# Snow... Tips or ideas??



## AJ-1701 (May 10, 2008)

I am planning on a themed display base for my chariot and I need to know how to represent patches of snow or frost. I know you can buy stuff at the railroad model shops but I don't need that much. So far the only thing I can think of is to use very fine sand glued down and airbrushed in a flat white??

Cheers,

Alec.


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## pearl (Mar 17, 2008)

This is a old picture .The roofs of the buildings just water based dollar store craft paint .Same in front of the buildings. This was an unfinished project .

The snow on the van and the road in front of the house Baby Powder.
I later added more paint on the roofs and sprinkled Baby Powder on the wet paint it dont stick to well but some stayed on . I have this diorama packed away so dont have pictures of it finished.
This was meant for kids to play with the snow on the road was not glued down it was meant to use a little plow truck to play with .It was easy to clean up just shake it off .










The little truck i just filled with sand and took a thinned white paint and painted it you can see it soaked into the gravel .


I tried painting gravel white and it soaks in if you thin the paint .If it is thick it covers the gravel and ends up looking like the yard in front of the house .


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## AJ-1701 (May 10, 2008)

I actually dismissed the idea of talc powder cause I thought it would be to light and fine... But once again I have been shown the error of my thinking. 

I'll test some out and see how it goes.

Cheers,

Alec.


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## pearl (Mar 17, 2008)

You are right it is very fine. The cars are 1/64 scale the buildings 1/87 scale ,when it comes to correct scale i just go by if i like it and it looks not to bad close enoughl.o.l.

As you can see the kids have run a plow through it so roughed it up ,makes it look like snow.



By the way podge you can buy at a walmart or craft store will make a water or ice look .

This pond the base is just brown paint with fine sand sprinkled over it.Let it dry a couple of days then just paint the podge over it.
It does take patience a lot of thin coats painted on to get depth . and let it dry anywheres from a few hours to overnight depends on how thick you paint each coat so it can take a week to get the look you want, but cheap compared to the resin type , which you cant use on styrofoam .This is not my diorama it is a friends i just showed her how to do it.
turned out not bad for a first try and is just meant for kids to drive little cars on.


I Think if it had powder spread on it it might look like snow with ice patches showing through,or a very thin wash of flat white paint .

I never use glue to stick things down the roads and grass, just light brown craft paint then sprinkle on the grass or beach sand for the road .It works just as well as glue and everything sticks pretty good. The base is styrofoam house insulation easy to carve but of course water based glue or paints is all you can use on it .

As you said ideas .l.o.l.


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

What about that spray snow in a can ? Not even sure if they make that anymore, but it might warrant some consideration. We seemed to use the heck out of it when i was a kid at Christmas time on all sorts of decorations.  rr


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## AJ-1701 (May 10, 2008)

roadrner said:


> What about that spray snow in a can ? rr


MMM... thats worth considering for the future. Thanks for the tip roadrner.:thumbsup:

I eneded up doing patches of airbrushed flat white then a thinish coat of undiluted white glue with the talc put on that. All in all it came out pretty good and the patches even look like hard snow left during/after most of it has/had melted. Thanks for the tips pearl.  I'll try to post up a pic soon.

cheers,

Alec :wave:


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## TNCAVSCOUT (May 22, 2008)

AJ-1701 said:


> I am planning on a themed display base for my chariot and I need to know how to represent patches of snow or frost. I know you can buy stuff at the railroad model shops but I don't need that much. So far the only thing I can think of is to use very fine sand glued down and airbrushed in a flat white??
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Alec.


"SCENE A RAMA" is what I would suggest. They make a Winter Effects set. It is good. You can, in addition to snow, make patches of ice, icesickles, etc. They are made for school projects. The snow is much less than the container you would get from the model railroad shops. 

They have several different sets in addition to the winter one, such as a desert scenes and a ripplin water kit.

"Scene A Rama" is available at Hobby Lobby.


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## nitro_21 (Jan 5, 2009)

cool pics


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## Jafo (Apr 22, 2005)

i like this
should be able to get it at the LSH
http://www.thewarstore.com/product33286.html


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## Y3a (Jan 18, 2001)

ILM used micro baloons and corn starch in a 50/50 mix for the AT-AT set.


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## Jafo (Apr 22, 2005)

micro balloons cause lung cancer if inhaled so wear a mask!


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## Al Loew (Jul 3, 2008)

Hello Alec,

Another snow alternative is a DecoArt product called Snow-Tex. It's acrylic-based & easy to work with. Hobby Lobby has it small containers and large ones. 

Good Luck,

Al


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