I don't know if endorcing a product is correct or not, but I feel compelled to give a shout out to a product I feel is superior in quality and ease of application in scenery making. I am talking about Scenic Express's Matte Medium, a glue like substance used in securing scenic materials. I have found it to be far superior to white glue that I used to use for securing my grass, talos, etc to land scape scenes. To quote the catalog....."it will never dry out or deteriorate, will never yellow and will always remain flexible. Some time back, long long ago I purchased a 16 ounce bottle of the concentrate and recently I came across it in my piles of scenic materials supplies. Notice I said 'piles' and sometimes that certainly appears to be how I store things around my shop. I don't recall using it much before so I thought I'd give it another try. It can be diluted with water to 1 part medium to 4 parts water, mixed and sprayed in a spray bottle or applied with an eye dropper. It can also be used full strength where a base coat of cement is useful in areas that are not horizontal. One word of caution with a spray bottle, the directions state that it is best to strain the mixture before using it in the spray bottle as small particles can clog the spray nozzle easily. Scenic Express sells a spray bottle that is touted as superior to other spray bottles, but the directions do say to thoroughly rinse the spray bottle after each use. The spray bottle does work, but I've found that the first few sprays from the bottle tend to 'blow' away your carefully laid down material, so it is important to thoroughly wet your area with a wetting agent before you apply the mediium mixture. I have used a cheap baby bottle instead of an eye dropper and find it quicker than loading an eye dropper repeatedly. I did have to enlarge the hole in the nipple, but even then it can clog if not cleaned a bit from time to time. The beauty of this material is that is dries completely clear and holds like nothing else I've tried. I would recommend you give it a try for yourself if doing much scenery work. I have no affliation with Scenic Express, but am a happy camper with this product. Back to the scenery....
Matte Medium is a generic name for acrylic polymer emulsion, the binder in most all paints. It is available from many suppliers with that same Matte Medium name/description. Liquitex, Goldon, others. Mod Podge is essentially the same. It is great for water and comes in multiple lusters (Gloss, Semi, eh hmm, Matte and hard to find Flat). Michael's, University Art Supply, Aaron Brothers, DickBlick, Hobby Lobby, etc. Similar to using white (PVA) glue, the spray bottle just needs two things: a good pump pressure (not the $1-$3 kind) and ability to fine mist spray. Most powerful pumpers are designed more for volume so tend to do just what you experienced. I have a couple and can dial them down to be able to 'mist' spray. Using a Wet Water (water with a couple of drops of dish soap) easily fine mist sprayed by most any sprayer, can help 'settle' everything so that when it with the voluminous glue sprayer, it want tend to blast away the surface. It does 'dry' in air but does remain 'flexible'.
When simply saying something positive of a product, it is indeed OK. I have used this same product for some years now, and it is excellent.
Thanks for sharing Loren. I think it's nice to know when a fellow modeler let's us know when they run across a good useful product
Tip on eye dropper use. I like many use to use one eye dropper and of course would fill it, discharge it, then fill it again. Latter I bought two more cheapy eye droppers and now use three at the same time. I will fill all three, leaving two in the container, use one then squeeze it as I put it back in the container with fluid. I then just grab another eye dropper already filled and continue on.
I dilute Matte Medium (Mod Podge from Wal-Mart) with a combination of distilled water and isopropyl alcohol. With the alcohol to help break the surface tension, there is no need to pre-wet ballast with "wet" water. Just apply the mix directly to dry ballast with an eyedropper. It soaks right in and saturates the ballast. It helps to use real stone ballast such as that from Arizona Rock & Mineral, which tends to stay where you put it. When spraying matte medium to secure scenic materials such as ground foam, set the spray bottle to the finest possible mist. Hold the spray bottle a foot or two above the scenery. Spray the matte medium slightly upward and let the mist drift gently down. This completely prevents the spray from blowing around your scenic material. The downside of this method is that the over-spray can easily cover areas you'd prefer to keep dry. To avoid the problem, lay newspapers on the rest of the layout, exposing only the areas you are currently scenicking. Matte medium is good stuff! - Jeff
I favor liquitex myself. A lot of the modeler stiff is just the same product re-marketed under a different name.
