g'day fella's, i was wondering, as after i finish my current dio i plan on doing some us marines under fire in a field of long grass near the jungle(vietnam of course), how do i go about maing, or buying long grass? cheers (:-)

Re: long grass Vietnam, it was suggested to me by an IPMS member over here (in the Philippines) to use plastic straw (the type used to tie things) or something to that effect. With the use of several X-Acto knife blades (preferably the ones with the curved tip) put side by side with some little space in between, mounted on a handle, you could shred the plastic straw to make grass. I think grass in tropical regions are fatter/wider blades rather than 'straw type' grass. I think the material is horse hair or something.

I have used Woodland Scenics field grass for a diorama I made. It comes in several colors - Medium Green, Harvest Gold, Natural Straw and another shade of green I think. I forgot how much is one packet of field grass though. Here's a link to my first diorama where I used field grass: http://members.tripod.com/mmfs0/onlinemem/Gberegovoy/ Note that the grass was waaaaay to thick (which led my dad to comment: "Looks like the board sprouted some hair." ). My error. :-)

I hope this helps. :-)

ok LEST

I got a tip for you
Go to your nearest DIY store or hardware store. Look in the discounts for those brushes with the "blond hair" so the white hairs. Go home get the scissors cut off the hairs glue them onto your dio and you have long grass.
as variation you can AB your grass in every color you want
with a couple of those brushes from the discount departement you can make a whole field of long grass for a relatively low price

My two cents

Yup, Faust's suggestion is another one. Or you could also try hemp rope. Or an old wig (as suggested in Shep Paine's book "How to Build Dioramas")

I use dyed deer hair that you can get from a sporting goods store.....it's used for tying flies for fishing.....it comes in many different greens and yellows and browns...it's long enough that you'd probably have to cut it down for your needs.......and it's fairly easy to work with....I clamp a clump of mixed colours in a hemostat and cut it.....then you can either....drill a hole and use white glue.....or use white glue and stick it straight on the base.....both work.

Gotta agree with the previous posts - Hemp and old paint brushes are the most common cheapest easiest to find routs.
Scenic Woodland does make a long grass product if you have a local train shop check them out.

I have noticed a trend on these model sites of what I like to call "super consumerism"
When someone gives a tip on how to do something on the cheap....someone else comes along and tells of some product that is available in hobby shops that will do the same thing.
Woodland Scenics long grass product....is dyed deer hair they found in the fly tying area of their local sporting good store....they bought it.....split it up....package it and give you 1/4 of the original product in a brand new package and charge you over 2 times the original amount for it......this seems to be a lot to pay for the nice new package they put it in!!!!
There's another company that sells scale snow....a small baggie of it costs around $10 here......at a plastics shop you can buy a 5 gallon sized bucket of it for around $5....it's called microballoons.
The model store isn't the last say when it comes to diorama products....look around people....don't buy things for more $$$ when it's available elsewhere for less and you get more!!!

There's some kind of string, used by plumbers that works good. I'm not sure what it's made of but it smells bad, like camel hair...

thnx guys, i will probably use faust's idea, do u by any chance have a pic of that brush? chers

Go to the discountdepartement of the nearest DIY store or hardware store and look for these kind of brushes



I`m sure you will find them there very cheap (it is here in holland) and it doesn`t have to be a topbrand as long as it has hairs it`s a usefull brush

have fun building

Dioman, re: superconsumerism, it's probably because some don't have much time, ingenuity, patience, imagination, or all of the above to make it all from scratch. Example: me. I agree though that naking things from scratch is fun. :-)

Faust, re: brushes, what material do they use for the bristles? Over here, most of the white/blond hair brushes sold in hardware shops are hard bristles, not soft ones. They stand out straight when cut and are quite thick. I think they use a synthetic material (plastic, vynil, etc) for the bristles. That's why I didn't use them for my diorama and instead opt for Woodland Scenics.

GIB

I`m sure if you ask at the DIY shop for soft haired brushes that they have them. I haven`t found a store where they didn`t

but don`t try a bakery #:-) #:-) #:-)

thnx mate, i will look 4 them then, it will be good, cheers

Faust re:Brushes, Most of the brushes I've seen are declared as being Hog Bristles... hard and thick...

believe me man the soft ones are out there too

the things you call "hog bristles" I use for straw in barns and stuff

yeah, i got the brush, it works great, thnx

show us the result when it`s finished dude
I like to see a good Vietnam Dio

Try the bristles of a corner broom. If you take a knife and slice them it will give you the the sharp simi circle shape you are looking for that grows in the jungle area's. plus it stands up on its own and also has the dried out look.