A complete guide to adding flock, static grass, clump foliage, lichen and tall grass to your scenery
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
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In this Back to Basics video, I cover all the basic types of foliage you can use to make your wargames scenery more realistic. I work through applying and sealing flock, adding static grass by hand and with a static grass applicator, adding clump foliage, lichen and even tall grass.
Hope you find it useful guys! .
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I'm not a war gamer, but a modeler.a lot of your ideas transfer to modeling and dioramas very easily. This video told me what go get for behind the beach grass. Thank you
Thank you so much for showing what to do for a beginner.You make it look so much easier and your explanations are easy to understand. Thank you Phaedra
Great tutorial, in my opinion this covers every basic and most of the advanced techniques for foliage. I love doing terrain for showcases myself and you are a real ressource for me, thanks a lot. For a demonstration piece this has come out really well in this short time. I definitly need to get me one of these static gras applicators.
Wargaming Miniature Showcase thanks very muchski, check ebay for the applicators, they're not expensive, alternatively there's plenty of plans for building your own on the net mate.
You are very good at this. Thank you for taken the time to teach us! I'm a train guy an your vids help me as well. I like building mountains and tall buildings, it's a lot of fun.
It's what I'm here for buddy
I have found using a salt shaker filled with the flock is a better way to contain the spred of floc thus reducing the waste and over spill. The holes of the shaker can be made larger for more corse flock. Just an idea I found usefull
make your own static grass charger using a 9v battery from a torch and place two wires one to each terminal and placing one end into the PVA glue and the other end made into a small loop, pass it over the grass. This does the same thing and you have no static shock when finished.
Enjoyed the tutorial. Those static applicators do have a bit of a punch. I was doing some 28mm cast figures and touched one with it. Kaboom!
Looking forward to seeing the next tutorial.
It's a good way to wake yourself up in the morning
An amazing video. From watching you make your terrain it's got me back into wargaming, just so I can make terrain. Cheers mate.
Same for me
Just found your videos last night and love the common sense approach you bring to terrain
+Dan Payne Glad you're liking them bud
Thank you for these videos. I like to play them while I'm unwinding with my model making and a cup of coffee. It's a great oasis away from the stresses of work and life in general.
I understand that one mate
I learned a long time ago how to make clump material, and I have a cousin who is a master carpenter who builds Federalist Period furniture and generates a ton of sawdust from exotic woods. These will make some great modeling details that is beyond the price range for any modeler as the wood can only be purchased by the bunk. With all the wood working equipment, materials, chemicals, and such.. you can make anything look very realistic. I don't even bother buying Pigments as working sawdust in a certain way, and it does the exact same thing for basically free. I have gallon jugs full...
Yeah mate, I make my own as well, far cheaper with the amount of terrain I make
I made a race track for my nephews a few years ago with model railroad supplies. A bit pricey but very good supplies. I found that it took 2 coats of glue-flock, glue-flock mostly filling in patches on the second coat, then spray glue to make it full and durable. The sand seems to be a bit more brittle and bad when it is rubbed off. (btw, if anyone makes a race track, the asphalt tape works great for track chicane and easy to paint red (or other color) strips on with a flat brush, looks great).
Hi Mel, I actually built a static grass applicator out of a 'Bug Zapper' today. It was only $5.00 for the model I bought. I was a bit rusty with my soldering skills, but it worked nevertheless.
I made the open hopper type like the one you use in this video. but I also picked up a small plastic tub with a clamp-on lid. I will use a hot glue gun to add it to the tea strainer on the unit now. That way you can contain the grass and put a larger amount in your unit.
I just did a couple of vignettes to try it out and my grass stands at attention!! Lol
Thanks for your tutorials.
\\][//
I'd probably electrocute myself lol
Nice job, I'm thinking of trying to doing something like that. I've made matchstick modals but nothing like that yet. Thanks for posting this video.
