Hi Tom. I add blue and yellow acrylics from the tube into a batch of ground foam in a small coffee grinder and give it a whizz. The paint coats the whole lot easily and as no water is necessary, the resulting product is barely moist when it comes out. Successive batches usually differ slightly in colour and when added to the preceding batches gives the colour variations. By being a little heavy handed with the paint quantities, if it is allowed to dry undisturbed, it forms a mat of foam which I break up as clump foliage. If it is not used for clump foliage, it can be whizzed again in the coffee grinder to break it into finer flock. Keep up the good work. Your scenery is very believable.
I'm loving these videos, the problem I have is people are not sending out orders at the moment, so stumbling across this is a godsend. Great tutorials for making the foams and flocks, plus a great way of passing time while saving money. I'll be having a try at this over the weekend. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your video. I have been using fine saw dust from a local saw mill and stain it with clothing dye. I've used acrylic paint and mixed on the sawdust. Does the same job.
Thanks you for this video. I have been looking for an easy way to make ground cover and this is by far the easiest way . I have all the materials in my storage.
For coal loads on my model trains, I use, well, real coal. I have a large chunk of bituminous coal I smash into bits with a hammer (usually done outside); when it gets about HO scale size I quit and collect it and use it for my steam train tenders, coal loader, coal bins, etc. Nothing like using the real stuff. Cheers, mate, from W Rusty Lane K9POW in eastern Tennessee
Glad to be of help :) Wear a glove and be aware that the occasional piece of wire may break off and end up in the foam. I like the texture I get from this method and it makes a good start for actual fine turf grinding with the meat grinder as in part 1. If you watch my home made sculptamold vid you'll see that I also use this technique for shredding toilet rolls. Happy modelling and all the best...Tom
I model on the cheap. I make all my own ground scatter (flocking) out of either sawdust that gets coloured in the electric coffee grinder my wife gave me for modeling, or foam rubber done same way in the coffee grinder. That way you can control the colours and the granularity of your finished product. I also make my own iron oxide (rust) by soaking about 4 pieces of 0000 steel wool in a quart jar with white vinegar. After about a month sitting in the window, I pour the mixture into a large pan (I use my old 11" x 14" stainless steel photo fixer trays when I had a darkroom) or baking dish and wait for the mixture to completely dry (usually about 2 to 3 weeks). Then I take a single edge razor blade and pulverize the contents into a fine powder and store it in little tins. Each batch I've done comes out a little different in colour. Then you use the rust as you would any weathering powder or chalk. It looks real, 'cause it IS real rust! I also colour my own chalk with acrylic paint and food colouring. I never buy weathering powders. Instead, I go to the dollar store and buy women's makeup in the little plastic containers. For $1.00 you can get quite a collection of different colours and they adhere better than weathering powders. For trees, I use the Nandena bush after the little red berries fall off, it leaves a perfect tree trunk (armature). I also have a TON of lichen growing out back on the hill behind my house. When using the Nandena bush tree armatures, you can paint them whatever colour you want--even grey for aspen trees. Cover the armatures with lichen, seafoam or whatever you want, then add your own home-made flocking and you're done. For pine trees, I use florist wire (wrapped) doubled and bits of jute cut in1 to 1 1/2" laid in the wire, then using a drill, twist the wire while holding the other end in a pair of pliers.. I also use barbeque bamboo skewers with pig hair (horse hair) furnace filters (they're already green); have to paint the skewers first. And I never use spray paint since I use my airbrush for all my painting. I can use either acrylic or oil base paints; I usually use one airbrush for acrylic and the other one for oil base paints. Cheers from W Rusty Lane K9POW in eastern Tennessee
Oh my god maravilloso el arte que tienes,bendiciones no dejo de mirar y de hacer algunas de las cosas que has mostrado,principalmente las de este video.pues estoy preparando la village para estas próximas Christmas.aunque vivo aquí en Miami y no ay nieve,pero pretendo estar para el north.jjjjj saludos.
