Good afternoon folks. Let me introduce myself, my name is Simon I live in upstate NY and have just recently got back into modeling. I haven’t really made a kit for about 10 years or so and just recently after building a couple of civilian cars I found in my new house, it has rekindled my inner-modeler. lol.

So anyways my first real diorama ever is going to be using the Tamiya StuG III Ausf. B 1/35 scale. I know it’s been done over and over, But I’m going for a winter scene. I'm not terribly worried about historical accuracy for my first diorama at least. It’s going to be set somewhere in France, late fall just after the first snow fall. The stug I’d like to have under a kind of lean to barn rough wood planking a little corrugated roof? Maybe. Also next to the barn a bombed out farm house. I really want to give the impression of the weather turning, It hasnt been cold enough to freeze the ground solid yet but its just starting to freeze and fall is turning into winter. All the buildings and gound work will be scratch built for the most part, Havent had to much experiance with this, but I am learning. So any thoughts, comments or suggestions?

The stug for the most part is built, the farm house is built and I’m in the process of gathering items for the rest of the ground work. The Stug I want to look kind of like its resting for a couple of day’s in-between movements. The crew has found this old barn and farm house and have moved in for a couple of days to prepare for winter. I have whitewashed the Stug (also my first attempt) in hindsight I feel I’ve weathered it a little too much given I want to do a kind of fall into winter period. But next time will be better. Pics to come soon as I get some batteries for my camera.

So I ended up leaving the house off and just using the barn. I was wondering does anyone have some tips for making frosted ground? I have muddy terrain I want it to look like frozen ground. For example ground that's been wet and has recently frozen. In the foot prints and track prints there should be frozen puddles of ice.

Now I thought about melting small amounts of white candle and then pouring it into the foot prints, Has anyone tried this before? or is there a better technique?

Also whats the best way to make the ground look frosted? I want to make it look as if there's been the first real light dusting of snow, but just early morning frost under the trees and such.

Thanks in advance,

Simon

hi Simon,

if you would like to create a light skiff of snow you can try baking soda or Woodland Scenics Soft Flakes sprinkled on using a tea strainer over a layer of whiteglue/water that is applied using a spray bottle.

once sprinkled on you should have plenty of time before it dries to brush it off of open areas and get some built up on the edges of ridges.

one diorama i saw long ago looked like they placed Realistic Water or Epoxy Resin to first make shallow pools of water and then painted the top of it with white transparent paint to make it appear frozen. this was reinforced visually by sprinkling "snow" along the parameter of the top surface to look like drifts were sitting on ice.

you can try searching this site for the word "snow" and "winter" to find some great examples by other modelers for inspiration. hope this helps. cheers, bd.