Advice on adding grass mats to an existing layout

I would purchase a cheap indoor/outdoor grass carpet (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Tr...BRN4212CTL/313236731), which currently is only $2 a square foot.

Hi, I don't have any experience with the moss mat product but, I was wondering if you looked at or considered an indoor/outdoor carpet product that I saw at Lowe's called Grizzly Grass.  It comes in a brown color that looks about right for a Fall appearance.  It is made of recycled plastic like the moss mat.  It might be a back up solution if the moss mat approach doesn't work out for you.  I have not used the Grizzly Grass but I'm considering it as a surface cover for a simple 8' x 8' outside G scale loop around a Christmas tree on an old plywood table top I have hanging around.

Good luck with your project and have fun! 

Woodland Scenics makes grass mats in a variety of colors and sizes that may fit your needs.

I would be leery of putting watered white glue on the mat, but I'd instead try another old stick-everything-down standby before going with a replacement: cheap hairspray! IME it has less tendency to warp what it's sprayed on, dries quickly and holds tight, and is water soluble for removal in overspray situations. Get a cheap can from the dollar store, if you don't already have one somewhere in the house!

BenLs grass mat looks interesting.

I would like to shorten the length of the grass and add some electro-static grass to the mat.

Thank you all for the replies.  As always, great suggestions.  For this exercise, I think I am going to try Steve's hairspray idea.  It's almost "why didn't I think of that!"  I already have the Lemax mats and since both Home Depot and Lowes both have substitutes if I ruin one I have alternatives (both have the items above in stock locally).

Thank you all again!
Tony

The hairspray is probably a good idea.  I saw a video once where the guy said the cheaper the better.  If the hairspray doesn't work the woodland scenics scenic cement does a pretty good job of sealing everything together as well of you spray it on.

@Raptor Rails posted:

The hairspray is probably a good idea.  I saw a video once where the guy said the cheaper the better.  If the hairspray doesn't work the woodland scenics scenic cement does a pretty good job of sealing everything together as well of you spray it on.

True enough, but I'd at least test it on a small section first. I'd worry that the higher water content of watered glue (and you *would* need to water it more than a bit to get the glue mix to spray freely IME) would tend to warp the mat, or conversely fail to penetrate the mat due to surface tension.

If you *do* use watered glue, you might need a few drops of liquid detergent or some IPA in the mix to 'wet' the spray and allow it to penetrate. Likely workable, but I still think I'd start with cheap hairspray -- less likelihood of damage IMHO, and it should permit a later application of watered 'wet' glue over it, if needed. IME hairspray has worked every time I've tried to use it in a situation like this.

My Halloween/Christmas layout had a similar conundrum with the shedding grass mats especially if I was contemplating reuse season to season.  With my hairline I did not think of hairspray, but sought a covering that would simulate the look of a fall carnival/fair lot.

I decided to try close weave natural burlap fabric.  It was cheap and had the look of trampled fall grass that I have seen on fairgrounds and carnival lots.

The results were satisfactory to excellent.  Add to that the low cost, ease of storage and the possibility of reuse it was a good choice for my needs.

It is also possible to dress the burlap up a bit with clump fall foliage and shrubs depending upon how far you want to go for realism.

I would caution against the overpriced Woodland Scenics Grass Mat.

It comes off just by touching it turning everything that touches it green.  It took many many coats of clear plastic spray to stop this process from stripping ALL the "grass" flocking off and leaving a bare vinyl backing.

Woodland Scenics was totally unresponsive to the problem despite multiple phone calls and emails none of which they answered.

In the end I resigned myself to the bare spots being dirt and the green spots being "grass", but I would never make that mistake again.

John

@Craftech posted:

I would caution against the overpriced Woodland Scenics Grass Mat.

It comes off just by touching it turning everything that touches it green.  It took many many coats of clear plastic spray to stop this process from stripping ALL the "grass" flocking off and leaving a bare vinyl backing.

Woodland Scenics was totally unresponsive to the problem despite multiple phone calls and emails none of which they answered.

In the end I resigned myself to the bare spots being dirt and the green spots being "grass", but I would never make that mistake again.

Interesting.

When I put together my new layout a few years ago, I opted for a base layer of two 100" X 50" relatively cheap paper-backed Bachmann grass mats to entirely cover the foam top layer of the base, with the intent to eventually either cover, remove or modify sections as I did further landscaping, I was worried the paper might warp and wrinkle as I layered on further landscaping materials (especially wet ones!), but so far I've had few if any such issues. The 'grass' surface has been and remains relatively stable, certainly with nothing like your WS shedding problem.

@Steve Tyler posted:

Interesting.

When I put together my new layout a few years ago, I opted for a base layer of two 100" X 50" relatively cheap paper-backed Bachmann grass mats to entirely cover the foam top layer of the base, with the intent to eventually either cover, remove or modify sections as I did further landscaping, I was worried the paper might warp and wrinkle as I layered on further landscaping materials (especially wet ones!), but so far I've had few if any such issues. The 'grass' surface has been and remains relatively stable, certainly with nothing like your WS shedding problem.

I am pretty sure the WS Grass wasn't always defective.

But there have been other complaints

John

I bought the cheap astro turf with no backing at a national Hardware DIY chain and it's been well over 10 years since I renovated my layout, and it still looks great. It's about 8 feet wide and they will cut to any length you want.

@Gene H posted:

I bought the cheap astro turf with no backing at a national Hardware DIY chain and it's been well over 10 years since I renovated my layout, and it still looks great. It's about 8 feet wide and they will cut to any length you want.

Yeah, I've seen any number of very nice layouts (particularly in the postwar Marx O scale niche I model in) that use some variation of this, typically with bare tubular track, little detailed landscaping, but often with lots of individual accessories. I call it the "toy train esthetic" --  basically nothing to distract from the toys we wished we could have afforded half a century or so ago!