Proper mix of green and yellow WS grass before application please.

@Mannyrock posted:

Hey Guys,

My foam track bed arrives in about two weeks, but before it does, I want to paint a strip around the sides of my track (extending about 2 inches out from where the edge of the track bed will end), and apply a mix of green and yellow Woodland Scenics grass.

I am not going for an ultra realistic look, or tall grass, just something that looks pretty good for what it is.

I am going for a Prairie look. Not a desert or high plains look, but more of an midwestern Great Plains Look (think western Kansas).

My train board is currently painted a light flat green, which is  "Gentle Pasture" from Benjamin Moore.

I like the looks of many of the layouts I have seen on this board, where green and yellow grass have been mixed before application.  But, I guess what I need is the mixing ratio, and the exact types of the grass from Woodland Scenics.  (Woodland Scenics has a confusing array of many different types for any given color, such as fine, course, long, etc., as well as three or so shades of green!)

One criticism I have seen of the fine yellow grass product  is that when it dries, it looks more like sand than grass, and that it is best used to lightly "highlight" green grasses.

I am planning to use a medium brown or tan for painting the strip, and would like to sprinkle the grasses down while the pain is wet.  (If that is a really bad idea, then thanks for telling me that.)

I am open to mixing three colors of grass if you think that would be best.  I assume I measure them out, put them all in a bag, shake it up, and then apply.

Thanks for any and all advice.  (I won't be too picky with the end result.  I just need to move forward with it.)

Mannyrock

I apply a medium earth brown latex paint and, while still wet, sprinkle green, then yellow, WS fine turf over the freshly painted area. I use the shaker top from a height of about 8"-10" until it looks right to me and fill any bare spots using a spoon from a little lower height and then highlighted by a small amount of green medium turf  - no exact formula - I figure mother nature doesn't use one.

For O Scale, I like Medium or Coarse turf.    The fine looks to much like colored dirt TO ME in O scale.   How all this looks is a lot of personal preference, not science.

I do not premix.   I sprinkle on the shades of green and yellow and some browns sort of randomly.    I try to create a look like in the above photos with patches of different colors fading into each other kind of like my lawn (euphemism) looks.    I have a bunch of old spice shakers that I use.   I dump from the big WS shakers into the smaller ones becaue they are easier to handle and I can get different sizes of holes.   I also sometimes put masking tape over some of the holes to make a lighter flow.     I also find I like "burnt Grass" better than Yellow or Dry grass.    I use a medium green for the brighter stuff, and there is a dark bright green called "Weeds" that is a nice touch for highlights.   Also some "soil" or "earth" patches.    But not sharp lines between, just sprinkle so they overlap and blend.    I also like to add "Clump Foilage" to most areas to make it look weedy.

Whatever base paint you put down should work as long as it an earth tone or green shade.

I do not put the stuff down on paint.    It will absorb the paint and change color sometimes.    I make a mix of 50% white glue, elmers or other, and 50% water.   The measurements do not need to be precise, I just eyeball it in the bottle I  use.     I fill it about  1/3 full of glue, add 1/3 water and leave the rest to allow me to shake it and mix it.    I have an old glue bottle that I put the glue mix in.   I also make a spray bottle of "wet water".    This is water with a few drop of liquid detergent.    This is used to break down surface tension and let the adhesive spread readily.       I generally just spread overlapping beads of the glue in area of a few feet, then I spray the area with the wet water.,    the white glue mix spreads out.    I then sprinkle the ground foam over the area.    I put down one color, then another.   The foam soaks up the glue mix and then bonds.    Depending how dry your climate/room is, it will probably take overnight to dry.     Don't touch it until it is dry.  

this is a messy process.   I often make a lip of masking tape if working along the edge of the layout to keep the liquid there.   I fill all the holes in the base board before starting - hopefully befor painting.    Once you start sprinkling the water gets soaked up pretty quick so that is why you work a smallish area at at time.

As I mentioned, this is not a science, and it can be redone.    You can scrap up the old, but mostly you can just work over the whatever is there if you don't like the look when it dries.

I have a buddy who does a lot of premixing, and to my eye all his grassy areas, or dirt areas look too uniform.

Richie and PRR,

Thanks for your excellent replies.

Rich, thanks for the photo.   I have always admired your layout.

Mannyrock

@Mannyrock posted:

Richie and PRR,

Thanks for your excellent replies.

Rich, thanks for the photo.   I have always admired your layout.

Mannyrock

Thanks - couldn't have done it w/o help from the Forum and still learning a lot.