Mastering Static Grass: Tips, Tools, and Techniques

Discover essential insights on using static grass for scenic modeling, including the best applicators, grass quality, DIY options, glues, layering techniques, and more. Get expert advice and practical tips here.

Learn all about the nuances of using static grass effectively with our comprehensive guide. From choosing the right applicator to mastering DIY techniques, it’s all covered here.

The Static Grass Applicator

Having the right kind of static grass applicator is extremely important if you want to be able to easily make scenery like this.

 

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Applicators with grass hoppers that you have to shake to disperse the grass are great for large fields and trimmed lawn looks.  But when it comes to fine detail, nothing beats one that uses a tea or vegetable strainer type hopper.  And it should be modular so that you can use special applicator attachments for wire tree branches, bushes, ditches, gullies and streams,  building bases, and much, more,

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The image to the left illustrates what I am saying here. Notice that it can be powered by a battery or wallwart and one can add or use different grass dispensers. Here is a link that describes the various grass dispensers that can be used with this applicator.    Mastering Static Grass

And here is a link to where you can get that applicator in kit form or one similar to it completely assembled and ready to use. Static Grass Applicators

Grass and Flock

Static grass is not flock and flock is not static grass.

Flock is a granular material like ground sponge, ground leaves or moss, and sawdust. You will hear it sometimes referred to turf.

Static Grass is made up of strands of an electrostatic material .  Nylon is most common.  Animal fur or anything else electrostatic can be used.

We cover only static grass in this page.  Flock is covered here.

Grass Quality

Not all static grass is the same.  Batches vary in color, texture, material and responsiveness to a static field.

Substantial quantities of static grass are imported from the Far East.  Some of it looks like something exported from the Far East – shiny silicone.  And colors will vary not only order to order but also within a batch that you receive.

A more attractive grass has a dull look about it. It should not be shiny.

With that in mind, when you are starting your venture into landscaping with static grass, start with a good commercial product. Don’t ruin what you are doing by using some cheap product. Spend a little more for a good product so that you end up with a good looking project.

And where does one get good grass? Your best source of information about what commercial static grass is “good” is probably model clubs in your area as well as modelers you meet at model shows.

For what its worth, we found a grass preferred by most of the European modelers that we talked with. It is made in Czech. It stands very well and looks very good. And here is a link to get that grass.  Check it out now by clicking here.

DIY Static Grass

What can you expect from DIY static Grass?

• It will be difficult for you to develop the exact color that you want.
• It will be difficult for you to get you the uniform or exact lenghts.
• It may or may not have the finished look of natural grass.
• It’s ability to react with the electronic electrostatic field on the static grass applicator can vary from fantastic to worthless.
• If you place no value on your time, it can be very inexpensive.
• But if you put any value on your time it will be much more expensive than commercial product.
• To make the grass you’re going to have to assemble the basic filaments, dyes, drying racks and everything else that it takes to cut ddye and dry the filaments.

Even so, you may wish to make it.

You can use rabbit fur, nylon fiber, anything else that you can find that will respond to an electrostatic field.

Cut filaments to a length convenient for handling as you dye and move it to and from your drying racks.

Prepare a work area to protect your bench or table top from splashes and spills. Wear rubber gloves to protect your hands from discoloration. Use tweezers forceps or something else to handle the filaments in the dye.

Prepare your dying solution. You can use food colors, Easter Egg colors, Rit dye, and paint pigments.

Soak it until you get your desired color. Remove it and put it in a drying rack until well dried.

Gather the filaments and roll into a strand. Trim to the lengths that you want.

Glues

For most work, a simple PVA glue is fine.

In certain situations, some people use a fast tack glue because it dries faster.

I use fast tack when adding branches to trees and stems to vines. I want stick the grass exactly as I want it and have it stay just as I stick it.

Applying Glue

Use a brush. Apply the glue full strength from a squeeze bottle of some form or another. Then use a brush to make a thin layer of the glue.

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In some cases you may want to dip the brush in water to thin the glue a little bit. But don’t overdo it.

