Let me drain your brains on this subject,what's the best practice/materials/product for modeling North African sand dunes for a vignette? Thanks!

First decide exactly where in the desert you want to show. There are different types of terrain in that area and not all had sand dunes.
J

The Sahara-type terrain in central/southern Algeria and Libya was the idea...

I made a small Sahara-type dune. I used a pile of spray foam that I let dry then sculpted to shape, coated it with plaster for a nice smooth finish, and coated it in a mix of about 70% beach sand and 30% Desert Dust pigment. I let the plaster dry, and then sprayed it with a white glue slurry to anchor it. I touched it with some Desert Yellow out of my airbrush then a layer of Dullcoat to kill the residual glue sheen. Looked convincing. Sorry no pics--lost the hard drive.

depending of the level of reality you want to achieve

shape your basic dune with insulation foamboard, coat it with a grain filler like polyfilla for exemple.
once dry (perfectly dried) use some liquitex acrylic Gel medium (the heavy one, you'll find it for cheap in any arts store) to shape with a brush the little "waves" on the surface, in the same time add the prints you need, when done : sprinkle some bicarbonate of sodium on it (it will give the fine sand texture) and shake it well to get rid of the overleft.

once dried (fully dried : around 48hrs) paint it with the desired colour ... et voila : a realistic sand dune

My understanding is that sand dunes can be HUGE! What size of 'vignette' are you planning? Maybe the dunes can be a backdrop?

I was thinking about the same thing, if the dunes are low I would only use DAS clay, if instead they are high first from a sketch of the foamboard then covered with the DAS, in both cases then you can leave it so and give the effect With devious shades of sand or a fine sand blend, pigments and PVA glue that gives the right texture

Use some form of support with DAS over that. You will use less DAS and can get the right proportions.

G

How about a photo of of what you plan to create,that would help

Tom

The rough idea is a dune covering 50% of a knocked out panzer, but I want to learn some techniques for the future, too, Thanks!
And DAS means...?I have never built a dio or a vignette, obviously....;-)

DAS is a type of air drying polymer clay.

Thank you!

Something in the vein of this:
, with maybe a bit more dramatic dunes...

There isn't generally a lot of fighting in the real sand sea because it's not great going for tanks and logistics are pretty challenging. That picture looks like an accumulation of wind blown sand over a vehicle but the surrounding area looks pretty dune-free to me, as the vegetation is generally a feature found where there is water.

As noted, dunes can be properly huge, such that on a typical model base you wouldn't even identify it as a dune. Most combat in the western desert in WW2 took place in a fairly narrow strip along the coast and the terrain there is rocky pediment with some loose sand on top. Much of the time, it wasn't even possible to dig in.

I concur. I grew up on the Florida Gulf Coast, and the barrier islands along the panhandle are made up of water- and air-borne sand, and we had plenty of dunes small and large. Accumulation after the fact is exactly what you have in that picture. Switch the tank for an old 60'd-era Ford pickup and you could place that scene somewhere on Pensacola Beach. Maybe add a bunch of shotgun pellet holes.

This is more of what you got down there:


A flat expanse of sand, gravel, and ugly grass.

Well, air-born sand is really what I want to recreate, not necessarily a large expanse of area, just a partially buried tank...