I am in the process of putting together a diorama of a burned out Iraqi BMP and a M1A2 with a bit of a twist. I used some "fine" plaster sand for ground cover but the grains seemed HUGE.

What do you use for scale sand. I was thinking of some finely ground model railroad ballast painted "sand" color. What do you think???

GSPatton

How about real sand. I could be wrong on this, but I don't think that the size difference between real and scale sand will be noticed.

Wofsix

Ola

What I usually use for sand in my diorama`s is Birdcage sand (AKA Shell sand or white sand) It`s really neat and with a very very fine grain. Perfectly for the use of 1:35. An example of how it looks:



Works good for a lot of things and another good point it`s very cheap. Just go to the Petstore and ask for Birdcage sand it`s worth it

I agree with above posts. If you want sand, use sand. I have used fine play sand meant for kids sandboxes. It is pretty fine and has all the impurities sifted out. You can get it at your local discount store or building center for about $3 for a 120lb. bag, all the sand you could need.

G,day GSPatton
I also use sand for my sand, lol,
theres no amazing expensive material required to simulate it, just buy some of that birdcage sand Faust recomended, or even get some of the nice fine sand you find at the ebach, cheers!

Hi,

I am building an Iraqi dio at the moment. I found some yellowish sand at a construction site. It contains a bit of clay. So when it dries, it turn into small hard lumps. I crushed them to get fine sand, some lumps i kept a bit larger to simulate small rocks. Remember, most deserts are rocky deserts, including most parts of Iraq. Even the famous Sahara contains of only 20% sanddunes.

it's hard to find,but the best desert sand i've ever used is the sand they put in public ashtrays.it is extemely fine and gives you a perfect desert.
these days there arn't many around ,so if you see any put a handful in your pocket.the worst that will happen is if anyone sees you they'll think your somekind of weirdo.

Thanks one and all for the advice. Once I finish, I'll post the pictures.

I'll give a thumbs-up to the sand, but would also like to throw out an alternative. Ray Anderson, who primarily made shadowboxes and vignettes focussing on the Old West, would use Durham's Water Putty as his ground material and then (while it was still wet) would sprinkle dry Durham's over the top of it to get a super-fine sand texture.

The only problem with this this technique is that it's super messy and, if you're not careful, you'll get Durham's plastered to your models.

Again...just thought I'd mention an alternative for the heckofit.

[Edit: Spelling is easy...typing is hard.]

I use finely sifted dirt from my backyard. I sift it with a very fine mesh sifter so what I end up with is very, very fine dirt (almost dust-like). When applied and painted it looks like sand and is very close to scale.

How about flour?

I would not recommend flour. It is too fine and tends to flatten out. Also, if not seald properly, the bugs will eventually eat it away. Best bet is real sand of some sort.