Hi guys,

What is a good method for making 1/35 sand? I'm going to be building a dio of the battle for Tarawa, and I don't know what to do. I'll be putting down Celluclay for the base, but I'm assuming 1:1 sand will be way too big.

Any suggestions are welcome!

Thanks
Samuel

1. Extremely fine sand used for sandblasting.
2. Craft shops often sell special sand which is fine.
3 Sand sold in pet shops which is often used in aquariums.
4. Believe it or not, fine sand can be found in nature. An example which worked for me:

Up far north of where I live, an area called the Pilbara, the terrain contains red, 'dusty' sand. It is very fine (hence dusty) and I brought some back home to use in dioramas. I didn't expect it to perform or accept paint well but it did! And I wish I brought more of it back with me. I don't know about the terrain in Ohio, but go for a hunt and you may find what you are looking for in nature.

Hope this helps,

Chas


(tip: I assume that you will mix the sand with the celluclay before laying. This is what I recommend, don't glue the sand on-top).

You could also try Chinchilla dust from a pet store

Sawdust is another option.
Another one that I use is Woodland scenics "Snow" product. Yes it goes down white but I paint over it. It is very small and good in scale.

You could do Baking powder too, it before and seal it when done.

Scott I believe I read on the boards here that there is a problem with using baking powder to simulate a plethora of weathering and groundwork, I believe it was along the lines of because its not inert it causes changes over time, I also think it was to do with it being used to simulate snow and as such may be particular to this use.

Yep, Scott is right, it worked for me.
Sorry to reference to my own stuff but here's an extract of an article I wrote for HFModeling you can find there

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Durham's Water Putty, a powdered plaster substitute, makes great ground work. It's inexpensive, and available in the US from hardware dealers. Mix up a batch to the consistency of pancake batter and spread it on your base, then sprinkle dry Durham's right from the can onto the surface. The powder will soak up the excess water and impart an instant, gritty texture. You can embed any terrain details you want, and it can be painted, or you can mix dry pigment with it while wet (out of the can, the color is a pale, yellowish tan, which is already a good basis for desert or beach scenes). If you need to build up the terrain, use styrofoam for your basic contours, then add the Durham's.

Thanks so much for the replies!

@ Jean-Bernard: What is microballoons, and where do I get it?

@ Scott & Darren: If the baking powder is sealed, wouldn't that keep it from changing color,etc?

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions.

Samuel

I'm assuming that Jean-bernard was referring to woodland scenics snow material when micro-balloons was mentioned. I could be wrong, but that's my guess.

Samuel,

I use baking soda. Thin some desert yellow acrylic paint and water, mix it with the soda to make a slurry, pour it out onto some cardboard and let it dry. It will dry hard and then break off a chunk and grind it back to a powder. You can do this with other colors as well to get some variation with the sand. To spread it out I used a paint bottle cap and tapped the side 'till just a bit came out. This actually created small sand dunes.

-Derek

Micro balloons come as a fine white powder that is intended to be mixed with fiberglass resin to make it lighter in weight. You can find it in shops that sell flying RC model aircraft, accessories and kits. Woodland Scenics sells it as a snow substitute in their model railway scenery line.
I generally steer people away from any material that is chemically unstable, particularly stuff that reacts with water, since humidity is everywhere, and your model's appearance could change drastically after it's been in the cabinet a few months. If you need a fine, inert powder, talcum powder is perfectly stable and costs next to nothing. Baking powder and baking soda (not the same thing, by the way) are reactive, and can change color, shape and size over time if they absorb water from the air. Also avoid things like kitchen cleansers (amazing what some modelers will grab out of the kitchen cupboard to solve a problem at 11 o'clock at night--then months later, they discover their "rust texture" is turning green or something).

Thanks for the clarification, Gerald and Matthew.

@ Gerald: So talcum powder will not do the things baking soda can do?

I've heard of microballons before ( I have Lynn Kessler's book How to build Armor Dioramas), but have never been able to find it. Guess I'll just look harder!

Thanks for the help, guys!
Samuel

P.S. Derek: It's good to see you over here on Armorama. Also, I don't know if you saw it, but I gave you a few tips on what to expect from Accurate MIniature's SBD kit.

hey, these are very good ideas instead of building it from scratch. i think the more realistic
the better!

~tim

Along the lines of what Derek said above, regarding the baking powder... the same principle can be applied to plaster, or I would assume, hydrocal. Tint your plaster to the color you want, let dry, and grind away!

Sorry! I forgot about that thread.
Yep what I was mentioning about microballons is indeed the stuff that is sold by Woodland Scenics -but also by Andrea and Signifer. And this is here that you should take care. i don't know about the WS materail, but the Andrea one is *shinier* and therefore is not that suited to sand. I found the stuff great to use once tainted -if a bit on the tricky edge of things to apply it.
Good luck for your sand and cheers to all