Broom straw or broom sedge might be one of may favorite weeds -- somehow it reminds me of my childhood! I've had some Woodlands Scenic "grass" for some time. It is WAY too long for broom straw and when cut to something even close to scale length/height, it gets real hard to manage. I've used some, but gave up on it.
Well, just recently I found a method to cut it closer to proper length AND made it easier to handle. Cannot remember exactly where I found it but on the Internet somewhere!?! Here are the steps in photos:
OK, maybe not quite as obvious as hoped. Instructions had called for just one set of popsicle sticks, but that might have been O scale. So, WS grass was laid down with two sets of sticks and cut down the middle. Instructions used rubber bands, but clothes pins or paper clamps worked fine. The cut ends are dipped into a line of white glue and let dry. Resulting "rows" need to be pulled or cut apart to get reasonable clumps.
All was going well, until compared to an HO scale figure. Much too tall, still. But a little trimming and the bunches came into line for height -- problem is, each "straw" is the same size, which is not quite prototypical.
Still better than earlier efforts, so a few were applied to the layout with just a dab of white glue on the bottom.
As luck would have it, the very next day Trackside Scenery showed up on my PC -- with another approach to broom straw!! This looked fantastic. So, I cut the Woodlands Scenic grass to lengths close to "real" broom straw and rolled some weed.
OK so far, then pull a clump apart and dip in patches of white glue (well, he actually used a spray adhesive of some sort).
I wasn't convinced, so I added a few of the prior effort
Well, we tried. Not totally satisfied with either but maybe from 20 feet away, they'll look OK.
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