Hi
i am currently working on an iraq dio and would like to know the best way to represent desert sand?! :-) . Thanks in advance, Nick

I would suggest that you go out in your
neighborhood street after a rain shower and scoop
up some of the grit , the tiny little pebbles and
small particle sand that collects in low lying
areas of street curbs. I keep mine in a jar.

Find a piece of screen or strainer type "contraption"
that has a very fine screen. Then go to a near by
park and tool over to the playground area where there
is sand around the swings, etc. Scoop up a small jar
full of that — probably a 5 yr. supply, at least — and when you get home, sift it thru the screen so only the very tiny particles of sand sift throught. In scale the sand particles would be quite tiny. So then you have tiny
ittle rocks and very fine sand. Yes, you can buy this stuff from hobby dealers, but it is expensive.
And mother nature provides just what you would want
IMO.

Mix Elmer's (we call it white glue) with water and brush that in the areas where you want your sandy soil to be and then start sprinkling the sand/ pebble over the wet
area. I turn the base upside down and tap it on the
bench a good nock to dislodge the loose particles.

I would keep in mind that in the desert, not every where is just sand and that there is actually growing foliage in the desert, altho rather on the brown side in color. Also, in my view, the desert is NOT flat. There is a rise and
fall to the terrain of the desert. Besides, flat can be
boring

Good luck

Hi Nick,

One of the other things that you can buy for your sand base is called Chinchilla Sand & is used by the animal to bath in. Most pet suppliers will sell it loose and in the aount that you want for a very cheap price.

As previously use the same method for attaching to your diorama, adding small stones etc as you want, then add some colour and away you go.

This is my method, so I hope it gives you another option.

John

hi guys. thanks very much

Bugger the sifting! :-) :-)
Regular sand + mortar and pestle with a good doco to watch.
Grind till powdered or movie is finished and spread.
But rememeber the majority of Iraq id not sand desert - rather a very rocky tableland.
cheers,
Andy

cheers andy

I know that using the real thing is popular, but I disagree. I assume you are talking about a 1/35 dio, and I find that at that scale if you can see the grains of sand with the naked eye, it's too big. I recommend chalks and/or powdered acrylics as sand. Make your groundwork out of plaster or whatever, carve in all the indentations, footprints, vehicle tracks, etc, and then lay on the chalks. Finish it off with some sort of fixative. I've done this even in 1/16 scale and am happy with the result.

There are more pix of this vignette in my gallery.

For ulta fine sand, go to a craft store and look for decorative sand. It is used in certain crafts.

I sift the natural stuff and store it in'grades' for selective placement in dios(yeah,I'm a sick puppy :-) )If it still needs some "fineness",sprinkle ground black pepper-store bought,not hand ground.
cheers!

Hi
Cheers guys. Sorry lost track of the thread for a while.
Nick

Hi Nick,

There is much variety to desert terrain. I guess it depends on what you want to model specifically. The area I live in is arid desert by nature. Here is small base I made for a model. The "Desert" came from my driveway. I did not paint the terrain thats its actual color. The plants are lichen however.



Hope this helps you.
Brian