DIY: Static Grass Applicator

When it comes to static grass, I can think of no other innovation that has contributed more to the realism of model railroad scenery. The texture and depth provided by static grass fibers really make scenes "pop." The only drawback to using static grass is the limited availability of commercial static grass applicators and the high price of the ones that are available. The NOCH GRASSmaster, for example, has a street price above $175. That's a lot of green to spend on making realistic green on your layout. Fortunately, several modelers have published plans for homemade static grass applicators that will only set you back around $30. That's more like it!

The static grass applicator I built as described in this post is a hybrid of the Ztrains Grassinator and Joe Fugate's own homemade applicator. Of course, as with most hobby projects, I threw in a few of my own variations where I felt certain parts or procedures would work better. The applicator pictured in the photo above shows the results of the steps I have included below.

» Parts List

These are the parts that I used to construct my static grass applicator:

• Enercell™ 12V/500mA AC Adapter (Radio Shack #273-357)


• Enercell™ Adaptaplug™ M (Radio Shack #273-344)


• Size M Panel-mount Coaxial Power Jack (Radio Shack #274-1582)


• SPST Rocker Switch (Red) (Radio Shack #275-694)


• Mini 1-1/4" Alligator Clips (Radio Shack #270-380)


• 75-Ft. UL-Recognized Hookup Wire (20AWG) (Radio Shack #278-1222)


• Negative ion generator (Oatley Electronics #IONB)


• 8" long 1 1/2" diameter PVC sink tailpiece (Ace Hardware #4224218)


• PVC plug that fits the flange end of the tailpiece (Ace Hardware)


• PVC plug that fits the non-flange end of the tailpiece (Ace Hardware)


• Rubbermaid TakeAlongs 1.2 cup container (Rubbermaid #7H99)


• Metal window screen (Ace Hardware)

» Steps

Step 1 To get started, cut 2" off the sink tailpiece to make it 6" long. Be sure to cut from the end of the pipe without the flange, since the flange will be used to secure the grass cup to the pipe in a later step. Do NOT discard the small 2" long piece that you cut off of the tailpiece since this will also be used later on to secure the grass cup to the pipe.

Step 2 Drill two holes in the tailpiece: drill a 21/64" hole 1 1/4" from the end of the pipe, then drill a 1/16" hole 2" from the same end of the pipe. Measure from the cut end (not the flange end) of the tailpiece when drilling these holes. Also, drill these two holes in line with each other; the seam of the tailpiece makes a natural guideline for doing this.

Step 3 Drill a hole in each of the two tailpiece plugs: drill a 3/4" hole in the plug that will cover the cut end of the tailpiece, then drill a 1/8" hole in the plug that will cover the flange end of the tailpiece.

The following photo shows how all of my parts looked after cutting the tailpiece and drilling all of the holes:



Step 4 Using a sharp hobby knife, carefully cut a large hole in the bottom of the Rubbermaid container. The hole should be just large enough so the container will slide down over the cut end of the tailpiece and snug up against the flange end:



Step 5 Run a bead of super glue along the back side of the tailpiece flange and pull the grass cup snug against the flange to permanently fasten it to the tailpiece:



Step 6 Make a vertical cut through one side of the small 2" long section of tailpiece that was cut off in a previous step. This cut will allow the short piece to expand and slip over the cut end of the tailpiece like a collar. Slide this collar all the way down against the grass cup and super glue it in place. The grass cup will now be permanently locked between the collar and the flange. Disregard the two wires shown here; I attached some of the electronics before I realized I forgot to attach the cup and sleeve:



Step 7 Solder a 4" long piece of black hookup wire to the negative (-) pin of the power jack. Solder a 4" long piece of red hookup wire to the positive (+) pin of the power jack. Solder the other end of this red wire to one pin of the toggle switch. Solder another 4" long piece of red hookup wire to the other pin of the toggle switch:



Step 8 Insert the toggle switch into the hole drilled into the plug that will cover the cut end of the tailpiece. Secure the toggle switch using the nut provided:



Step 9 Insert a 2' long piece of black hookup wire through the smaller hole drilled into the tailpiece. Pull the wire through the cut end of the tailpiece:



Step 10 Attach the black hookup wire from the previous step, along with the black hookup wire from the power jack, to the black wire of the ion generator. Use a small wire nut to bundle these three wires together. Using another wire nut, attach the red hookup wire from the rocker switch to the red wire of the ion generator. The white wire of the ion generator with the small brush should not be attached at this time:



Step 11 Cut the small brush off of the white wire of the ion generator and attach it to a 2' long piece of green hookup wire using a small wire nut:



Step 12 Push the ion generator down into the cut end of the tailpiece. The white/green wire should go in first; pull this wire through the flange end of the tailpiece (remember, I forgot to install my grass cup before installing the electronics so the grass cup does not appear yet in my photos):



Step 13 Remove the nut and washer from the power jack. Push the power jack down into the cut end of the tailpiece, then push the threaded end of the jack through the larger of the two holes drilled earlier into the tailpiece. Secure the power jack using the washer and nut:



Step 14 Push the plug with the rocker switch down into the cut end of the tailpiece and secure it with super glue or some other adhesive. Since my plug did not have a very tight fit in the cut end of the tailpiece, I used a bead of LocTite Power Grab construction adhesive to hold it in place (in this photo you can see that I finally remembered to slide the grass cup in place):



Step 15 Insert the other plug (the one with the small 1/8" hole drilled in it) into the flange end of the tailpiece, feeding the green hookup wire through the hole. Secure it with super glue or some other adhesive:



Step 16 Using a sharp hobby knife, carefully cut a large hole in the lid of the Rubbermaid container. Using a pair of scissors or snips, cut a round piece of window screen about the same diameter as the lid of the Rubbermaid container. You want this circle of screen wire to be small enough to fit inside the lid, but large enough so that you can "snap" it in behind the threads of the lid:



Step 17 Drill two small holes through the Rubbermaid container lid and the screen wire. Insert one 4-40 x 3/4" screw into each hole and secure each screw with a 4-40 nut. Solder an alligator clip to the end of the green hookup wire extending through the plug in the flange end of the tailpiece, then clip the green hookup wire to either of the screws:



Step 17 Solder an alligator clip to the end of the black hookup wire extending from the small hole in the side of the tailpiece:



Your static grass applicator is now complete!