Nice vid, mate, very detailed tutorial for those who are beginners to modeling landscaping. Quite thorough. Thanks, matey.
This is awesome!!.. I had always just used straight pva glue for my basing and it has looked really odd and lumpy, I never thought about diluting it 50/50 with water.. I must try it!
I sometimes wonder if he is truthful or perfectly honest with me.
Jokes aside, thanks for this, dude.
;-D
I've just subscribed to your channel. Great stuff! I'm not a war gamer, but I have begun working on a series of 1/24 scale dioramas (99 % scratch built) and I needed some help in the terrain/landscaping area. This video really was a life saver! Thanks for sharing!
Stephen Cox As long as it's helped, I'm happy buddy :-)
As a train guy you might want to try first painting the base with a green or brown layer of acrylic paint depending on the look you want then sprinkle on the flock, then wet the flock with 50/50 water and isopropyl alcohol then drip or spray watered down glue on top of that. That way you wont see any bare spots if there are any it looks like dirt or bare grass. This will seal the flock well.
Cheers mate, how tough is the water/alcohol mix? wargames pieces tend to get handled and bashed a lot?
the water and alcohol just serves to make the foam absorb the glue better and also speeds the drying time of the glue. after using this process the glue will be all through the foam and get very hard
Michael Kloepfer
Thanks mate, I'll give it a go
Michael Kloepfer
The alcohol is a really interesting tip. That never occurred to me before and I think it's a solid idea. :) Thanks.
I wanted to say thank you very much for this great video. It was not just educational but also very inspiring. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Lord Baka Menchalior no worries matey, glad you found it helpful :-)
Just solved some of my issues getting lots of flock for a table I plan to do. Great tutorial.
GreyKnight Caine Glad you found it useful matey
Goodonyer Mel. Just swotting up on some tips before foliaging-up my first "proper" terrain piece.
+WGRevival hope it goes well bud
So far so good. Have a couple of WIPs on the channel. Final vid to come once it's finished. Cheers for the top advice!
WGRevival
nice stone circle buddy, time to get some paint on it!
Ha! It's coming along nicely. The last lot of static grass is going on tonight
You should show how ordinary glue and water ball up the flock or whatever, if applied at an angle, opposed to how "wet" water sinks right through to give total penetration of the flock layer and hence, better adhesion.
Great video Mel. I am just getting into all this static grass business and think I will get myself an applicator because its easy to make yourself sheets of clumps to apply rather than buying grass clumps.
Aye Mel you are into your neat bottoms lol! You can make that grass out of garden twine...the jute/hemp type stuff and its cheaper and really convincing!
Thanks mate, hope you keep finding them useful
Nice vid subscribed, I always found for the best flock use packs of basic crafting moss and dehydrate it till it crumbles between your fingers and throw it in the blender or a mortar and paste to get it the consistency of flock its cheap and you wont find better looking flock and you can mix it with a little static grass to create varying shades I find a little golden grass coloured flock really makes it stand out.
RedGrobo I'll give that a go mate, thanks for the heads up
TheTerrainTutor Nice Church ruin...Superb peace of craftsmanship...Respect to you my good friend...For teaching us useful craftsmanship...
MrBloodylord Baron Samedi.
Cheers buddy :-)
Very nice tutorial - simple but some very useful techniques. In the end you're talking about making some more fancy things - can't wait to see those. Don't keep us waiting too long Mel :D
Hopefully you won't be waiting that long mate
That's perfect. If I may I suggest that you make some tutorial on jungle terrain building :)
Hi, enjoyed your vid. I've been at it for some time now and still enjoy other peoples approach to scenics. You mentioned about the problem storing larger packs once they have been opened. Surprised you didn't say that you can buy a pile of containers from pound shops etc. for next to nothing.
As well as having a tidy bottom you also need a firm bush. Nice 😂
Hi there love you're vids and all that you do great fun to watch, I'd also like to thank you it's because of you that I've started my own channel cheers, keep up the awesome work that you do
Welcome to youtube buddy
Awesome tutorial. (And a killer shirt to boot!) Thanks for the great info.
