This is the only home-made ground foam (etc) I have seen, where I have thought... "I'd buy that".

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 in 1 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

I make dioramas and play sets and d&d terrain. And i an a little obsessed with trees. My brother you are the ancwer to my prayers. No more naked trees. Thank you you beautiful bloke.

Cheers mate you have just saved me a small fortune. One of the best channels for scenic modelers I`ve seen on you tube.

SWEETA!!! Glad I came a board,, this is great ... thanks for tuning us in.. as I am trying to stretch the cash 4 the railroad scenery any tips and tricks are greatly appreciated this one will go on the top of the list... Thanks again Tom... cheers, Tom B.

This is a great approach Tom! Always on the lookout for cost-effective modelling tips, and yours are a real winner. Thanks for sharing.

I found this just in time, I was getting ready to order a variety of Woodland Scenics products. Very informative series. Thanks.

This is a great tutorial! It goes through every step with a complete explanation and demonstration. I have been making miniature terrains for years. I did special effects work for cinema and theme parks when I lived in Hollywood. The materials have become much more sophisticated over the years. This polyfiber technique is relatively new. Static grass applicators have also become a necessity for professional results. I think this is the best tutorial on polyfiber on KZfaq. Thank you for the demonstration.

Just what I’ve been looking for thanks.

Tom thank you for the inspiration for the polyfiber matts. I'm using them in a slightlly application than a railroad layout. A civil war diorama of a gun battery..I cut the poly in a 15" X 36" strip. Sprayed it with a Matt green. Used hairspray stick unsanded tile grout on top to blend various Browns. Going for a wore out pasture in late fall in Virginia. Added few pine trees, bleached string for random weeds and poly bushes. Everything is handmade. Thanks again Gene

Your poly fiber is sometimes referred to as quilt batting, and comes "low loft" and "high loft". I have a bundle of this but after watching your channel, sat here and separated the layers with no problem. I have one of those old cast iron grinders too, and a dollar store where I have seen those sponges,,,2 for $ 1.00! So guess I am in business. Thanks very much for everything especially the blending of the paints. A modeler also realized it would take a life time to make trees to forest his mountains. His answer was to make "forests", not "trees", as you see from the distance. Basically clumps of green . So he came upon this idea and his terrain is beautiful. See marklin of sweeden for his video series. Bob

I made a bath of chromium green paint and water, dark enough that you can not see thru the water. Drop the fiber into the bath and squeeze it out in your hand, as you mentioned. Let them dry. I then use spray adhesive and sprinkle on the foam bits. Mix them for the effect you want. cheap as chips!!! Bob

That is just an absolutely awesome idea, thanks for sharing...Linda🚂

That is pretty nifty, I like it a lot. Well done, you deserve a Gold Star, couldn't find one so a cup instead 🏆

Very nice . Best regards From The Land Of Mesopotamia Iraq - Baghdad

Really good tutorial video! thank you

Hi.great video. I'm going to make them aswell.thanks.

thank you, you were a a lot of help. i started making my own.

A very clever and economical solution and the results speak for themselves. Logged for future use. A video on making your own flocks would be great too. Paul

..some really good information there , with a bit of imagination there's a whole lot of uses for the finished foliage ,

Brilliant. I have some of this material leftover from my wife's DIY pillow making. Mmmm I could use this stuff and now having seen your tutorial, I can. Great idea and a well explained guide on how to. Keep up the good work. Stay safe.

I'm late to the party! thanks for sharing I will be doing my foliage asap.

Thanks Tom!

Gotta love DIY!

I'm glad I came across your channel; me and my young son are going to combine our tracks together to build one very big display in the loft. This idea (and others in your other videos) is going to save us so much money and it's something that he can easily help with too (he's only 9) Thankyou for sharing your ideas, we look forward to watching more of your videos and have subscribed 👍

one of the MOST useful tricks I've ever seen, thank you so much!

This is awesome. All stuff I already have.

