Update 27 April 2008: I’ve added some more photos below.
Well, the static grass idea didn’t really work. Time to think of something new. Thankfully, static grass glued with PVA glue onto a glossy surface comes up really easy, so nothing was really lost—except a small amount of now used static grass, oh, and a weekend’s worth of time.
Here’s what I had done. I bought 1/16″ vinyl tape (for making presentations, apparently) from the local art store.
I split lengths of it down to 1/32″ wide.
I applied these lengths in a striped pattern to the paddy.
I then applied a layer of PVA glue, put down some static grass, and waited for it to dry. When it did, I pulled up the tape…and all the static grass with it. That was attempt number one.
The second time, I pulled up the tape after applying the glue, but before applying the static grass. The result was…splotchy. There was a vague hint of “rows”, and a lot of unevenly applied grass. I couldn’t figure out exactly why, either. It didn’t look very good, as you can see.
Worse, static grass just wasn’t pulling off the rice look, and especially not the nearly mature mid-summer rice look I was hoping for. I’m still trying to think of something new to try.
In the meantime, I’ve scraped up all the “rice” from the paddies (probably needs another gloss coat or three now), and I’m playing with all the varieties of flocking I’ve collected over the years for wargames terrain. The good news is that I’m liking the results so far—not great, but worthwhile. As I write this, the tall grass has dried, and I am waiting for the Hob-e-Tac to dry so I can start planting low bushes.
I’ve also ballasted the track, and it hasn’t actually been too bad (thanks to the folks at the Japanese Modelling & Japan Rail Enthusiasts Forum). I’ve even painted the ballast to a pleasing ruddy shade reminiscent of rural lines in Japan (although, interestingly, the Suigun Line uses gray ballast. Didn’t notice that until too late!)
I just have to keep in mind that this piece is to learn on, and that mistakes are both inevitable and useful. But they are also certainly frustrating.