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Layout Progress as of 6/23/2010

This week I completed the Old Allatoona Road grade crossing at the southern end of the visible layout. I blended the road into the scenery by adding ground cover and ballast up to the edges of the road, including the small strip of road between the rials. Finally, I weathered the road using chalk pastels. The next scenery step in this area is to apply static grass along the road and track, then add bushes and trees. Afterwards, the grade crossing will receive functioning crossing signals and small details such as signs, equipment boxes and telephone poles.

» Photos

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Layout Progress as of 6/15/2010

In my previous post, I described how I started building the Old Allatoona Road grade crossing at the south end of the visible layout. Once the road was glued into place, there was a lot of work to be done to blend the road into the surrounding scenery. After this blending work is done, the road should go from looking like it is sitting on top of the scenery to looking like it was graded and paved with an N-scale highway crew. This post describes the initial steps of this project.

» Photos

I used Polly Scale Steam Power Black to paint the tops of the ties and spike heads between the rails at the grade crossing. This will hide the underlying trackwork once the roadway is installed between the rials:



Next, I installed a small strip of plastic between the rails to act as a spacer so that the roadway height between the rails will be correct. I used a small strip of plastic from the same FOR SALE sign used to build the roadway sections. As it turns out, two layers of this plastic are the perfect height for installing the roadway between the rails. I beveled the ends of this plastic strip to simulate the profile of an asphalt road surface. I also painted the outside edges Polly Scale Steam Power Black to hide the otherwise white plastic:



After the "spacer" strip of plastic was installed between the rials, I installed the top strip that is the actual road surface. The strip also has bevelled ends and has been painted Krylon Primer Gray to match the other road sections. You can also see where I had to shave down some of the roadway along the near rail that was interfering with wheel treads as trains crossed the road:



With the center road section installed between the rails, I turned my attention to building up the shoulders of the road leading up to the grade crossing. For this, I used Sculptamold applied with a wood craft stick:



Finally, I used paint to hide the stark white of the Sculptamold:



Next up is adding the actual ground covers and weathering the roadway. This seems like a lot of steps for such a simple project, but I hope this attention to detail pays off with a realistic looking modern grade crossing.

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Layout Progress as of 6/12/2010

Scenery has found its way to the CSX Dixie Line layout! In general, I have been working from the south end of the visible layout towards the north. On the southernmost visible area of the layout, the track emerges from the helix and crosses Old Allatoona Road at grade before reaching the turnout at South End Emerson. Before any scenery materials could be applied, I first had to install the roadway and grade crossing. With the roadway in place, scenery materials can be applied in the form of dirt, static grass, bushes and trees.

» Photos

The first step when installing Old Allatoona Road was to draw the outline of the roadway on the layout using a Sharpie marker:



I then transferred the road outline to paper and used the paper as a template to cut the roadway sections out of sheet plastic. I used the same method I described in detail in an earlier post about making roads from sheet plastic. Here are the two sections of painted roadway; one section has been striped using Microscale decal stripes and a band of dark gray paint has been sprayed on to represent fresh asphalt at the grade crossing:



I used LocTite construction adhesive to affix the roadways to the layout. I still need to install the small section of roadway between the rails and weather the lanes using chalk pastels. I will also build up the roadway shoulders using Sculptamold to blend the road into the surrounding terrain:



With the road in place, I was able to begin adding scenery materials to this section of the layout. For the first "layer" of ground cover I am using homemade dirt that was created by collecting dried leaves and grinding them into a fine powder using a coffee bean grinder. The small bits and pieces of leaves left behind in the powder look like small sticks and twigs and makes a great looking base ground cover.

I am using a variation of Pelle Soeborg's wet-in-wet scenery method that he describes in his book Essential Model Railroad Scenery Techniques. This method begins by adding a thin layer of diluted white glue to the layout and sifting on some of the dirt.

After this layer has dried, you sift on more dirt and drizzle the area with wet water. For my wet water, I use a 50/50 mix of tap water and 70% isopropyl alcohol:



Once the entire area has been wetted, you drizzle on diluted white glue. My white glue mixture is a 2:1 mix of plain tap water and Elemer's white glue:



At this point, Pelle Soeborg adds other layers of ground cover such as ground foam and static grass. However, I plan on adding some tall static grass to this area and since I do not yet have my static grass applicator, I stopped after adding the dirt:



In this photo, you can see the difference between a fresh area of dirt that is still wet (to the left of the road) and completed areas of dirt after they have dried (to the right of the road). You can also see a lone tree that has been planted to help me determine the size and color of trees that I need to build for this scene:



Once the dirt layer has dried completely, I will build up the road shoulders using Sculptamold and touch up any ballast and dirt as needed. Then, it will be time for the tall static grass followed by bushes, saplings and trees.

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