Thanks Curt, I had not thought of using a blender. I had visualized using something like one of those wire brush looking paint chippers you use with a hand drill, but the foam ripped out in patches and that idea went south before winter, like in half a heartbeat! My dad used Carter's fountain pen ink to color the saw dust we used. You know how long it has been since they made fountain pen ink, or the pens? Even cad plotter pens are getting hard to find for my plotter! Do you put a hand full of ground foam in a plastic ziplok bag with a spoon full of thinned pain, then roll, shake or knead it to spread the color? Then do you spread it out on newspaper to dry? Then back into the blender to make it "dusty" again, or does it dry loose? (Ink didn't stick the saw dust together, like I am thinking paint would.) What do you think? ------------------ Watash
I use the KISS method on everything. The ground foam is ripped up into chuncks roughly the size of a candy bar. Chunks are put in a blender to about half full, then water is added to cover the pieces[how well your lid fits determines how much water you use, as it can get MESSY later on!]. Set blender to "chop" and run till pieces are the size you want-long time for fine "grass", short time for tree clumps. Just check it every minute or so till you get the coarsness you want. Now the messy part: ad your green craft paint shade you already picked to the wet foam already in the blender- again, the exact amount depends on testing. Run it on "chop" again until the foam is nice and green-the tightness of the blender lid determines whether green muck seeps out into your work area, so i use LOTS of newspaper on the table! Pour this mixture into a big strainer over a bucket, squeeze out water wearing plastic gloves, then spread our on a tarp or big garbage bag and let dry. If you're in a BIG hurry, you can put it on aluminum foil and dry in oven on "LOW". You can make TONS of this stuff really cheap for grass, bushes and trees. If you don't like the color when it is dry, run it back thru the blender with a darker shade, or use what you made for bushes someplace else, and do another batch from scratch. This isn't a method if you just want to make 6 trees- this is for mass production greenery for a whole layout! ANY shade, ANY courseness, NO waste, DIRT cheap! Hint- i started out using RIT dye- it works, but is permenantly MESSY with few shades of green to choose from. To make fall follaige, use same method with fall colors instead of green. Be happy to answer any questions. Curt
One of the things about trees, as I have been asked about scale of the previously posted sagebrush pics. It's relative. just go outside and look how the trees are well above the houses in many cases. Not the 3-4" models that are available. I think we have been "conditioned" to trees in HO, etc. of a certain height by the suppliers which is not reflective of mature trees in many areas. A 75' mature Oak is 10" in HO. Not many of these are seen on layouts, I venture. Best, SL
I think I can handle the trees OK now, thanks guys. I'm making a scale model of our house, HO. Guess what? Now my wife wants me to include her flower bed of pansies and the roses! I haven't even got the lawn in yet! ------------------ Watash
Watash, did you expect it to be otherwise. A wife will always have you doing yard work! Bry ------------------ Smile! It makes people wonder what you are up to.
BryGy, I made a deal with her. If I put the pansey bed in, then I'll also put a little figure of her working in the bed. She says no, show her standing beside it. How I'm gon' do dat??? She stands 5'-8" and has 5' legs. ------------------ Watash