Where To Put The Glue

It is not necessary to spread your glue  over the entire surface. Leave gaps and holes around the surface. You will later apply glue in these areas and add different kinds of grasses or flock.

So that means you make a first layer of glue, and add the basic grass to that area. Let that dry and then add grass in the vacant spots.

Practically  speaking, I look at my scene and sketch a landscaper plan. I keep it very simple but I lay out the areas and indicate what size and color grasses that I will put in those areas

Layering Spray

Don’t use it. If you spray, you’re really have no control. Everything increases in height.

Use your brush to apply glue exactly where you want to increase the height of the grass. In this way you can apply various layers of various heights and mimic a real field.

Static Field Strength

The closer your grass dispenser is to the surface on which you are going to lay your grass, the more upright the grass will be. That is because the effect of the static field diminishes with the distance between the positive and negative poles.

These two images help you understand this.

 

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In the first case grass was laid by a very expensive, very expensive to the tune of over $200, with the shaker held rather high above the grass surface. In the second case you see what grass looks like when dispenser made from a recycled jar was held close to the surface.

Where To Apply Grass

If you have a large layout with a large area to work, or a small diorama without much area, applying static grass directly to the substrate, in accordance with your landscape plan of course, is probably appropriate.

However, if you are doing fine scale modeling you may want to add grass around a building, flowers around the base of that building, and add all those other things that you find in a yard near a building, then make what I call a large grass tuft.

To make a large grass tuft, I cut a piece of thin card to the exact shape of the area that I wish to cover.

Now on my workbench, where I am free of models or anything else that will get in the way, I complete the landscape. Then all I have to do is pick it up and put it where it should be.

I don’t have any problems with having to vacuum up excess static grass or tip the diorama over to eliminate the extra static grass.

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Of course I have to blend this large grass tuft into the scene,. But, that’s simple.

Base

Grass Grows in dirt. So before you add grass, lay down a base of dirt.

Some people use brown paint, but plain old dirt from the backyard or potting soil blended fine, gives you the texture and color that you want.

You may also  use gravel or other dirt blends rather than black dirt.

After I put my grass in place, before the glue dries, I go so far as to sprinkle some dirt over the top of the grass to give the feel of  a little bit more depth.

Dispensers To Use

The static grass applicator that I use, shown at the top of the page, allows me to pick and choose among many different dispenses.

Shaker type dispensers are fine if you’re interested in just getting areas green. But always remember, you have to keep the screen on the shaker close to the substrate so there is enough static field to stand the grass straight up.

I do a lot of fine work. Much of it is on the large tufts that I talked about above. On these tufts, and other tight places, my favorite dispenser is a very small tea strainer.

And I do not shake that tea strainer. I add the grass to the strainer and then move the grass around in the strainer with a chopstick. Doing this gives me a great deal of control as to exactly where that grass goes.

Now beyond that, I add grass with my fingers and then use that strainer to stand that grass up.

Hand  Application

When adding grass in gullies, between track rails, alongside streams, at the base of buildings, poles and other similar places, I put the grass in place with my finger and then use a tea strainer tipped on the side to stand the grass up.

I also use my fingers when I want to add some tufts or flowers to grass that’s already in place. I can get those additions exactly where I want them and they blend very well.

The video to the left will show you exactly how this is done.   Link Image

Trees And Vines

Adding static grass to tree branches really upgrades the appearance of your final product. This is an art in its own right. The image to the left takes you to a playlist that goes through this and a lot more about making trees.

And you always need vines. They’re made by dipping thread in glue and then blowing static grass over them. Watch the video to the left.  LINK

Test, Practice

Now that you have some idea of how to lay static rash, practice.

Why? You don’t want to have a scene or model on which you have worked so hard botched up by a crummy static grass job.

Cut a piece of card, cover it with dirt, and then apply grass. Make flowers. Add trash, bushes, trees, poles. Add more grass to make it look real.

I actually will make a test addition of the colors and grass that I want to use in my scene. Sometimes, I’ll actually make a test scene and then make a second  final scene with the improvements that I want.

You may not want to go through that extra effort. But if you really want to do fine scale scenery, the time is well spent.

 

 

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