Episode 90 17 A New Method for Home Made Flocking

Finally got around to having a go at this method, and what can I say, it's brilliant
Haven't tracked down a mincer yet, but used my Kmart coffee/spice grinder on the foam underlay and it works a treat, and the colour matching technique is great. Not as fine as I would like for ground cover, but maybe that might help if I put it through a mincer first.
If anyone close to me needs some of the foam we have council cleanup this week and there is a stack of it just down the path.

Cheers
Tony

 

OK, got the right thread this time.
Railroad Model Craftsman Feb 1983 has an article using a blender & foam - so not a new idea but recycled for new modellers.

 

I have had the knowledge (learnt at an exhibition demo) for over 20 years, shown how to soak sponges in emulsion paint and allowed to dry (for potentially many many days). Then put through a hand mincer (grinder). As the painted sponge is no longer springy (actually a hard block) it will grind up well and produce 'flock'. I more recently found a video using a blender and acrylic paints, this will presumably produce a softer more sponge like material and gives better control of colour shades (as in your hands, not the shops) although unlike above, this showed the paint being blended and added to sponge pre blender, in a bowl. We have a 'Bamix' with the grinder attachment bowl, that I have been banned from using to crunch up leaves for leaf litter, so butting paint in it it go down unequally worse! So I have ordered a two bowl (removable, one for dry and one for wet) to be modelling dedicated.
I have just stocked up on leaves, and have a stock of Poundland 3 for a £1 car sponges, I need some blue acrylic and the grinder to turn up and production will commence!

 

Thanks for that idea, I will have to buy a coffee grinder ,seems to work better than the blender I have been using.
cheers
Bob

 

OK, so the twin pot grinder turned up this morning. I have tried a few variations including dry, wet and soaking, firstly just with sponge. This has a wet (4 blade) and dry (2 blade) bowl
The grinder will decimate 2cm square cubes, but only down to 5mm.
The blender will instantly clog with the cubes under the lowest blade.
The blender will take the 5mm down to fine particles.
If overloaded or used for more than a few minutes, the motor cuts out on overload/over heat. (takes 15 minutes before it will restart)

So chop up as small as possible, pre-chop in grinder then transfer to blender, add acrylic as Gormo has indicated and go for the final blend.
The light green is just one small blob of green, the darker shades are varying amounts of brown with one full blob of green.

I also tried my dried leaves in both grinder and blender. The jury is out as to whether it was successful!
Both decimate the leaves into a powder, I need to investigate various forms of sieve to see what I can get out as useful.

 

I had another session late last night, by cutting into 1cm cubes and progressively adding only 4-5 at a time it does not bind and does chops them up in the blender.
A short blast each time chops them up then when full, add the colour and give it a long blast. The results are very fine and consistent. I just need to buy some blue acrylic so I can make a few more variations of colour!