@@tomjenssen7486 thanks Tom it worked a treat ,just mixed the sponge with your paint mix now letting it dry ,and I got a hand mixer of ebay so once sponge bit are dry I will try it out .thanks for your help mate much appreciated 👍
Thanks so much mate. I left the colouring out of the first vid to keep the length down. I have the next one ready to edit and I'll be making a few more after that. I hope you'll find them useful. All the best :)
¡Hola buenos días Tom! Just watched your series of videos showing how you manufacture your own scatters and foams. I will definitely be trialing those. I also took on board the use of hairspray for attaching the foams to other surfaces - I assume you use other adhesives when attaching the foams and scatters to the baseboard or other solid objects - if so, which adhesives do you use Tom?
Hola :) Many thanks for watching and leaving a comment... I'm glad you like these ideas. I use a simple PVA and water mix for ground cover and neat PVA for bushes etc. All the best...Tom
Cheers Tom, time to go to poundstrecher or poundland and free them of some sponges. Next stop, playing with my food processor. Great stuff. Regards, Geoff.
Brilliant I've been trying this myself and as you say green straight out of the tube won't work, so the key is to add yellow then ? . Thanks for subscribing to my channel. Brian
Hi Brian, thanks for watching and commenting. Yes, I use ultramarine blue and cadmium yellow to get the greens. You can use white to take the colour up. I use very small amounts of the siennas to get a brownish tint. Remember, 3 colours always make brown.. so very small amounts. I've just matched burnt grass so I may do a clip on how to do that. Thanks again and all the best...Tom
That's great :) I'd recommend doing a few tests with the colours and ratios. If you're going to use your own mixes for the whole layout (as I do) you can come up with as many shades as you want. The colour that I'm doing in this clip is specially worked out to be compatible with the leading brands. Good luck and have fun :) Edit: If you're not happy with the colours you can chuck the sponge back into the bowl and re-colour. So if it comes out too brown, for example, you can mix up a spoonful of green...wet the sponge and mix it in. (You can do this twice before it gets too crispy) ;)
Hi Matthew. Cheers mate. This is the second part of a series that I'll be doing. The shredding is in the first one, here ua-cam.com/video/fLaTyE1eHVo/v-deo.html Thanks again and all the best.
Good stuff Tom ......I notice you are using freezer bags I just hope they don’t get put in the freezer with mixed veg ....I know when I coloured mine it did look like a good soup mix ....seriously though great ...fred
Thanks so much Fred :) Yes...lol...I must be careful to keep these bags out of the freezer :) ... I was using plastic tubs but as I began to experiment more with the colours I needed something cheap to keep all the samples in..plus I ca write the colours mixes on the bags...very useful. Thanks again for the support Fred...Next vid will be quite a breakthrough colour. All the best mate.
Thanks Laurie. When I had the idea, I considered making it to sell. The main brands use dyes and I'm having trouble grinding the dyed stuff. Like anything, you get better with trial and error. The colours I'm making now are much better than before. I could probably sell this at low cost as it works very well with the leading brand's colour schemes. For now I'm going to do separate vids for some of the different colours I'm coming up with. Cheers.. I used an older green to base coat the TV model so I used this new colour to make it compatible with the next layers. I hope you're doing well mate...All the best...Tom
I'm ok, applying for that CH5 TV show - The Great Model Railway Challenge. Also I'm probably not at Southend this year - too many other shows. I might go as a punter though lol.
Good to hear mate...and that's great, best of luck with that. Well, I'd say that 'too many other shows' is the best reason to not be displaying there..lol.