Excellent. Well spoken, clear, fully informative and by a likeable guy.
Cheers!
James Seagrim Thanks matey :-)
awesome tutorial , takes me back to the 90's when i was big into 40k ...
just a few minor additions that i think would make this particular 'Derelict Church', look a little bit better or more authentic, and worth mentioning to others as a general consideration in model making is ...
1. Add Grass to the INTERIOR of the building . Think about the foot traffic and Where grass would grow.... think about which areas of the scenery would have most foot traffic, and thin out the grass in those areas .... for example, the entrance door would have most foot traffic, as you depict ... but only in the centre of the doorway , the inner bottom edges of the doorway columns would have grass growing at the edges of the door (which you do not show)... also the inner perimiter wall of the church interior would also have grass growing in the corners where the seeds and grass would accumulate and grow, .... think about when you walk through a door , your feet never touch the extreme edges of the doorway , so grass would grow in these areas . as would grass grow inside the ruin , particularly in the edges by the walls
2. Consider adding climbing Moss and Vines ..... Particularly on ruins and older buildings. which would add a totally new dynamic to the building and giving the impression of an OLDER building ... so maybe worth a tutorial all of its own , how to make climbing moss and vines ... (personally i would use garden wire to represent the main vine trunk, and glue the lichen and clump foliage to the wire to represent the various strands of the vine, leaves, etc ... the impression of climbing moss would also be achieved pretty easy using the similar technique as when you added the longer grass .... maybe using a single bead of PVA to create a wiggly line (the vein of the moss climbing up the masonry walls, then sprinkled with grass) ....
3. Add some loose stones, (remenants of the stonework that has fallen from the building , a few wooden roof beams etc ...
anyway ... just small points i think worth mentioning ... particular to this old ruin.
i only think this would add authenticity because we have a local church ruin locally, and those are a few features i notice that are lacking from your model ...
still a great tutorial, and has inspired me to dig out my old modelling stuff from the attic this weekend, lol
The Phantom Prophet thanks for the suggestions mate, I've done most of them on it as this is my demo piece, if you check the foliage playlist, you'll see it's had loads added to it over the years.
Great video, I have this ruined church model , so this vid will help me get my backlog of unpainted models and figures painted, I also have a large amount of unpainted of plastic and metal figures ,that need painting,
+alex mcintosh The mountain never shrinks does it mate
It is time to get painting and get some hills made using your videos as a guide, for my 6mm Baccus Armies THINK BIG BUY SMALL .Cheers alex mc
I sprinkle it with fingers till it looks thick enough an blow the excess away outside.
The base I stain with mohogany stainer to make it look like soil
Thinned down PVA!? Brilliant. These videoes are lovely. Thanks :)
No worries , glad you found it useful mate
cheers thanks for getting me into terrain all the best great teacher
Love it, but must say, the vegetation would probably have climbed the walls and one wouldn't be surprised to see a fallen tree or at least young sap in a bad place for the stone. Not meant as an aesthetic objection - I mean a technique for ivy or trunk is just as welcome. Thanks for your sharing! I learned so today was a good day.
Dave Scheffer It's a demo piece, not a finished piece, if you check through the playlist there's various videos with additions to it, I'm working on flowers and vines next matey :-)
Very nice piece!!!
+Dave Workman (NSaynneDad) thanks
You are helping me out a lot mate. Keep up the good work.
Glad you're finding it useful mate
Hello Mel, mate, have you ever used plain old tall grass clumps made of natural Hemp rope? It's much easier to work with than the hair-like stuff you show in your video. I personally use it on my war gaming terrain models and the other thing I love about it is that the hemp rope can be dyed in different shades of green or rusty browns. When applying it I drill a small hole in the base , fill it with glue and simply push in a clump of the rope into the hole and let dry. When dried, I fan them out to create a more natural effect and sometimes trim some of the outer parts with a tiny scissor the recreate shorter grass than the center ones much like Static Grass clumps look. I do love your tutorial videos though, and have gotten a smattering of excellent tips from them, love the balloon idea, ha, ha, so simple but so effective. Did one of your kids teach you that one?
