Another simple question guys - What is the best way to stick snow on a base, and also on a tank. I have my groundwork done, and want to put a dusting of snow on top, not a complete covering, just a dusting. You will be able to see the tank tracks and footprints in the snow. I intend to use Talcum Powder for the snow (it seemed to look fairly realistic in a small trial) but I'm not sure how to stick it to the base.

Should I spray white glue (diluted) on to the base then sprinkle, or apply the snow first and then seal it in with lacquer/white glue/hairspray - all things I have heard about in various articles.

What is your opinion?

BTW The ground work is simply a stony track, no grass (that's another question )

Thanks a lot guys for all the help you've given so far, this is my first model and base and you have given me confidence to try things out and my skills are improving rapidly.

Roger

Roger

There are different ways to fix the snow to the dio
I have heard that people first sprinkle the snow on it and then spray diluted whiteglue on it

for myself I prefer to first sprinkle the snow on the dio and then spray everything over with hair spray. with this technique you might repeat the two steps a couple of times before you are satisfied with the result.

hope it`s of some kind of help

Be careful with the white glue....in some cases the snow turns yellow after using that glue.

I use Busch snow (see www.busch-modell.de). Before sprinkle the snow on, I spray the base with tap water. Since the snow is like a sort of plaster, it dissolves with water and turns hard after sprinkling on. Be sure not to use too much water (just one spray is enough, you don't want to se drops on the surface thats too much).

If you are gonna use Talcum powder etc, then thin the white glue with plenty of water and spray it on the objects. After spraying just sprikle on the snow That should do the trick too.

NB: I don't just sprikle...I dip a stiff flat brush into the snow and tap of the excess snow. Then I move the brush over the object ans gently tap of the rest of the snow. The result is a very nice thin layer of snow.....

the most important thing to remember is : PRACTICE ON SCRAP MATERIAL

Two wise thoughts here, that I want to second. My snow was applied with white glue, and it turned yellow. So be careful what glue to apply. When you apply the glue, make sure there are no droplets visible : they become balls of snow.

I tried several ways to apply snow, and I'm still not happy with the end result.


At the current temperatures, you can just leave your dio outside for a while and wait for real snow ? To make it last, add a droplet of glue at the bottom of each snowflake #:-)

Jan

Another method to apply a "light mist" (especially with a fine grain product like talcom powder) is to use 3M Spray-Mount. It is an aerosol adhesive that isn't "wet". First I would seal the whole diorama in a flat matte finish, to make sure the spray mount has something to "hold" to, and then apply the powder.

I think that you may consider other "Snow" material other than Talcom powder.... HydroCal (sold in large "milk carton sized boxes) is cheap and works well as snow. It is readily availalbe at any train hobby shop. It is also more versatile in that you can use several different types of glue to achieve different effects (light snow, heavy snow, etc.).

Take a look at my diorama "Captain Winter" which also uses a "light snow" effect - this was done with Hydrocal and 3M spray.

All good techniques. As mentioned practice on scarps and try the different methods available to you.

In my Cold Stare diorama my method was to use a mix of diluted white glue (elmers). I would dab/wash that on my dio then sprinkle woodland scenics Snow over it. Honestly, I was not thrilled with the result or one layer. To improve the result I continued to repeat the process to build up the snow. I also added a touch (3 or 4 drops) of tamiya white to the mix to add 'coverage' and depth to the snow.

here's one photo - check out the other I know some of the techniques in previous posts are on display in the Dio Campaign gallery

This sounds like the easiest way but unfortunately we have rain and +11 today, so it's not an option.

I have tried painting on some diluted white glue and sprinkling talcum powder this morning and it looks OK, not sure if it'll go yellow though. Talcum looks OK for the effect I am after, but I really like the look of the snow texture in Slodder's picture, I will try and get hold of some of this stuff. Not sure if it is available in the UK, anyone know?

The effect on the ground on the pic by KFMagee is almost exactly what I'm after this time. What is HydroCal? Again, does anyone know if it's available in UK?

As well as the light dusting, I will need to put a few more "lumpy bits" on the tracks etc, can I just build up the layers to achieve this, or is there another way?

My wife is bringing in some hairspray later today (I couldn't bring myself to go out and buy some!!) so I'll try that method too.

Thanks for all your advice.

Roger

I believe you can get the thick lumps of snow with the busch snow where Eagle talked about. you can use it as some sort of plaster and you can apply it with a brush where you want it and how thick you want it

I sprayed the whole diorama from above (like rain would fall) with white glue diluted in water.


I then sprinkled the whole thing with alum. After the first dusting dried, I repeated once to get the result. The slurry is soft enough to make footprints in with no trouble.



Patrick

HydroCal is a light-weight "plaster of paris"-like material. Train Hobby stores stock this stuff by the ton! It is sold in quart Milk-carton kinds of boxes, and the brand I use is made by Woodland Scenic (who else?), and comes in a yellow & black carton. Very cheap, and quite versatile. Can also be used like plaster to make buildings etc, but I find it is not as dense as plaster of paris or dental plaster. As mentioned and shown in Captain Winter, it makes excellent snow, and doesn't seem to "yellow" with age. Just use white glue diluted with water, or for a light misting as I have used in Captain Winter, try using the 3M Mounting Spray. Then just shake the Hydrocal over the piece, wait about 10 minutes, and blow away the excess.