Brilliant how to video Tom, thanks for the great tips. Will have to give this a go. Do you find the colour stays fast once PVA etc. is added? Cheers, Dan
Hi Dan, thanks very much for the comment. Yes, I use a fairly good quality acrylic paint for this so it stays colourfast. I use PVA, spray adhesives and hairspray all to good effect. There will be some trial and error if you do this yourself but a strong orange coloured sponge and the mixes I show here will give you compatible colours. If you make a batch that you don't like you can throw it back in the mixing bowl to adjust the colour. I recommend you have a look at part 1 to see how I prepare the foam. Thanks again and all the best....Tom :)
I'd say less water. I usually mix it by eye...just enough water to help the paint run and flow. Also, remember that acrylic paint turns slightly whiter when water is added, so mix your colour first.
fabulous job Tom ! the colour mixing youve acheived is amazing to watch..im guessing you must have other artistic skills to be able to use it to such good effect !...i couldn't help thinking did Monet ever have a layout? cheers dave
Thank you so much Dave. To be honest it's been more about trial and error. I've been playing around with the mixes for quite some time. I watch artists mixing certain colours and try to learn from them. Getting to know the colour wheel has been very useful too. I'm glad you enjoy the vid...I have the next one ready to edit. Thanks again for your kind words :))
This is the best process for home made ground foam I have ever seen. This is really appreciated and exceptionally done :)
Thank you very much for the support, I'm glad you like it and I hope you enjoy the rest of the playlist. All the best....Tom
Hi Tom. I add blue and yellow acrylics from the tube into a batch of ground foam in a small coffee grinder and give it a whizz. The paint coats the whole lot easily and as no water is necessary, the resulting product is barely moist when it comes out. Successive batches usually differ slightly in colour and when added to the preceding batches gives the colour variations. By being a little heavy handed with the paint quantities, if it is allowed to dry undisturbed, it forms a mat of foam which I break up as clump foliage. If it is not used for clump foliage, it can be whizzed again in the coffee grinder to break it into finer flock. Keep up the good work. Your scenery is very believable.
I'm loving these videos, the problem I have is people are not sending out orders at the moment, so stumbling across this is a godsend. Great tutorials for making the foams and flocks, plus a great way of passing time while saving money. I'll be having a try at this over the weekend. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks very much for your kind words. I hope you have fun with this short series of videos. Stay safe and healthy my friend.
Thanks for your video. I have been using fine saw dust from a local saw mill and stain it with clothing dye. I've used acrylic paint and mixed on the sawdust. Does the same job.
Thanks you for this video. I have been looking for an easy way to make ground cover and this is by far the easiest way . I have all the materials in my storage.
For coal loads on my model trains, I use, well, real coal. I have a large chunk of bituminous coal I smash into bits with a hammer (usually done outside); when it gets about HO scale size I quit and collect it and use it for my steam train tenders, coal loader, coal bins, etc. Nothing like using the real stuff. Cheers, mate, from W Rusty Lane K9POW in eastern Tennessee
very very profesional. A lot of things to learn from these videos. Thank you for sharing your knowlege sir.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave a comment, it's much appreciated. All the best....Tom
Thank you. Now to try it.
Tom, what kind of paint is it you use? Thanks, great video! Mark in Portland, Oregon
Excellent follow up video to the preparation of the foam sponges. Cheers
Thanks so much Dave, much appreciated. I have some more planned for other colours. All the best.
Brilliant! I've tried grinding my foam, I've tried cutting it, I've tried a cheese grater, never thought of using a wire brush on my drill
Glad to be of help :) Wear a glove and be aware that the occasional piece of wire may break off and end up in the foam. I like the texture I get from this method and it makes a good start for actual fine turf grinding with the meat grinder as in part 1. If you watch my home made sculptamold vid you'll see that I also use this technique for shredding toilet rolls. Happy modelling and all the best...Tom
Hello. You can use a meat Grinder for ground The foam. I used and i have excelent results.
I model on the cheap. I make all my own ground scatter (flocking) out of either sawdust that gets coloured in the electric coffee grinder my wife gave me for modeling, or foam rubber done same way in the coffee grinder. That way you can control the colours and the granularity of your finished product. I also make my own iron oxide (rust) by soaking about 4 pieces of 0000 steel wool in a quart jar with white vinegar. After about a month sitting in the window, I pour the mixture into a large pan (I use my old 11" x 14" stainless steel photo fixer trays when I had a darkroom) or baking dish and wait for the mixture to completely dry (usually about 2 to 3 weeks). Then I take a single edge razor blade and pulverize the contents into a fine powder and store it in little tins. Each batch I've done comes out a little different in colour. Then you use the rust as you would any weathering powder or chalk. It looks real, 'cause it IS real rust! I also colour my own chalk with acrylic paint and food colouring. I never buy weathering powders. Instead, I go to the dollar store and buy women's makeup in the little plastic containers. For $1.00 you can get quite a collection of different colours and they adhere better than weathering powders.
