Thursday 20 February 2014

BUSCH "TEAR AND SHARE" GRASS MATS

These mats are easy to use and look so good!

Many of us remember those bright green grass mats but things have come a long way since then because grass mats are now available with multi levelled fibres, multicoloured grasses and earth effects. These mats are a great way to add realistic looking grass, weeds and tufts to your layout.

Busch make a large range of grass mats. The standard grass mats are sold in subtle colours and various sizes (10 x 80 cms to 250 x 100 cm). They also have wild grass mats with taller grass fibres plus 16 multi-leveled "tear and share" ground cover mats with seasonal colours and textures.
 
HOW TO USE THE "TEAR AND SHARE" GROUND COVER MATS

  • Decide upon the area to be covered with the grass mat. The mats can be used as they come but it's simple and quick to break off pieces and stretch the mat slightly to create a more realistic appearance.

  • Paint Busch adhesive (7599) with a wide paintbrush onto the area to be covered with the mat. Only treat an area of about 7 cm by 7 cms at a time so that the adhesive will stay damp as you work with the mat.

  • Pull off the backing sheet from the section of the mat that you intend to use.

  • The grass mat can then easily be pulled apart into random shapes between the fingers. The more random the pieces the more realistic it will look.

  • Push the torn off sections of grass mat in a random fashion into the wet glue.

  • If you have two mats of slightly difference colours it may be good to mix pieces of the mats to add colour variety to the area of scenery.

  • Once you have planted sufficient grass pieces sprinkle sand or static grass fibres or scatter materials over any gaps between the pieces of mat while the glue is still wet.

  • Leave the area to dry and vacuum off any excess materials.

TOOLS AND MATERIALS NEEDED

Busch adhesive (7599) to hold the mat securely

Busch scatters and modelling sand

A wide paintbrush.

INFORMATION BOX

Scale: mainly OO/HO but can be used in other scales to represent tall (in N scale) or short (O scale) grass

For more information: www.busch-model.com

Available from: Ontracks (www.ontracks.co.uk)  - stock numbers 1300 to 1315

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Model Railway Specialists

Have a look at our new video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcdfW4BW6fU&feature=youtu.be

Thursday 2 January 2014

MAKING REALISTIC ROADS WITH BUSCH STARTER KITS

Whether you model in N scale or OO/HO scale Busch has a road starter kit for you. The kits comprise of a length of self-adhesive flexible road plus a section for car parks, road markings, road signs and barriers. These kits are an excellent introduction to making superb looking roads on your layout which are available from our Railway Model Online Shop 

Flexible roll-out strips of single-track carriageways can be bought separately in both light and dark asphalt colours with and without lines. The Busch range has additional parts such as bus stops, lay bys, marked car parks, zebra crossings, cobbles, road junctions and other features that we see on roads in real life.

Making the road

For both straight and curved roads a suggested road laying procedure is as follows:
  • It is important to ensure that the baseboard surface is perfectly flat before laying the road because a laid road will highlight any imperfections on the baseboard.
  • In my experience it is best to experiment with a short test section of road on a piece of cardboard before moving onto the road that is to be fixed on the layout.
  • Decide where your road is to go and pull each section away from the backing sheet slowly and deal with just one short section at a time. Do not be tempted to pull the whole road section from the backing paper at the same time - if you do that it will be impossible to work with. There is no need to stretch the material lengthways as you lay the road because this would distort the road surface.
  • Carefully lay the released road section just 3 to 5 cms a time pushing it gently onto the baseboard with your fingers and watch to ensure that you are laying the road straight or in a smooth curve as you wish.
  • Curves you will need to work more slowly as you follow the bend. The material is stretchy so it will accommodate a curve. Work the inside of the corner first gradually easing the road surface around the outside of the curve. Do not be tempted to use the road section on a very tight bend because the inside edge of the road surface will become crumpled.
  • Gently smooth down each section as you go before moving onto the next section.
  • If you need to use several sections of road lengthwise you can almost disguise the join by laying one length just to overlap over the next piece by a couple of mms.
  • I find that the adhesive on these road sections is very good but Busch Scenic Glue (7599) can be used to fix down any edges that may come loose over a period of time.

The Busch catalogue shows all of the parts of their road system, pavement and road accessories. Alternatively go to www.busch-model.com.


TOOLS AND MATERIALS REQUIRED (available from Ontracks)

A sharp craft knife for cutting the road sections.

A self sealing cutting mat to cut the road to protect the table or workbench below.





Scales: Busch road sections are available for Z, N, TT and OO/HO scales on our website

Wednesday 18 December 2013

MAKE YOUR LAYOUT COME ALIVE WITH BUSCH PLANTS

Busch make a large range of miniature crops, flowers and other vegetation including sunflowers, grape vines and wheat fields. Whilst most come as kits to assemble some can be bought ready assembled on a small base. All of the plants are quite different in size and for example the ferns are about 10 mm high and the mushrooms are up to 4 mm.


The kits come with various plastic sprues in different colours. The plants usually have 2 or more pieces for each plant and for example the strawberry plants have four tiers of leaves plus a base plate while each fern sprue each contains 24 leaves with a suggestion that around 6 fern leaves are used for each plant.

Making the kits

Making the plants is easy and fun as follows:
  • Read the instructions on the back of the packet and on the supplied leaflet to see how your particular kit needs to be assembled.
  • With all of the plants the leaves and flowers need to be removed from the sprue with a sharp craft knife over a self sealing cutting board. It is suggested that a dab of Busch super glue (7597) or contact adhesive be used to hold the parts together and fixed to the landscape.
  • Some find that it's good to hold the parts in tweezers as each plant is assembled. Once you have made the first plant you can almost set up an assembly line to quickly assemble the remaining plants.

The main range of the plants is for OO/HO scale but there are also a number of kits available for N and TT scales. Some of the Busch Starter Kits (such as Forest and Meadow 6043) contain a selection of these plants and are a great way to learn how to use a variety of these plants to good effect on a layout.

Adding plants, flowers, weeds and crops to a layout is a great way to spend an evening. It's fun and certainly will add talking points for visitors to your layout.

TOOLS AND MATERIALS REQUIRED (all available from Ontracks)
  • A sharp craft knife for cutting the plants off the plastic sprue.
  • A self sealing cutting board to cut the plant parts from the sprue.
  • A small pair of tweezers for handling the plants.
  • Busch Superglue (7597) or contact adhesive can be used for fixing the parts together and to the landscape.
  • A mixture of Busch fine foam scatter materials and Busch fine real sand for around the base of the plants.
  • Busch produce magnifying glasses especially for use with their plants to be assembled.

 Scales: N, TT, HO and OO

Busch Plants for Model Railways For Sale on our website