Simple and effective, value too. Thankyou 😃

Great video. Definitely a money saver.

this would look great growing up the side of an old brick building! :)

Yet again you have done a great job i will be trying this when i come home from devon

It is all to do with timing and although I am a subscriber of several months, I have only just seen this video and I have only just got to the stage of scenery and trees etc for my 00 gauge layout. So I'm off to the shops to find the Poly Down and paints etc. Great tutorial. Barry.Devon

as always....gr8 tips from your channel

Thanks for sharing.Jon.

muy buen video gracias por compartir

Spot on matey I have saved a small fortune 👍

Love these Tom, brilliant :) chris

I love it, Thanks 🌺🌺🌺

[thank, you for youre great video]👍

That would be good for a graveyard scene I'm making

Great video

Awesome job dude

Cheers dude. What's a quid??? You Englishers sure do talk funny. I think I'll be using the batting out of some old pillows. Cheers & 73 from W Rusty Lane K9POW in eastern Tennessee

Very nice! I'll be doing some of these for sure. They look a bit coarse on your mini layout to me but on a OO layout they would be excellent. I'd better subscribe and watch more of your videos :)

Big thank you for sharing, amazing

Been watching a ton of vids on scenery before I start in on mine, just watched a video where they used the woodland stuff (they've gotten enough of my $ hahaha) and thought "I gotta order me some of that!" Now I just saw this video and am thinking "mom makes quilts, she's got a ton of batting!" Thanks! Wonder if I could dilute paint and just soak the batting in it for a minute to color....time to experiment, and subbed for sure!

Super nice video, Greetings Gert

Thank You, this is very helpful and will save a lot of us a great deal of money. If You can get a slightly better camera, your videos will certainly benefit from that. I've subscribed.

It looks like Spanish Moss too. Nice!

Talented...

チャンネル登録しました♪ たいへん良い時間を過ごすことが出来ました😃 参考になります♪

Great solution for small scale cam nets in military dioramas

Love the idea. I just prefer spraypaint (clear or any other colour instead of hairspray. The scatter seem to stick better with spraypaint than on hairspray. Hairspray tend to loose its tack after a while.

Fantastic mate I will give it a go

Brilliant.

very nice I would spray into a cardboard box, never done but have seen it done thanks

I tried soaking mine in a diluted paint mixture. The material would just not take the paint...so I'm spraying mine using a good old rattle can. Works fine. :)

I believe I'll go buy some batting, and give that a try.

Hi Tom, I see that you have an incline or embankment in your video background. I have a 400 inch incline along a backdrop that needs to be sceniced on the front side. Did you make a rock or stone face and how is this done? Can some poly fibre hang down over this surface as well? I thought of some rock outcroppings as well. Bob

aprendo mucho con el maestro jenssen para mis futuros dioramas para carritos matchbox

Awesome work Tim. Question for you, the Hobbs Poly Down sold by me is 80% cotton and 20% poly. I assume that will work equally as well. Do you have any experience working with this blend?

Blimey Tom superb ....a little better than my effort....could have done with you on the team 😉.....regards Fred.....ps I’ve a loft full of that stuff from when I did upholstery...

Great job, looks great. I would've liked to see how you coloured the white poly fill though. You might've said how you did it in the video, but I watch with the sound off. Generally I can figure out what people are doing in the videos, but not if you don't show it at all... other than that, great video... 👍

I was thinking that a simple balsa frame to attach the mesh to while colouring and flocking might be a useful tool to work with?

Brilliant video as usual, definitely be trying this. Just one query, you say with the cheaper one you get two layers and with the premium you get four layers. Im a stickler for maths so surely thats double not quadruple? Ie 2x2=4. Or am i missing something lol. Thanks for sharing, you have saved me a fortune.👏🏼👏🏼🙌🏻

So far I've only used poly fiber from old pillows. There's a ton of it in a pillow.

It is a great help to the beginner modeler like me! I want to know what type of spray you use to color the fiber sheet. I hardly find the right spray in Japan. I will be pleased if you tell the detail information on the spray. Thanks.

Tom, This looks like a helix. Can you do a video on it and how you made it and sculpted it? bob

My wallet is my limit XD nice vid :)

Hair spray for adhesive ?

Cost effective Tom.

L

please get a grip on your tripod noise. It's maddening!