I know baking soda is good for extinguishing fires, so could I use tiny sprinkles of it on my ez track for the more in depth snow effect? Are there any dangers of doing this?
If it gets on your wheel flanges, it could gunk up the works. Electric trains need good electrical contact so keep it off the rails. If you want a permanent winter look, it's best to just use white paint, but only on the ballast and ties.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
I agree with PennyTrains, it does make a mess.
I used high gloss white paint and while it was wet I sprinkled miniature crystal glitter onto the paint. After it completely dried I vacuumed all the loose glitter.
I have cats and toddlers so I was carful not get it all over the place, because it causes severe intestinal problems if swallowed.
This is a photo of my Santa’s Village Snow
I don't want to sound reactive, or caustic; but it just isn't stable. Now, if you use it to make Russian Tea Cakes, then crumble them to simulate snow...
Nah,
Timboy
Baking soda might be good for a temporary scene, like say, for a photo session. But then, you will have to clean up the loose baking soda after the pictures are taken.
If you're looking to make a permanent snow scene, you might be better off using plaster, and shaping it into drifts. Model Railroader ran an article in the early 1980s about somebody who made a permanent snow scene on his layout. IIRC, the author sprinkled powdered marble over a base of plaster. The author also sprayed the scene with a highly diluted solution of water and india ink to give the "snow" some depth.
One thing you don't want is loose scenery materials all over your layout.
Dan
Folks:
I am about 6-8 weeks out from making a snow-capped mountain, so this experiment won't be of much use to the holiday layout builders, I'm afraid. But here is how I am planning to do it. I will take white polyfil and hydrate it with a white glue/water mix. I will press the liquid out and place it where I want the snow cap. I won't wring it out because I think it would be too hard to get the original shape back. I will press down the edges very firmly, even if I have to dampen my fingers with additional glue/water mix. I will then let it dry, knowing that there will be some glue/water seepage. That can be dealt with. I have used a similar glue/water hydration technique to create green vegetation mats out of black polyfil - topped with ground foams. I'm thinking it would work for a limited area to use white polyfil and glue to simulate a snow blanket. I don't know how practical my technique would be to do a snowfall scene where a whole town or industrial area is covered. You can reference my blog if you wish to see how an area can be treated by making a mat out of polyfil. Just an idea to kick around...
Regards,
Thanks for the help guys! Much appreciated but it completely stopped the train, all fixed now though.DONT DO THIS!
I have used cotton sheets from a craft store for snow, used a staple gun to tack it into place and sprinkled glitter on it and then used hair spray from a small plastic squirt bottle to keep the glitter in place, spray can will blow stuff around too much.
Keep loose stuff away from the tracks as it will get into the gears and stop up everything! Like others mention, baking soda breaks up after a few hours.
Lee F.
phillyreading"sprinkled glitter on it and then used hair spray from a small plastic squirt bottle to keep the glitter in place, spray can will blow stuff around too much. "
Oh Hairspray, I never thought of that. I have a couple of spots that need fixing and that just might work.
Timboy Folks: I am about 6-8 weeks out from making a snow-capped mountain, so this experiment won't be of much use to the holiday layout builders, I'm afraid. But here is how I am planning to do it. I will take white polyfil and hydrate it with a white glue/water mix. I will press the liquid out and place it where I want the snow cap. I won't wring it out because I think it would be too hard to get the original shape back. I will press down the edges very firmly, even if I have to dampen my fingers with additional glue/water mix. I will then let it dry, knowing that there will be some glue/water seepage. That can be dealt with. I have used a similar glue/water hydration technique to create green vegetation mats out of black polyfil - topped with ground foams. I'm thinking it would work for a limited area to use white polyfil and glue to simulate a snow blanket. I don't know how practical my technique would be to do a snowfall scene where a whole town or industrial area is covered. You can reference my blog if you wish to see how an area can be treated by making a mat out of polyfil. Just an idea to kick around... Regards, Timboy
That sounds a lot like the way Lionel used to make mountains and tunnels. They would impregnate felt sheets with "fish glue" and hand paint them after they dried (hardened). Should work.
Becky
Hi Becky:
That's interesting! I always wondered how those things were made. One thing I like about the technique I've developed with either white or black polyfil is that although it hardens into a kinda semi-crusty mass (depending on the amount of glue/water you leave in), it is still resilient to the touch. Depending how much bulk material is used, it can either be fairly thin and flat or as thick and contoured as you might want. I even built a small hill out of it once because I was in a hurry and didn't want to take the time to do the hard-shell first. You should have seen the look on my company's face when I smashed that hill down and it sprung back up! I quickly had to tell them to please not try that with all the other hills! LOL
Modelling snow convincingly is - I think - about as difficult as painting credible clouds or making realistic-looking trees. Normally, the snow I see others' trying to pull off just either looks like cotton or raw Plaster of Paris or too-large flakes laying around. I'm always open for good ideas, especially those three things I mentioned above.
