How to flock terrain boards?

[David H]

If this topic has been covered previously I have been unable to find it, so any advice greatly appreciated.

I have, at long last, nearly completed my wargaming shed and now have 24 TSS 2'x2' scenic boards I want to 'improve'.

The forums have been very useful for information on covering the boards. Following the advice of Captain Blood, etc I have gone down the 'gloop' route although for my first attempt I found it was easier to cover the board with a mix of paint and glue and then sprinkle sand on top rather than adding sand to the mix. If anyone can advise mix quantities I would be grateful as I get too much or too little sand and it just does not look good.

However, I am happy with my result so far - see attached photo.

The next stage, once the drybrushing is completed, is the flocking, and I have not found much information on how to actually do this on a large terrain board.

The look I am going for is Mediterranean - fairly arid, usable for the Peninsular War, Italy, and possibly North Africa. I have all the gear to apply static grass but am not keen on it as a surface for gaming on. What do you advise?

Finally, how on earth to do you apply flock in large quantities? I have seen reference to spraying PVA, but have tried that before and most of the flock ended up being blasted across the board by the spray, and then the spray bottle clogged.

If I lay down glue first I suspect the flock will go on rather heavy and I want the painted surface to show through the flock.

So, any and all advice welcome.

David

[has.been]

You might consider doing the surface one square foot at a time.
Paint on (slightly thinned) PVA, where you want the vegetation,
then (after laying down some newspaper) tip the flock on & pat it down.
Leave it for 15 to 20 minutes, then tip the surplus onto the newspaper.
Recycle it for the next section.  When it is totally dry seal it with either
a spray varnish, or a thinned PVA glue.

[Eric the Shed]

Just to confirm you are talking flock NOT static grass?

Would also recommend that you 'mix' your flock as you go - that way it is not all the same colour - you only need a slight variation to give a good effect.

[David H]

has.been I guess I'm looking for a thin layer of vegetation over the entire board so your suggestion might work. The trick is probably not putting too much flock on to start?

Eric, yes I did mean flock rather than static grass. Flattened static grass always looks a bit odd to me, but I'm open to converting if  anyone has examples of how to do it convincingly.

It may be a dumb question coz it seemed so simple until I started thinking about it: just flock the board, easy huh? Actually no, theres a lot of area to cover and I have not done anything like this before!

Thanks for the advice so far.

[Ray Rivers]

If I lay down glue first I suspect the flock will go on rather heavy and I want the painted surface to show through the flock.

The amount of flock on your terrain will depend on the amount of glue you use.

In this case, if you only want a very little amount of flock to stick then I would recommend that you heavily water down your PVA. Brush on the glue and make sure it doesn't pool unless you want it to. Now lightly sprinkle on the flock, and I mean lightly; like you are adding herbs to food by placing the herbs between your fore finger and thumb and then rubbing so that only a small amount drops.

As a side note, if you hit this terrain with another coat of PVA you are going to have a lot more warping of the bases, especially long thin pieces.

My go to guy on terrain is called TheTerrainTutor on YouTube. He has a really good discussion about how to counter base warping here:

[David H]

Ray, how well will the flock stick if the PVA is heavily watered down? Will it need another coat over the top after it dries?

No had a problem with warping yet - I coated the small pieces with PVA on both sides prior to applying sand etc. If they look a bot warped in the photo its coz the board surface is not flat.

Im not too concerned about the board warping - its 40mm thick so should withstand more PVA.

[Ray Rivers]

Ray, how well will the flock stick if the PVA is heavily watered down? Will it need another coat over the top after it dries?

I would finish with a varnish but you could do another PVA layer after. Brush the surface first though, to get rid of the excess and see what you have actually sticking to the board. Might need a couple passes depending on how much flock you want.

It is the sprinkling I think will give you the effect you want. You're not going to need a lot of glue for that. The thinner the amount of flock the thinner the amount of glue.

[Ray Rivers]

Here is a great video with a number of flocking techniques:



It shows how you can control the amount of flock on the base by sprinkling and brushing.

[Captain Blood]

For my desert boards, I roughly, sparsely stippled neat PVA onto a few areas, then added flock. Once stuck and dry I shook off the surplus and then gave the whole thing a drenching in VERY watered down PVA (like 1 part PVA to 20 parts water). That highly dilute mixture is enough to help fix the flock in position, but not so much that it dries with any shine, which is the last thing you want on your terrain boards. As far as I can tell, the very expensive Woodland Scenics 'scenic cement' is simply watered down PVA - it certainly behaves in exactly the same way. Water down a teaspoonful of your own PVA in a small bottle - cost, about 0.001 pence. Or buy a bottle of Woodland Scenic 'scenic cement' - cost, about a tenner
Where I had created these sparse patches of 'grass', I then added a scattered variety of dry looking tufts on top. It looks quite effective.

[David H]

Thanks for that link Ray - I had not seen that, its very useful.

Captain Blood - nice looking boards. Thats probably more sparse than I am going for, but it I think I am starting to know where I am going. Useful advice on the PVA too.

What sort of flock mixes do you guys use? I mostly have the fine ground foam type stuff, but is the sawdust based flock any good?

I hope to try some test pieces this weekend, but I need to finish off the gaming shed roof first!!

[Ray Rivers]

For my desert boards, I roughly, sparsely stippled neat PVA onto a few areas, then added flock. Once stuck and dry I shook off the surplus and then gave the whole thing a drenching in VERY watered down PVA (like 1 part PVA to 20 parts water).

Geez... I was waiting for you to chime in... 

It's an interesting subject.

As for flock, TheTerrainTutor recommends Javis. I use Woodland Scenics. You can also make your own, so I don't think it really matters to be quite honest.

Here is a video of the guy making his own flock, turf and scrub scenery:

[DS615]

Water down some PVA glue, then paint it on.  You want it watery.  The water beads and pulls into itself while the glue stays put. 
It works well for doing the patchy grass style without a lost of meticulous work.
Give it a few after painting it on. The water dries up pretty quickly, the glue takes longer.

Flocking onto it without giving it time also works, and you'll find that the flock coverage in the watery areas aren't very thick.

That, at least, is how I do thin/sparse areas of grass.

[David H]

Ray, I have WS and Javis flock so I'll mix a few colours up for a suitably arid look. I dont think I'll bother making my own, too many more important things to do, and I'm not sure my wife would appreciate me doing that to her blender! 

Thanks DS615, some more useful advice - once I try these tips out I'm sure it will be easier than it sounds.

[Charlie_]

A tip on flock vs static grass - try mixing the two together.

I have a mix I use on all my terrain boards. Off the top of my head, it's something like a mix of Arcane Scenery 'light green' and 'moorland green', one called 'summer meadow' (Javis I think?), the above three all being traditional flocks.... And a static grass (forget the brand). The mix is something like 4:2:2:1.

Anyway, the static grass adds a nice bit of texture to the flock. Forget about trying to get it to stand upright. Flock+grass mix over a textured and drybrushed ground surface makes for a great texture. Once dry, I hit it with a stiff brush in places to thin the flock and show more of the ground below. And in some places I add a second layer of flock, for a thicker, grassier look. Keeping it varied across the board.

[Amalric]

Great topic with loads of good info!