Modelling on the Cheap: Hairspray

The hobby of railway modelling need be as expensive or inexpensive as you want it to be. In these times especially with the price of models of locos and rolling stock getting ever higher and the general state of the world economy, modellers are more canny than ever of looking for ways to avoid spending money on specialist (and often expensive) modelling products. For example, Woodland Scenics does a fine Scenic Glue, but properly diluted PVA/water/detergent is a heck of a lot cheaper, works equally well for most duties and more importantly is more widely available than just in your nearest model shop. Of course there are many products which fill a specific need, but for some you can look in your supermarket, cheap shop, hardware or even your spares drawers and find something that will fit the job at hand.

During the recent construction of a new club HO exhibition layout, spray adhesive was used to affix scenic materials to certain objects or the layout. Experience using the spray on our N Gauge layout, the 'Barrie Valley Railway' showed that this tended to leave a white effect on the scenery which would not go away, furthermore the cans would inexplicably spurt white streams of foam like gunk randomly which would clump up and  further mess up our work. Unsurprisingly an alternative was sought. Spraying diluted PVA tended to produce  a wet effect on the scenery which may be alright for a base layer but when you're trying to add a subtle second coat of grass it can mean you add more than you want to.

The answer lies in the Cosmetics section- cans of Hairspray. Specifically the cheapest generic/homebrand one, unscented, with the strongest hold you can get. Having read this tip on one of the modelling forums I decided to give it a try when static grassing modules of 'Northfield Abridged'. The result is: no white haze on everything (it makes sense given hairspray is supposed to go invisible in hair!) and the static grass stuck beautifully to the base layer of scenery. Results for other forms of scenery are unknown, it may be preferable to use something stronger when making trees (I will stick with my Hob-e-tac for now).

As always, each to their own and some people may find this useful others not so much. I recommend trying on a small section first and giving it a good test before spraying it all over your layout!