I got that tidbit from Roger Carp's book "Lionel Display Layouts You Can Build". There's an interview with a former employee of Lionel's display department. Unfortunately he only used general terms so I can only assume the kind of felt they used was more like roofing felt rather than those wimpy little squares you find at craft stores. But I have no idea what "fish glue" is! : ) With experimentation I have found some of their other tricks and one day I hope to build a small layout reminiscent of the old Scenic Railways. Hand-painted felt mountains, trees made out of rope sprinkled with green sawdust, flowers made from sponges, maybe even a real water pond!
I've also been planning for some time to rebuild my current layout, and I've finally settled on late-winter as the setting. So I hope to have melting snow piles, slush and breaking-up iceflows to give the impression of the first "warm day". Maybe even raining if I can figure out a convincing way of pulling that off. Glossy paints can only take you so far!
Now, this is not a technique I'd recomend, but once upon a time I decided to have it snow on a layout I built in the 80's. It was my own theme park with mostly HO trains. The medium I decided to use for snow was powdered limestone. Bad idea.
Becky:
Yikes! Powdered limestone. But you are not afraid to experiment and I think that is admirable. I used to see Ivory Snow used as snow. I don't like the idea of anything just lying around. I want all my materials to be held down with some type of adhesive - well, except gravel ballast. I have no problem with that being loose. In fact, I prefer it as it makes track changes a LOT easier.
I think the concept of making a classic display layout in the way it would have been built is outstanding. I was sorely tempted to remake one of the Gilbert display layouts, but it would require too high a budget for me, with all the rubber roadbed and track/switches in excellent condition.
The development and use of fish glue is interesting:
http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/annual/v19/bp19-29.html
I couldn't find any ref to using it in vintage toy making.
I think your concept of late winter with melting snow is ambitious and I'll wager that to pull it off, you will have to invent some techniques!
When I put together my Christmas train garden, besides using the traditional cotton snow I got this ground plastic snow to sprinkle around. It is sold with the ceramic buildings this time of year. The only problem is that it is too large to simulate scale snow. However if you could grind it finer it may make convincing snow that you could even plow into snow piles along the sides of roads. Hmmm I wonder if I could borrow that food processor from my wife? LOL Being inert it cause no problems for the trains or having a little fall on the track.
I use FloraCraft winter snow with very good results.
Timboy Becky: Yikes! Powdered limestone. But you are not afraid to experiment and I think that is admirable. I used to see Ivory Snow used as snow. I don't like the idea of anything just lying around. I want all my materials to be held down with some type of adhesive - well, except gravel ballast. I have no problem with that being loose. In fact, I prefer it as it makes track changes a LOT easier. I think the concept of making a classic display layout in the way it would have been built is outstanding. I was sorely tempted to remake one of the Gilbert display layouts, but it would require too high a budget for me, with all the rubber roadbed and track/switches in excellent condition. The development and use of fish glue is interesting: http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/annual/v19/bp19-29.html I couldn't find any ref to using it in vintage toy making. I think your concept of late winter with melting snow is ambitious and I'll wager that to pull it off, you will have to invent some techniques! Regards, Timboy
Yeah the garden lime made a very big mess! I think I used something like a 50 pound bag of the stuff to cover a ping-pong table sized layout. It lingered for years!
From that article it sounds like you'd have to go out and catch an awful lot of sturgeon if you're making the glue in your home kitchen! I guess it's not exactly the best DIY medium for people who work on the scales we MR's do! I think I'll stick with good ol' Elmers! : )
But it does make me wonder. Lionel had scenery kits that had a powdered glue along side the bags of lychen, coal and sawdust. I wonder if it was the same substance?
Fife - Flora Craft winter snow. Does this imply that they also make summer snow?
I know. Not helpful, but I just could not resist.
OR,,, you could just move the layout outdoors. Then buy stainless steel track,,,, make a snowblower,,,, have to pickup leaves in the fall,,,, and worry about squirrels and birds stealing things,,,, and neighbor kids always wanting to come over and play with the trains,,,,, and shovel after every 1:1 scale snowstorm which is really 48:1 instead of 1:48 (our last storm of 14.5" would be a 58 feet snowfall),,, wearing a raincoat when it rains,,,, getting a sunburn in the summer,,,, bundling up or getting cold in the winter,,,,
ohh, o.k.,,, nevermind.
Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.
Oy..... : )
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