This is the best process for home made ground foam I have ever seen. This is really appreciated and exceptionally done :)

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.

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

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.

Thank you. Now to try it.

very very profesional. A lot of things to learn from these videos. Thank you for sharing your knowlege sir.

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 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.

Amazing, Tom! Thanks so much for sharing!

Excellent follow up video to the preparation of the foam sponges. Cheers

Love it Tom,

This is Awesome Tom. Im going to have to try that.

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.

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

Superb Video Tom! :D A nice tutorial like video :)

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.

We are hooked 👍👍

Tom, what kind of paint is it you use? Thanks, great video! Mark in Portland, Oregon

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

Can you make a video on how you create your model trees PLEASE! Very nicely done. You are a amazing modeler.

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

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

Very good

¡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?

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

Brilliant that! Wots best way to shred the sponge?

Interesting - you could sell your mixtures? Looks effective in the TV model too. Laurie.

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

Do you think the paint and water mixture is a 1:1 ratio? Or maybe less water?