I while back I posted that I use a product called Silflor for making standing weeds and grass. Not many people in the US use this product because it is not sold in hobby stores. Silflor is more common on the other side of the Atlantic because that's where it is made. Silflor can be purchased through Scenic Express but it is expensive. I only use it where scenery viewing is up close, for background scenery I use only ground foam. Scenic Express offers lots of different tones of greens, I use summer and late summer tones. They also offer three heights, I use mostly the tall and the prairie heights. I do have some of the short stuff that I use in a few places. After using Silflor I find that ground foam just does not cut it for representing grassy weeds. Ground foam is good for bushy weeds and I still use plenty of it. Here are some photos of how I have been applying it around my engine terminal. I first put down sand and dirt (real sand sifted) and glue it down with diluted matte medium. After the sand dries I use full strength white and apply it in the areas I want to put the Silflor. Then I pull chunks of the Silflor from the sheet of it, trim any stray fibers from the backing, and push it into the glue. I mix up the colors and heights. I like to put down the tallest chunks first and then surround them with shorter Silflor. After I get all of the Silflor down I give it a mist of "wet" water and them flow some diluted matte medium over it. After the Silflor is dry I use a very fine sand (I use one of my wife's old nylons to sift sand almost to dust size, takes a long time but it works good) and a brush and work some sand into and around the Silflor to help blend it into the ground. If I could take a close up of what this stuff looks like you could see that it looks like individual blades of grass growing out of the ground. I also spread some fine ground foam around to look like newly forming plants and some course foam for bushes. This is what it looks like when all is dry. I try to work in small areas with each one in a different phase. It takes a long time to put the stuff down but I feel the effect is worth if for foreground scenery. Some of the other ways I use it is to cut the tall summer grass (it is about 1/8" tall) into thins strips and tuck it in between the ties of a siding, then work sand into it. The Silflor is soft and the locomotive pilot and wheels roll right through it. Scenic Express offers sample packs if you would like to try some. I bought the summer and late summer samples to start. The make spring, summer, late summer, and fall sets. [ 15. September 2003, 03:20: Message edited by: Coaltrain ]
Coal, Your layout looks awesome, nice pics and I like the Silflor, guess I have to by a sample pack. Paul
