Problems sticking foliage on plastic trees

[weismonsters]

Hi I am trying to stick foliage on some woodland scenics trees. Tried pva and now hob-e-tac and it is a nightmare. The stuff all falls off more or less as soon as i put it on. short of supergluing every piece in place I cant think how to get this to work. If anyne has any solution I would be grateful. thanks.

[zizi666]

Yeah, that tac stuff sucks. I've made several trees using Woodland scenics stuff . Sealed them with that spray on scenic cement (plural coats) and the bloody flock still comes off.
There was a thread on glueing flock one or two years ago. You should do a seach as I believe there were some better solutions mentioned.

[fred]

I used UHU.

Its a bit messy as it can be quite stringy - but it works pretty well. Dibble glue over tree armature - dip into big pile of green bits - press on loose bits.

[Mr. Peabody]

After trying hobetack and then rubber cement, I ended up using superthick CA glue and sticking the stuff on in clumps... Maddening work, but you really only have to do it once and then touch ups every two or three years. 

[weismonsters]

Thanks for the replies folks.

After googling around i foud that i was suppposed to wait 15 mins for the hob-e-tac to get tacky (the retailer had stuck a label over the instructions on my pot  :-/ . So i have had another go. fingers crossed. I still have a load more trees to do so  i will try one of these suggestions for those if this doesnt work out well.

[AndrewBeasley]

Thanks for the replies folks.

After googling around i foud that i was suppposed to wait 15 mins for the hob-e-tac to get tacky (the retailer had stuck a label over the instructions on my pot  :-/ . So i have had another go. fingers crossed. I still have a load more trees to do so  i will try one of these suggestions for those if this doesnt work out well.

Been there - fell off again 

I tried a hot glue gun my wife owns - NOT the best I ever had as the armature melted as the glue began to set...  I understand you can get low temperature guns that may stop this but I have moved over to UHU glue (well a cheap version from Everbuild called Stick2) and not had any issues since.  My process is:

• Coat armature with UHU glue
• Let dry a few moments (30 sec max)
• Stick clumps on adding glue to the edges and clumps as required
• Wait a day till dry solidly (not sure this is actually required but its what I do)
• Spray with a very heavy coat of cheap hairspray from the top - Tesco own label does not smell too bad - this is so heavy it is just about dripping off the tree
• Coat again in hairspray a day later from the underside - not so heavy this time
• Coat in Rustoleum matt varnish
• Coat agin in matt varnish adding a LIGHT sprinkle of flock to help create 'leaves'
• Coat for the last time in the matt varnish

Not the shortest solution but given how many 'cheap' boxes I bought after watching 'The Clinc' video and seeing how simple it was (Trades Description Act anyone) I was not going to throw / sell them.

[Redmist1122]

I have made my share of these trees and what seems to work the best...low temp hot glue gun.  A lil messy, and can burn your fingers...I know.  I live in Tucson, AZ and store my trees in the garage in a plastic tub...no problems with the foliage melting off the trees.  Works great with almost instant results.

Good luck.

[Norm]

I have used 2 methods, the hot glue gun (do not let the gun ip touch the plastic) and a general purpose adhesive in which you put glue on two surfaces, leave for a couple of minutes and then bring them together.

In both cases, it has been important to build the tree bit by bit - so first bit puts foliage onto a branch, but wedge it tight into the junction of two branches or branch and trunk. From here-on-in add pieces by gluing BOTH the branch and a bit of the adjacent foliage,this seems to lock things together better.

[snitcythedog]

I use wood glue and a drop of superglue to tack it in place while the wood glue is setting.  Works every time.  I have tried most of the above methods and this is what works for me.  To do this I rip the foliage so there is a channel for the glue to sit in, then I add the drop of superglue on top and fold this channel on top of the branch. 
Snitchy sends.

[Captain Blood]

Get a bag of the large clump foliage and stick a few large clumps to each armature with superglue. Spearing them on branches will help make them even more secure.
Once firmly stuck, dob some PVA generously around onto those big clumps and onto the smaller branches. Then scatter the fine clump foliage stuff over that. It will stick in places to the PVA. Repeat as often as desired until you have the kind of coverage you want. This is not a quick process as you have to wait for the PVA to set between each application, although truthfully, one or two applications are usually enough.
Then use a hand spray to drench the whole assemblage with very watered down PVA. And I mean DRENCH, so it's sopping. Shocking as it looks at this stage, the watered down PVA will dry absolutely clear and matt, and bind the whole thing together into a quite solid end product.
Although I'm sure hairspray has much the same effect 

[S J Donovan]

Woodland Scenics have a load of online how to videos for their products checkout the landscape section under videos.