Rob’s been in touch with some nice detail on his layout – static grass.
“Dear Al,
A new way to use static grass.
While I was wandering across the videos about model railway scenery on YouTube, I ran across this novel idea for planting tufts of static grass.
I thought it looked interesting so I started to investigate and experiment with it to see if it would work for me. It got marvelous results.
In the attached video I demonstrate how to do it.
It is essentially making custom grass tufts in the place where you want them. I used 12 mm standard static grass in this video. If your fingers are smaller you could probably use 7 mm fiber.
I bought mine from Woodland Scenics but other suppliers no doubt could provide good material.
Just be careful and avoid the ones where the fibers are bent and not very straight. This type of fiber does not work well in the static grass machine either or, when you use this method.
Thank you for your posts, I know they are helping many people around the world.
Rob”
A huge big thank you to Hall of Famer Rob – love the scenes and detail he has created.
When comes to green stuff and foliage, these posts spring to mind:
Add grass to layout? John shows us how
Now on to something completely different.
I got this in from George:
“Dear Al
I cant be the only one who creates these printable buildings in a larger scale and has a wibbly wobbly warped resemblance, poorly glued, lousy cornered, and worse a disappointing end result.
Little tips & tricks! The perception that John used cereal boxes for everything is not true.
Be safe
George”
George is quite right, if you make the buildings just from cereal boxes, they won’t be robust.
But when you do them the right way, here’s what happens:
As you can see, they are very robust indeed.
But how do you make them?
Well, there is no wrong way or right way, but here’s how the Boy Wonder does it.
It’s quite a long youtube, but you can see just how easy they are to make… and how strong they are too.
Here’s the youtube link if you want to watch it full screen.
At the moment, I’ve taken the store down, and I’m putting together a new one with everything in the same place.
So for the moment, I’m putting together bunde deals while I go through everything. These won’t be about forever, but here’s the latest. Of course, I’m biased, but it’s amazing value:
The silly discount bundle for just $29.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
very nice detail, love the anchor.
Looks good. Adds a nice dimension to the scenery mix.
Rob
Much thanks for making my layout from just OK to Wow. The devil’s in the details.
Big Al
Your video is a game changer. It just wiped out the areas of frustration I had in building S scale buildings- 1.35 bigger than HO – where warping, poor corners, and wobbly buildings caused disappointment. I used Tichy windows with clear plastic so that lighting could be a feature and that furthered the structural wobbly problem.
Much Thanks.
Rob your track work and ballast is exquisite.. I should do as good.
The Critic
Great video on the making of printable buildings.
Wonderful imaginative landscaping techniques and the application of static grass and adding different color to the foliage. Your idea will be implicated in my newly formed layout. Nice layout. Do you have a diagram of your layout. I’m still working on a track plan and need ideas. Do you use nails or glue to hold your track firmly? Great layout.
Rob; I think you’re one of the finest modelers I’ve ever seen. Your attention to detail is over the top. Stay well, my friend.
very nice terrain. goos job.
Love the film on static grass. I have followed Farland Howe for some years and really like the whole project and your demonstrations and narrative. I really liked the parcels train. and area overlooked by many.