For trees, I use the Nandena bush after the little red berries fall off, it leaves a perfect tree trunk (armature). I also have a TON of lichen growing out back on the hill behind my house. When using the Nandena bush tree armatures, you can paint them whatever colour you want--even grey for aspen trees. Cover the armatures with lichen, seafoam or whatever you want, then add your own home-made flocking and you're done. For pine trees, I use florist wire (wrapped) doubled and bits of jute cut in1 to 1 1/2" laid in the wire, then using a drill, twist the wire while holding the other end in a pair of pliers.. I also use barbeque bamboo skewers with pig hair (horse hair) furnace filters (they're already green); have to paint the skewers first. And I never use spray paint since I use my airbrush for all my painting. I can use either acrylic or oil base paints; I usually use one airbrush for acrylic and the other one for oil base paints. Cheers from W Rusty Lane K9POW in eastern Tennessee
Oh my god maravilloso el arte que tienes,bendiciones no dejo de mirar y de hacer algunas de las cosas que has mostrado,principalmente las de este video.pues estoy preparando la village para estas próximas Christmas.aunque vivo aquí en Miami y no ay nieve,pero pretendo estar para el north.jjjjj saludos.
Eso es hermoso. Estoy feliz de que estés disfrutando de mis videos. Bendiciones.
Amazing, Tom! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you very much for your support, Steve. All the best....Tom
Tom how do you stop the static build up when cutting up the sponge ? I'm like a magnet to it 😅 many thanks
@nidge2822 haha yes, I know how that feels. Just mist spray some water on the shredded bits and that should settle it down
@@tomjenssen7486 thanks Tom it worked a treat ,just mixed the sponge with your paint mix now letting it dry ,and I got a hand mixer of ebay so once sponge bit are dry I will try it out .thanks for your help mate much appreciated 👍
This is Awesome Tom. Im going to have to try that.
Thanks so much mate. I left the colouring out of the first vid to keep the length down. I have the next one ready to edit and I'll be making a few more after that. I hope you'll find them useful. All the best :)
¡Hola buenos días Tom! Just watched your series of videos showing how you manufacture your own scatters and foams. I will definitely be trialing those. I also took on board the use of hairspray for attaching the foams to other surfaces - I assume you use other adhesives when attaching the foams and scatters to the baseboard or other solid objects - if so, which adhesives do you use Tom?
Hola :) Many thanks for watching and leaving a comment... I'm glad you like these ideas.
I use a simple PVA and water mix for ground cover and neat PVA for bushes etc. All the best...Tom
We are hooked 👍👍
Fantastic :)
Cheers Tom, time to go to poundstrecher or poundland and free them of some sponges. Next stop, playing with my food processor. Great stuff. Regards, Geoff.
Glad you like it Geoff. Have fun :) All the best.
Love it Tom,
Thank you very much Duncan, I appreciate your support. All the best....Tom
Can you make a video on how you create your model trees PLEASE! Very nicely done.
You are a amazing modeler.
Hi, thanks very much for your kind words of support. Yes, I plan to do some tree videos very soon. I hope you'll enjoy them. All the best...Tom
Brilliant I've been trying this myself and as you say green straight out of the tube won't work, so the key is to add yellow then ? .
Thanks for subscribing to my channel.