Yep, twine works great, natural grass can be a bit fragile to be honest
Just love your work learnt so much
"Those other guys." "Which guys?" "The railway peopel." :D
+Erik Bausano That's them! ;-D
Thinning the PVA is a great tip. I really like those ruins, but I didn't find a video describing it? :)
It works really well mate, 50/50 works for me with a touch of detergent as a flow aid. Has a shelf lift of about 3 months and as long as you put agitators in the bottle, a good shake, a few test squirts to clear the tube and it's good to go.No video on the ruins, I bought the painted 19 years ago and I've only just got round to basing them. The interior plaster work is my very early work ;o)
I went to a dollar store and bought a lot of containers and put all of my flock/whatnot in containers that I can reach into. Better than keeping it all in the plastic bags it came in.
+Kurt Kier I use coffee containers, I drink a lot of coffee mate
@@TheTerrainTutor As a Diabetic, I use a lot of powdered sweetener as a substitute to sugar, I find the plastic tubs it comes in ideal for storage, also some brands of sweetener comes with a multi-holed sprinkler opening in the lid that is ideal for applying flock of most sorts!
Atb, Louie :)
Great video. I like it how you explain everything and even though it's a long video (which imo is good!) you didn't bore me at all and made me smile here and there! Where from the UK are you from? Cheers
MetalMatze87 Thanks mate, I'm from Stoke :-)
TheTerrainTutor Stoke-on-Trent? God I miss the UK. I'm from Germany and lived 1 year in Manchester! someday I will move back to the UK!
Cheers from Stuttgart! ;-)
Sono dei capolavori in miniatura....bravo.
Wow! I don't do war games or trains but I'm working on something else and these tips are wonderful. Have you ever tried matte medium for gluing? I use it alot with my paper art and mixed medium art pieces. It dries matte and does not show and will not come up once it is dry. Of course, it is a medium for acrylic paint but makes an outstanding glue. Just a thought.
Too expensive for how much glue we use in terrain making, I go through about a litre of pva a month at the mo mate
I don't know if you have done this yet, but you could set up a mirror in front of you to see what your doing when it's not right in front of you.
+BuccoGaminginHD oh we've moved a long way since this vid mate
+BuccoGaminginHD But thanks anyway! :-D
Great tutorial some nice hints and tips. Fair play to you for putting the effort in to make the vid
Thanks for sharing
I do like most of your tutorials but what I sometimes dislike abit in them is with how you do with static grass, but its not a complain of techiqes but more of estetic flavor of mine. I prefer not to do too huge green covered areas without dirt to break it up so to say.
especially if mixed short grass areas mixed with some high grass tuffs and moss areas and dirt patches for something thats suppose to be abandoned area or so or atleast less traveled area :)Basically what I missed to make this one look Amazing would be some dirt areas besides the road, cause usually atleast from my experience some areas are super good for the grass and grow and others not so much and that break up makes it look really interessting
As long as you like the techniques of applying it, it's all personal preference from there bud
Excellent info..i am a Train modeller and will use some of your technics..
Brian Eathorne Glad you found them helpful matey :-)
And the lego glue holder is classic! (Were there some kids involved in the construction of this? ;)
No, I like playing with lego lol
Fantastic video! Thank you!
Glad you liked it!
No worries mate, hope you find it useful
Love your video! Very helpful. Could you please give me the exact names for flock, static grass, clump foliage and lichen used by woodland scenics? Just to make sure that I use the right stuff. Thank you in advance from Spain!
