1/64 Scale Hay Field

Model Hay Field

By Jason Hasert


If you have a dairy farm display, a hay field is a great option for display dairy equipment.  Many people like to use train grass paper to simulate a hay field.  This method works but "Down on the Model Farm" will give a more realistic option.  

The key to a good hay field is texture and color.  You want a leafy look for unharvested alfalfa and a green/tan look for the harvested stems.  I found that train turf and grass on a Styrofoam can produce a good look at a cost effective price.

The materials that you will need is Styrofoam, spray paint and Woodland Scenics grass material. T purchase my Styrofoam in 2x1 boards for $3.88 in the Wal-Mart craft section.  The spray paint is also from Walmart.  It is the cheap paint.  For $0.94 each, I purchase brown, dark green, light green and yellow paint.  The Woodland Scenics grass material was purchased at Hobby Town USA.  The grass materials include a container of turf grass, a container of static grass and a bag of foliage clusters.  The material is a little pricey as it was $8.98 a container and $5.98 a bag.  You can find Woodland Scenics at most hobby and train stores.

Woodland Scenics From Left to Right: Turf Grass, Foliage Clusters and Static Grass

Once you have your materials it is time to paint. Take your Styrofoam to a well ventilated area.  I paint my foam bases outside so that I do not get paint on anything and have plenty of fresh air because the paint has lots of fumes.  The first step is to paint the boards brown.  For this article I used two 2x1 boards.  A real hay field is dirt underneath and the brown paint acts as a good base.  This way as you paint on your greens on to the boards any open spots show  a natural looking brown dirt underneath. 

When you paint the Styrofoam, mist on the paint.  If you blast it on you will melt holes into the Styrofoam. It will take several coats to cover the white foam.  Your first few sprays will not cover all the Styrofoam,  because it has so many pockets that the paint soaks in.  It just takes time and patience. 

Once the brown paint is dry it is time to add the green paint.  The dark green paint is used to paint the unharvested area and the light green, dark green and yellow paint is used to create the base of the harvested area.  Again just lightly mist on the paint so that you do not need blast the paint on.  Many people may think they need to cover the whole board in green.  You do not, this is why the board was painted brown.  You want some of the brown to show through for a natural earth effect.

The unharvested area should be painted dark green with some brown showing through.  This board is pictured below on the left.  The harvested area needs some extra paint work.  First mist on the light yellow paint across the entire board.  Do not wait for the yellow to dry.  Then mist on the light green paint.  Again there is no need to let it dry.  With the light yellow and green on, zig zag on a mist of dark green paint.  The key is to mist on the dark green paint as you do not need much. Then mist a little more yellow paint across the entire board.  You can see below on the right that this mix of paint creates a swirled camouflaged effect.  This swirled looks gives you the look of a harvested hayfield. The light yellow/green  paint creates the harvested stems.  Often in a hayfield you have some short broadleaf weeds underneath that show up after harvest, and the dark green paint accounts for those weeds.

For this project I used two boards that show a section of field out in the middle.  You can make a large field with headlands and more sections of harvested and harvested areas.  My boards below represent a field heading off into the distance.  To fill in the seam between the two boards I used the foliage clusters.  The foliage cluster material is used to create leaves on trees for model train lay outs.  The material needs to be pulled apart and placed carefully so that it does not sit too tall on the display. It is a great material to create an alfalfa look and cover up your seem.  The seems ruin the field effect as it looks like a big trench down the middle.

Styrofoam Base Painted

Now that the base is ready it is time to decorate.  I set up a hedge row with trees, brush and some stones from my garden to boarder the hay field. The hedge row is another touch of realism and also hides another seem on my display between the hayfield and a crop field. Once the trees are in place I dumped out the turf grass on my dark green board.  The turf grass will serve as the alfalfa.  Because the board is green you only have to spread out the material thick enough to cover the foam. It took less than half a container to cover the 2x1 board.

Adding Turf Grass to Styrofoam Base

The field is almost done.  As you can see in the picture below we are almost done.  I decided to use some of the some of the cluster foliage to create a half harvested row to place my hay mower on.  You really have to pull the cluster apart.  It comes in a block and you need tiny pieces to create a 1/64 scale of alfalfa leaf.

Adding finishing touches to fit in equipment

Finished Hay Field

The field is done.  I used Gordy Schultz's self-propelled disc mower on my field.  I used some extra cluster material to create a fresh windrow behind the mower.  I like the look of the foliage cluster material because it has the closest look to the ropey effect of harvested alfalfa.  I also use a lighter color foliage cluster to create a slightly dried hay windrow next to the mower.

Mowing Alfalfa

The hay field has turned out looking fairly realistic for 1/64.  But what about the static grass material?  The static grass adds that extra touch.  Static grass can be used in several ways.  A good way to detail your mower is to pile a pinch of static grass on the top.  Often hay piles up on top of real mowers once they have a few acres mowed.  You can see this detail added to my Ertl Hesston disc-mower above.

The static grass is also a great material for creating stems in the harvested hay.  You might remember the picture below from the farmer scene in the May 2004 Down on the Farm.  I spread a little static grass over the Styrofoam base.  It clings to the die-cast mower and stands up just like alfalfa stems.

Static Grass is good for creating stubble around the mower

Static Grass is good for stubble and chaff

The third use for the static is dry hay swaths.  It is a great material to create hay windrows that are a few days old.  The sun drys and bleaches hay.  The static grass is perfect for creating pre-raked hay for baling.  Hay that has sat in the field a few days almost seems to disappear and once it is raked it fluffs up into rows.  Below I used a Moore's wheel rake to put two swaths into one for a big baler.  The static grass was perfect for the unraked swaths and to create the big fluffy swath behind the rake I used the light green/tan cluster foliage.  You can see in the additional pictures below that this method works well on Ertl basket/bar rakes too. 

Raking  Hay

I hope you will find this article helpful in creating a hayfield for your display.  My goal is to add detail with ease. I have compiled some pictures below of mowers, forage harvesters, rakes and big balers below to give you some extra modeling ideas.  Happy haying.

Mowing	Opening up the field
Baling	Silage

Chopping Hay

Mower Conditioner	Raking Dry Hay Windrows from  tandem rakes
Silage
Pull Type Chopper