excellent for this (since that’s what it’s designed for) but the aerosol version is only available in the UK. WWS makes a pump-spray version for the US but it’s pretty expensive once you add in shipping. 

Do not use Woodland Scenics!

Considering how well most of WS's products are their static grass is pretty lousy.  The color is weird and I did not have any good results.  The 2mm size is very short.

I use Siflor, Walthers, and Faller with good results and I like the colors too.  I use 2.5mm for lawns and 4 and 6 mm for wilder grass.

I brush on a 50/50 mix of matte medium and water.  I did use a Noch applicator and it worked good but recently stopped working so today I received a much cheaper "Little Flocker" and it works very well.

Metrolink, I have used both

Metrolink, I have used both and prefer the pump spray disappearing purple adhesive, but haven't used it in the application of static grass yet.

Tom, I'm going to use Noch static grass on my layout. Have you ever used Noch grass?

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/28481?page=39

On the edge of my layout I'm going to attempt to get a similar look to this:

Deemiorgos: I have Heki static grass.

I bought the bulk-sizes of static grass from Scenic Express which I think is re-packaged Heki grass. What product do you mean by, "pump spray disappearing purple adhesive?"

"Tea strainer" applicators vs "yogurt cup" applicators

It may just be me, but I've not had very good luck with tea strainer-type applicators with anything but 2mm grass material, and even then, it was a lot more effort than using the "flashlight handle-and-yogurt cup" design applicators. The "yogurt cup" applicators I've used haven't had any issues when dealing with balled-up clumps of grass material.

Most grasses I've laid down tend to be from Silflor, Noch and Heki in a mixture of 4mm and 6mm lengths, applied to open areas.

For adhesive, I've had my best luck using wet latex paint in earth tone colors-- often you can save money on it by buying from the discounted discard/return pile at home improvement stores. You can vary the effective color of the grass by using different shades of paint as the base/adhesive.

Metrolink, I'm referring to

Metrolink, I'm referring to Elmer's spray adhesive. It goes on as a wet purple and dries clear. 

Fritz, I've experimented with

Fritz, I've experimented with mixing white glue with latex for the base when applying gravel for lots.

Do you have any images to share of your open areas with the mix of 4mm and 6mm lengths?

These are the two open areas I will be applying grass.

I just added some grass to the back of the layout's edge to depict Marram grass.

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/28481?page=39

Elmer's pump-spray adhesive:

Deermiorgos: I think you were the modeler to whom I was referring in my earlier post. I thought you had tried the aerosol Elmer's spray-adhesive, which is the one I bought at Michael's (but have yet to test). Are you saying you originally bought the pump-spray version instead? Also, are you saying that you prefer the Elmer's pump-spray over WWS' layering pump-spray? Thanks in advance for your reply! Whatever you use, I still think you're among the best scenic artists in the hobby!

On a separate note, I'm hoping to emulate your beach scene  on my Oceanside Metrolink section of my layout someday soon (maybe over Xmas break). I bought a bunch of Woodland Scenics' gray talus, from fine to coarse. The coarse-size is about the right size (N-scale) for the beach boulders often seen along the Pacific Coast. I'm planning on using Polyblend "Haystack" non-sanded grout from Home Depot for the sand. I made some N-scale dirt with Polyblend "Earth" while back as a test (I just sprayed it with scenic cement to set), and I think it turned out pretty good:

Polyblend "Earth" non-sanded grout.

Metrolink, I emulated the

Metrolink, I emulated the sand look in HO scale by simply sanding pink extruded foam to depict the forms of slight mounds. Then I mixed a colour I thought looked like the colour of sand and painted the foam. I applied regular white glue for the application of the static grass.

I only used the pump spray on my turntable's pit so far.

I liked the wet consistency of it and find it not as messy and sticky like the Elmer's aerosol spray, which dries too quickly for my liking.

I also used it on this area of the layout between the siding and the runaround track with good results; I must confess it being purple in colour for a while freaked me out. Note the top of the photo where the sanded pink foam has been painted a sand colour.

I will try to experiment with the aerosol on a piece of board first to get the layering look I want before applying it to my layout.

I do not have, and haven't tried the WWS product. but you got me curious so I'll look it up on youtube.

I like the textured look and earth look you did in that photo.

Thank you for the kind words.

I'm going to experiment on a

I'm going to experiment on a board with three adhesives. Matt Medium, white glue, and Elmers pump spray glue. Will post the results later...

Experiment

Correction: The green grasses are Noch.

THANK YOU DEE!!!

Nice job!  Now I will go forward with some static grass applications!  Now I know why my first try (far right) was not acceptable!

Nick

Nick I noted that the pump

Nick I noted that the pump spray adhesive dries to quickly for my liking and the grass ends up on angles sticking to each other, which can be realistic in some cases.

The white wood glue seemed to work better for allowing the grass to be more dense/closer together, and stand a upright a bit better.

I wasn't pleased with the results of using matt medium as an adhesive; also the grass ended up too sparse for my liking.

The Woodland Scenics short grass, I will use as dead grass and will modify it to look like burnt grass. Note that some left over Heki in the grass applicator make its way onto this sample.

Are you talking about

Are you talking about Elmers white glue, (white wood glue?)  Also what length mm? Heki  Thanks

Hi Big Zeke,The white wood

Hi Big Zeke,

The white wood glue was Lepage.

My mistake, the grass is Noch. The darker green is 6mm and the lighter green comes in a tub with a mix of 2.5mm to 6mm.

Thanks, Deemiorgos!

Those test samples look great! Thanks for posting those! Also, thank you for sharing your beach-sand technique. I was planning to use Scenic Express' matte-medium concentrate, full-strength for my initial grass layer (the aerosol and pump-sprays are for use in "layering" applications (i.e., applying additional grass layers to already-laid static grass). But in light of your tests, matte medium may not be the best choice.

So, from best to worst, based on your tests, for your initial layer you recommend:

• Lepage white wood glue.
• Elmer's pump spray-adhesive.
• Elmer's aerosol spray-adhesive.
• Matte medium.

Is that about right? MRH contributor, Kathy Millatt says WWS' aerosol spray (below) works great for layering, but apparently WWS can only export the pump-spray version to the US. There's one seller on eBay which sells the WWS product, but the shipping is very expensive.

This is the Elmer's aerosol that I bought (but haven't tried) that someone else claimed to work okay for layering:

Thanks again for all of your helpful posts!

Your most welcome Metrolink,

Your most welcome Metrolink, Lepage white wood glue does seem to be the best. 

As for the pump spray, it tends to dry very quickly so you have to be quick with your static grass applicator and reloading it. I find it best to do small areas at a time. Keep in mind, I'm still a novice at this so I'm not going to rush into doing my larger areas until I do some more research.

I'd like to achieve something similar to Trevor's fields:

http://themodelrailwayshow.com/cn1950s/?m=201608

I put my Elmer's aerosol spray adhesive away, but forgot where I put it. I'd like to experiment with it when I find it.