Brian
Hi Brian, thanks for watching and commenting. Yes, I use ultramarine blue and cadmium yellow to get the greens. You can use white to take the colour up. I use very small amounts of the siennas to get a brownish tint. Remember, 3 colours always make brown.. so very small amounts. I've just matched burnt grass so I may do a clip on how to do that. Thanks again and all the best...Tom
I've been to the pound shop today and got car sponges and paint to have a go
That's great :) I'd recommend doing a few tests with the colours and ratios. If you're going to use your own mixes for the whole layout (as I do) you can come up with as many shades as you want. The colour that I'm doing in this clip is specially worked out to be compatible with the leading brands. Good luck and have fun :) Edit: If you're not happy with the colours you can chuck the sponge back into the bowl and re-colour. So if it comes out too brown, for example, you can mix up a spoonful of green...wet the sponge and mix it in. (You can do this twice before it gets too crispy) ;)
Superb Video Tom! :D A nice tutorial like video :)
Thank you very much Mark. I appreciate your support. All the best :)
Brilliant that! Wots best way to shred the sponge?
Hi Matthew. Cheers mate. This is the second part of a series that I'll be doing. The shredding is in the first one, here ua-cam.com/video/fLaTyE1eHVo/v-deo.html Thanks again and all the best.
Ahhh cheers for that bud
No probs..I hope it's helpful :)
Good stuff Tom ......I notice you are using freezer bags I just hope they don’t get put in the freezer with mixed veg ....I know when I coloured mine it did look like a good soup mix ....seriously though great ...fred
Thanks so much Fred :) Yes...lol...I must be careful to keep these bags out of the freezer :) ... I was using plastic tubs but as I began to experiment more with the colours I needed something cheap to keep all the samples in..plus I ca write the colours mixes on the bags...very useful. Thanks again for the support Fred...Next vid will be quite a breakthrough colour. All the best mate.
Tom Jenssen ....yep I think the bags a good idea like especially when creating a lot of different colours..fred
Interesting - you could sell your mixtures? Looks effective in the TV model too. Laurie.
Thanks Laurie. When I had the idea, I considered making it to sell. The main brands use dyes and I'm having trouble grinding the dyed stuff. Like anything, you get better with trial and error. The colours I'm making now are much better than before. I could probably sell this at low cost as it works very well with the leading brand's colour schemes. For now I'm going to do separate vids for some of the different colours I'm coming up with.
Cheers.. I used an older green to base coat the TV model so I used this new colour to make it compatible with the next layers. I hope you're doing well mate...All the best...Tom
I'm ok, applying for that CH5 TV show - The Great Model Railway Challenge. Also I'm probably not at Southend this year - too many other shows. I might go as a punter though lol.
Good to hear mate...and that's great, best of luck with that. Well, I'd say that 'too many other shows' is the best reason to not be displaying there..lol.
It is nice to be asked though. I'll try and do another year but I think 2019 clashes with Warley, and I'll be there.
Brilliant how to video Tom, thanks for the great tips. Will have to give this a go. Do you find the colour stays fast once PVA etc. is added? Cheers, Dan
Hi Dan, thanks very much for the comment. Yes, I use a fairly good quality acrylic paint for this so it stays colourfast. I use PVA, spray adhesives and hairspray all to good effect. There will be some trial and error if you do this yourself but a strong orange coloured sponge and the mixes I show here will give you compatible colours. If you make a batch that you don't like you can throw it back in the mixing bowl to adjust the colour. I recommend you have a look at part 1 to see how I prepare the foam. Thanks again and all the best....Tom :)
Tom Jenssen Thanks Tom, cheers!
Do you think the paint and water mixture is a 1:1 ratio? Or maybe less water?
I'd say less water. I usually mix it by eye...just enough water to help the paint run and flow. Also, remember that acrylic paint turns slightly whiter when water is added, so mix your colour first.
Very good
Thanks Colin, glad you like it.
fabulous job Tom ! the colour mixing youve acheived is amazing to watch..im guessing you must have other artistic skills to be able to use it to such good effect !...i couldn't help thinking did Monet ever have a layout? cheers dave
Thank you so much Dave. To be honest it's been more about trial and error. I've been playing around with the mixes for quite some time. I watch artists mixing certain colours and try to learn from them. Getting to know the colour wheel has been very useful too. I'm glad you enjoy the vid...I have the next one ready to edit. Thanks again for your kind words :))