Gluing ground cover

 Sprinkle on your second layer of ground cover. Mist water with a few drops of dish soap using a spray bottle. You will see the previous glue start to rise up. That's usually wet enough. Dribble a 50/50 mix of water and Elmers glue using a plastic mustard dispenser. For heavy clumps of ground foam or turf. Use Elmers straight out of one of their smaller dispensers and place the ground foam directly on it or place the glue on the foam and place it on the layout.

Dave:

That is very helpful. Spraying without any glue should be no problem. You wouldn't add alcohol to the watwer and detergent mixture as an additional wetting agent? Also, dribbling glue all over a 10x12 layout is a whole lot of dribbling. I'll do it if I have to, but I wish there was an easier way.

George

Why an old mustard dispenser rather than an empty Elmer's bottle? Any advantages to the mustard dispenser? Any substitutions that you can think of?

 I just happened to have an empty at the time. Just like the way the glue flows out of it and it's easy to control.You can also try a turkey baster. The gluing actually goes quite a ways once the surface is wet. You won't use as much as you think.  I can't comment on the alcohol. The couple drop of dish soap is all I've ever used. 

George, you probably don't have your glue mixture watered down enough to successfully spray it through the spray bottle.  About one part glue to 5 parts wet water (Approx. 16%) is about the stiffest mixture that I find can be sprayed through the average spray bottle, and even that's possibly a little stiff.   A thinner 10% mixture (one part glue to 9 parts wet water) would probably spray pretty decent, but of course that is starting to be a fairly thin mixture.  You may have to make multiple applications to get some decent holding power with these thinner mixtures.  Let them dry completely between applications, of course.

Tip: Turning a fan on the scenery after spraying it down will help it dry faster.  For instance, spray your scenery right before you go to bed, turn on a fan, and good chance it may be completely dry by morning.

Paul

Good suggestion. I'll try a real thin mixture. If that still doesn't work, I'll go to the drip method.

The bottle matters. I bit the bullet and bought Woodland Scenics spray bottles. They really do make a difference. You are correct with the base coat of Elmers. I use a disposable foam applicator as a blotter, and then spray the thinned mix on top.

Agree with Gilly that the bottle matters. You can use the WS bottles but they dont hold much. The ZEP brand spray bottles sold at Home Depot for industrial cleaners can also handle spraying glue/water and they hold a quart. We do ballast with them, about 3:1 water to glue. Use a second bottle full of water/alcohol and a few drops of dish soap to wet it down ahead of time. 

MOST IMPORTANT STEP: Clean the sprayer out with hot water after you're done. You need to make sure you get all the glue out of the spray mechanism and the nozzle orifice. If glue dries in there, the sprayer is toast.

When doing ground foam on a substrate, dont use glue/water mix, use straight glue. Elmers by the gallon is real cheap. Brush on a layer, pile on the foam and either spread it around or blow/fan it over everywhere you glued. Hopefully your pink foam was painted a dirt color before you started...

Well, it's too late now to do the straight glue, except in a few small areas that I haven't gotten to yet. I'll get the ZEP sprayers. Two spayed bottles.  I'll be thorough in my cleaning.  All great advice. 

Correct me if I am wrong but you don't need detergent AND alcohol to make wet water.  One or the other will do.

Ed

Yes, one or the other is fine.

I use Elmer's white glue with a roughly 60% to 40% of water/dawn to white glue. I put down my ground foam and then glue it down. I have a few of the older bottles which had a smaller cap which is nice because I can either dribble the mix out or open it a bit more and get more glue. The bottle on the right has the tip I like to use. Pic........Paul

We tint the Elmers Glue with (typically) green latex paint, basically 50/50. Working in small areas, we first apply the glue/paint mixture liberally and evenly with a foam brush. The flock/ground cover is then applied by putting it in a sieve and then stirring the contents over where the glue has been applied. Always enough such that no wet spots show through. You have to work quickly and in small enough areas such that the glue does not skin over. Also, do not apply the flock all the way to the open edge of the glue as you will have to feather in the next work area. Move on to the next area and feather in the glue mixture to the edges from your previous work area. Repeat until done. We then come back the next day with a small old vacuum that has a paper bag collector. Vacuum up the loose/leftover flock to use another day and/or place. If the are slight bald spots, we hit those with Krylon Kamar Varnish spray and reapply the flock through the sieve.

Vary the sieve hole sizes base upon what the size of the flock is. Buy your own sieves because the kitchen captain will not be happy if you use hers.........

I keep it pretty simple.  No mixing or spray bottles needed.  Just brush it on.

Well, it all worked out. I did buy the ZEP spray bottles from Home Depot. Then I watered down my Elmer's glue with water and alcohol, at least 10:1. I pre-sprayed with a wetting agent, i.e. water and alcohol. I sprayed the diluted glue mixture twice, since it was so diluted. Anyway, no clogging at all. I put the ceiling fan on over night. Success! Thanks for all the suggestions. Now it's time to add trees, shrubs, rocks, etc.

George