Marcos BM Actually, it's a mix of Javis and WS, the flock and static grass were Javis's summer blends and the clump foliage was WS burnt grass and dark green, hope that helps mate
Cool work, thank you very much for this
Martin Hollenstein No worries mate, glad it helped
Huge thank you for this video, it was really great.
jjab99 cheers
Another great vid thanks so much you're a legend
glad you liked it mate
not to spam but scenic express is realy great they have it all there
and if your are wondering about that water effect its called magic water by unreal details the 3/4 gallon is not cheap but it is a 3/4 gallon worth of watter effects!
Anthony Teale I've heard of magic water before, never tried it though, any good?
you have helped me so mutch
Great video total Lifesaver cuz I'm a newbie. can you tell us the mixture ratio for the PBA? You did 50/50 grass for the flock what was the ratio for the sealant? And the ratio for the static? Thanks!!
Only found your videos today and let me 1st say, great work! thanks! I've found the videos very useful. you present your content in a very structured format and clearly explain what you're doing and why. additionally you seem to have a common sense approach when it comes to budgets which I like, how to do the same thing but not using all premium product. One question from this video specifically, what size static grass applicator do you use/would you recommend? they seem to range from 7-20cm. there also appear to be some using cup dispensers instead of the sieve - would you have a preference one way or the other?
Steve Furby Cheers mate. I used a 7cm although I'd prefer slightly larger for terrain boards, I'd guess 10cm would be a good start point, for small area work, just don't fill it. Cups against sieves, the only difference I can see is that you don't flick static grass in your face when you accidentally cause a shark lol. Hope that helps mate.
very cool video I have been gathering and storing scenic material for a future project, does the spray coating of glue make the grass hard or does it stay soft and looking like real grass? where did you find the large work matt?
с воздушным шариком гениально!!!!
спасибо, есть лучшие Vids в мате плейлиста листва spasibo, yest' luchshiye Vids v mate pleylista listva
What is the solution of glue to water that is used to seal it?
16:00 Brilliant!
Put the damn thing in the hot press... Genius! :)
Nice work!!!
+Eduardo Parera Cheers
Looking for the video where you talk about sealing with the watered dowb PVA in a squirt bottle, could I get a link ow what it is called?
Keep up the great work.
+Brynn Wood Check the quick tips playlist mate, there's a couple of relevant vids in there
Great video, thanks for sharing! What's the PVA/water mix in the spray bottle?
4 to 1 mate
nice project....just wanna ask if you have a video how to make a cheap static grass and flock?
Actually, haven't got round to those yet, I'm waiting for the summer
Excellent video mate, thanks for sharing ^^. Quick question, what ratio do you use for the watered down PVA used for sealing it?
Varies from 1 to 1 to 1 to 6 depending on the glue, how I'm applying it and what I'm sticking mate. Start with a 1 to 4 ratio and adjust from there
Looks good.
Thanks..I was about to order a static grass applicator but will just buy a balloon instead
hello mate nice video and really helpfull...i am trying to make a western diorama with mostly home made amterials ,but i am kinda stuck on the terain shape and color...i have something in my mind ,like i only try to make a western city so i will need only some dirtroads and some small terain shape...if u have some ideea pls share :)
***** that's a whole series in it's self mate
Is there a video on how did you made those buildings? I wanna build some ruins like this but cannot find tutorial of it.
Instead of a balloon - have you tried rubbing a couple of pieces of EPS foam together? That stuff is SO staticky!
Kirk Brownridge I haven't tried that but to be honest, nothing I've tried comes close to a proper applicator, so I just stick with that.
What material did you use to make that church, and what kind of paint to you use? Thank you.
I've been struggling with sealing flock, do you use a 50/50 mix? with a drop of fairy? I think it might be my spray bottle, but just wanted to check the mix is right!
Greenhouse Yep, 50/50 to 30/60 pva to water mix with a drop of fairy ...Simple PVA Sealant Spray
cheers mate! love your work :)
Brilliant video! you say foliage weird lol, subbed!
