Hi all. I'm currently building a 1/35 scale Sd.Kfz.222 Leichter Panzerspahwagen 4x4 in Tunisia using a camo of Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow and XF-63 German grey colours.

I am wanting to place the finished model on a small 24x12cm base set in the Tunisian desert during the WII north african campaign.

Any suggestion for the road base? How to paint it? Should I use real sand (such as builders sand or sandpit play sand). I would like it to be quite rocky too, and what vegetation (Esparto grass maybe or Date palm tree??) should I use?

Any advice would be great. Thank you.

Hi there.

I used real sand for this vignette

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/111982#922093

And I am pleased with the result.
Adding more rocks and a little desertic vegetation, it could be a good option for what you are looking to make.

Hope this helps.

Pablo

Hi Paul.
I recently posted a question on desert groundwork and one of the suggestions was using Chinchilla sand.
I purchased some on the weekend and it seems to be the perfect material.I haven't had the chance to try it yet.
I'll let you know.
Don't make the same mistake I did.I thought Chinchilla was a brand name.It is actually sold at pet stores for cleaning small rodents like hamsters,etc.
It also may be labelled Chinchilla dust.

Yeah I'll look out for that. Basically I guess what I'm looking for is very fine sand for a sand dune look, with a few rocks thrown in for good measure. A scene to replicate the semi-arid area of southern Tunisia. I have some "Builder's sand" (the stuff you use to make mortar for pointing paving slabs etc..) but this seems too coarse. Would the pet shop Chinilla dust be better or finer than children's play pit sand?

Hi Paul
My advice is that you use different matirials for your groundwork, so you will get an uneven surface. blend in some "larger" stones, or maybe even an ancient roman coullum. Just a thougt.
Regards Jacob

Hi Paul.
I think 1/1 scale sand is too coarse to imitate sand in 1/35. If you can see each granule of sand at this scale, it’s too big.
IMO, when making dune-sand, it should be almost completely smooth with effort made to capture the ripples/waves instead. Ulf Anderson’s "dust and bones" is a great example of this. The sand is completely smooth, but the painting and the contrasting rocky areas make the sand unmistakable.





The last time I made sand, I used the 1/1 version from the pet shop, but was very dissatisfied with it. I sprinkled more grout powder over it to hide the sand coarseness, and painted it with pastels thinned with Humbrol thinner.



There are loads of images available online of WW2 Tunisia .... so find animage of what you are trying to capture and copy it best you can.

that middle image above is the sort of look I'm wanting to get all on a small 24x12cm base. Thanks for everyones advice!