Learning about static grass - Part 1

One of the wonderful things about this hobby is that there is always something new to learn and new techniques to try out.  Static Grass has been around for a few years now and I have admired the appearance of it on layouts and wanted to try it out from myself.

Of course the expensive part of this technique is acquiring the static grass applicator.  At an open house a couple of years ago I picked up what I thought was a great deal on a Noch static grass applicator that appeared to be brand new but found out after bringing it home that is was apparently burned out.

More recently I made a second attempt by acquiring a brand new Woodland Scenics Static King version of the static grass applicator along with some 2mm and 4mm static grass in different colors.  The Static King feels like it is well made and is compact.

I had been watching a number of how to type videos on YouTube and one of the suggestions I heard in the videos was that the Static King works better with the 12 volt adapter than it does on the 9 volt battery.  I was disappointed with my first attempts using the battery and also found out that the fit of the battery into the battery compartment was quite tight.  Using my multi-meter I found that the Static King was drawing close to 150ma from the battery.  At that rate a 9 volt battery might not last very long and as the voltage drops, so would the performance.

I did not buy the Woodland Scenics 12 volt power adapter when I bought the Static King as I had a whole box of similar items and I was sure one of them would work.  When I first tried it, I got nothing and also noticed that the blue light strip on the Static King was not lighted.  Using my DC power supply, I connected a scrap plug with the polarity reversed and that worked.  So, the Power adapter that Woodland Scenics sells for the Static King has the positive polarity on the outside of the plug which is a bit unusual as most have the positive in the center.  I modified my adapter by cutting the cord and reversing the wires.

After trying it out on some scraps of cardboard and satisfied it was working, it was time to try it out on an actual model.  I got out a photo diorama I had made years ago to experiment on.  This diorama is a simple single track on a raised embankment with one side being more green and the other side being more dry.  They already had some ground foam scenery material on them and I added the static grass over that in uneven patches.  Here is the dry side after I had applied some straw colored 4mm static grass..

And here is the results from the green side.

So far I am encouraged by the results.  I'll continue to experiment with some techniques and make a follow-up part 2 post sometime in the future.