Allan Palmer I say a lot of thing weird, welcome aboard mate
Wow! You are great!
+E-4 Airman ua-cam.com/video/uj1q1hK-9qk/v-deo.html ;-)
u never planning on being promoted guy. lol. that's worse than putting your rank on your car.
Mel, Thanks for your videos. is there any other way to seal flock without spraying? can i "paint" the watered down PVA on or does that risk dislodging the flock too much?
spray with just water (guessing pva spray on other features is your issue) and then drop WDPVA onto the wet flock with a syringe or dropper mate
24 people didn't give a flock :(
29*
32*
*Pedant hat on* (Not sure it ever comes off, really) Lichen is not a plant. :D
I think this is fantastic, to be perfectly honest :P
Seriously though mate, great videos.
Amazing video mate. So clearly explained.
Only one thing - Stop smoking ;) - Feels like it does not suites you.
+amit rathore Cheers mate, and thanks for your concern!
+TheTerrainTutor you should add a few trees to your biulds it would make them look even better but appart from that it looks fantastic
I know this is an older video, and I know it's mostly aimed at making terrain for miniatures, but I'm looking to make kind of a diorama display for my 1/100 gundam action model. Are there any good options for like, trees and such that might be good for scale? The model is 6.75 inches tall, and the scale equivalent is 18m (59.04 feet).
+ChozoSR388 Check the 4ground trees in the product overview playlist mate
Where's the best place to get flock, static grass and clump? No craft shops in my city and the model shops want mental money for it :/
Army Painter
About how much flock should I use on a 4x4 mountainous terrain
That's like how long is a piece of string mate, you need as much as it takes to get the look you want
TheTerrainTutor thanks for the tip if possible I'll show you what I did
Can you apply flock to plastic vacuum-formed bases using PVA?
Iffy, use spray adhesive mate
I officialy am creating a drinking game!Start watching a video by you and take a shot everytime you say "yea?" :DNo offense intended it suits you and Makss me smile! XD
+Roberts Briņecs There's a whole frat house at cornell university that takes a drink every time I say whatchamacallit, so no offence taken but I am not responsible for your liver! ;-D
Question...do you use spray pva on static grass after you apply it? Or does the original glue set it in place well enough? Great video, thanks!
I usually do mate
Question.......My purchased static grass clumps, purchased from a train modle shop will not stay stuck to the bases for my Bolt Action figures. Is there a cure for this problem, I am trying final coating with PVA wash solution but not sure if this will fix the problem
Sounds like a poor quality pva mate
I've noticed that if I glue on lichen with modelling glue, it dries out and becomes stiff, and hence brittle. But I'm not sure whether that is good or bad
It just needs preserving in glycerin first mate
Thanks I'll give it a whirl
I notice you brush on your 50/50 PVA and water. I've been spraying it on at a ratio of about 40 PVA/60 water.. Is there any particular reason you brush it on? You stated that the thicker the glue, the less flock will stick.
+Bill D. in Iowa I'll use a brush if I need to keep it away from stone work mate, tbh, I airbrush it much thinner now but that's the difference a couple of years make
Ok, thanx.
Id like to see a tutorial on this church based on a ww2 war torn base. Blacked and bombed. Historical games need help with good war torn terrain like your burned forest.
Hey buddy ;) Just made my own cost me bout 4.50 from poundshop! lol
+Siônmarc Simpson gotta love fly swatters
What time is tomorrows live show mate?
Siônmarc Simpson
9pm UK time
+TheTerrainTutor Ta pal ;)
Well done!
Charles Traylor Thanks mate
might be a dumb question but does the static grass stay "standing" up or does it settle?
it applied with an applicator, it stands up mate
i have a few questions what do you think of using everyday objects as ground cover like tea and coffee maybe spices that look like sand??
David Brooks go for it mate, I use anything I can get my hands on!