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With Halo Ground Command pretty much out, I have been building some terrain up for it.

I bought a few sets of these. The concern is though the flocking on the trees is really frail and is already just falling off. Whats a safe product to get it to hold and stay there near permanently? Worried some varnishes ive seen turn the trees all white

A mix of pva, water and something to break surface tension (like a drop of dishwashing liquid).

Put into spray bottle, shake well and liberally apply.
Allow to dry. It should lock all of that stuff down (haven't had any of my trees haemorrhage flock since I did that to them - and my gaming group aren't exactly gentle with them.

Try using a matt or satin spray varnish?

Straight PVA (Elmer's Glue) and water brushed on liberally. It dries clear and locks the flock on and to each other.

 Todosi wrote:
Straight PVA (Elmer's Glue) and water brushed on liberally. It dries clear and locks the flock on and to each other.

I need to try that on my tree men

I'd steer clear of (aerosol) spray varnishes - those are likely what caused the frosting that turned the trees white. PVA glue or matte medium, ideally diluted with water and a surfactant, are the way to go. Liquitex Flow-Aid works wonders for penetration, but dish soap works in a pinch - just be sure not to add too much of either! If you do, you'd have been better off ignoring them, entirely.

Personally, I lock down everything from sand to flock to baking soda/sodium bicarbonate snow with a roughly 50:50 mix of matte medium and water (with a tiny touch of Flow-Aid). Hasn't changed anything's look, significantly, and hasn't failed in the adhesion department, either.

I second matte medium (about 1:5, water - medium). I use it on terrain pieces to look down static grass, trees either flocked or with MiniNatur foliage nets. It does nto change the look at all and also tones down the lustre of static grass.

I apply it with an airbrush, but there is no reason why you could not use a spray bottle. Brushing it on might work, too, but spraying it is faster.

I should add that I apply it with a pump-spray bottle. An airbrush works wonderfully, as well... if what you're reinforcing is already reasonably well attached, as with trees. If not, a spray bottle atomizes and propels the mix without an accompanying gust of air, which can mess up your arrangement of scatter.

For a light sprinkling of snow (flock or baking soda), use a spray bottle. For trees, either of the other two will suffice - airbrush or gently daubing the mix on with a soft brush.

I tried Testors matt varnish spray. Didn't do anything besides make the very loose flock on the trees itself fly off from the force.

Going to try and grab some PVA and hopefully a spray bottle from Michaels today and give it a watered down try. Its suggested to use a flowaid, such as dish soap. Is that just your basic whatever brand colored soap used to wash dishes by hand? and How much do you put in?


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Starting to think the trees were a waste of money. I mixed a 50/50 of pva elmers white glue, some soap, and water, sprayed them, and the flock on the trees is just coming off so easily,

Try again, DO NOT SPRAY. Truly, just water the Elmer's down just enough to flow and glob it on like paint with a big old brush. This will dry rock hard. You want the flock to soak up a bunch of the glue, so be liberal.

Would you recommend approximately 1:1 mix of water and PVA glue/ Elmers? And just a tiny drop of dish soap?

Thanks!

The decades long tried-and-true method for model railroading has been to liberally wet the area down with water in a spray bottle (some people mix in a few drops of dish soap as a surfactant). Spray the area with water until it's fairly wet, then spray it with straight matte medium from a spray bottle, the water draws in the matte medium which acts like a glue. It'll look like you covered the tree in milk, but will dry clear and (of course) matte, and no more flock falling off

Just get the glue flowing enough that it starts to soak into the flock on the trees. I don't use any dishsoap myself, just water and it works perfectly well.