I applied Woodland Scenics Field Grass to a 54mm diorama once - a grass field covering almost half of an 18" square base. It was intended to be tall grass. The technique was first to lay a base of Woodland Scenics fine turf to the groundwork and let it dry. I cut the grass to length (about an inch) and separated it into clumps about 3/8 inch, simulateously mixing in a few different colors. Then I used an eye dropper to apply the scenic cement (which I guess is just watered-down white glue) to an area just big enough to cover one clump's worth of ground. Then I dropped the clump cut-end first into the glue. As I recall, there was some wicking of the glue into the blades, but not too much. I think the trick is not to have too much glue. I would have as many clumps as possible ready to go at once so that I could just apply one after the other. After doing maybe 1-2 sq. inches, I would add another drop or two around the adjacent ground and it would soak under the grass I had just laid.
After this was done and completely dry, I bought a $9 moustache trimmer at the drugstore and then basically weed-whacked the lawn until it was the height I really wanted. In addition to the fresh-cut residue, that tended to pull up those strands in the middle of the clumps that had never touched any glue. I cleaned up all of this by touching each blade with a paint brush soaked in water.
That worked best for undisturbed grass. As you can see below, it wasn't so effective for trampled grass, as it tends to stay straight. The other thing I wish I'd known at the start was a) how much I was going to need (at least a dozen packets for my terrain base) and b) how varied the colors can be between two packs of "Medium Green" grass. Looking at this diorama from the top, you can really see bands of color in the grass that weren't supposed to be there.
And yes - this was a labor-intensive, sanity-straining process. But I really liked the overall effect.
John A.
