LastspikemikeTo reproduce the realistic glittering would possibly involve very small flakes of silvery glitter which I am led to believe is available at makeup counters.
Good suggestion thank you. I have looked at glitter in craft stores but even the "extra fine" grade appear bigger than I think would be optimal. I never would've thought about the glitter used in makeup.
While in the craft store I looked at the Buffalo snow brand and I think it's no good for our purposes. It appears to be tiny plastic hairs. I'm sure it's fine for most general purpose Christmas crafts but I don't want my snow field to look hairy.
For those with experience with WS snow, how big are the particles? Say compared to ultra fine particles like cornstarch/flour/icing sugar vs big particles like fine ballast?
edit: geez makeup is expensive
Somewhere back in the 2000's. There was a series of articles in MR on making snow scenes And ice and melted snow. The cover pic was DRGW sd40-2t at moffet tunnel. If I remember right. It is also on of Allen Keller videos he did of the same layout. Also Kathy millet has snow modeling vids
shane
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
speedybee winter theme portable module
I'm afraid that my opinion would be that no matter what you end up using the end result would be that it would look good initially, but after being moved around and jostled a couple of times maybe not so much.
I don't have a "snowfield" as such but I have areas of snow melt which I made with white wrapping foam from some furniture stuff we bought. It could probably be used over your scene glued down in sheets. My snow melt areas are in patches and look as I remember seeing it after two summers in New Zealand. The reflective aspect of the material looks like glistening snow I remember from Canada.
Good Luck and hope this helps
Trevor
Thanks for all the opinions guys. That WS snow looks really good. My calculations indicate that a shaker bottle ought to give me over 1mm coverage on the entire module, which may be enough to give the impression of very deep snow, I'll see how it looks on a small patch
My favorite has been the "snow" marketed by Citadel Modeling.
I have used it for photographing staged small winter scenes. However, doing a larger area with it would be EXPENSIVE!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
For at least ten years I have been planning a little 4x8 Christmas layout. Nothing fancy. Just an oval of track and one or two sidings and maybe a spur for interest. A two sided backdrop would divide the layout in two with a New England town on one side and a rural setting on the other. Because progression on my big layout has been so slow, I've just never gotten around to it but maybe, someday. I want it to have lots of snow so I will be paying close attention to this thread.
Plain WS 'Snow', which I have used now on three layouts.
You can just keeping pouring and layering it until it suits your expectations. Later, if you wish to remove it, simply vaccum it up. I would do that using a clean hand-held vacuum 'dust buster', and collect the material to re-use it later. You can always cover up any 'grit' with another fine layer of unused stuff.
I remember reading years ago about a fellow using white marble dust. Permanent and sparkly. I don't recall a photo so can't comment on how effective it was.
Mike
NorthBritI suppose it depends on how much 'snow' you want
A good point. I am going for full snow coverage; no grass or whatever visible through the snow. Hence my inclination to use white paint; the paint isn't supposed to look like snow itself, it's just providing a uniform underneath colour and providing a glue for the real snow to stick to. Deep snow is very bright white. The goal is a snow that looks something like this:
Your scene looks great, by the way
Bill Alexander (the TV painter before the bearded puff-ball hair guy) used to say "you've got to have dark to show light". I think white snow on white paint wouldn't look great. I do 'regular' scenery - black or brown paint with yellow & green grass, then add snow over it.
I suppose it depends on how much 'snow' you want.
I first tried layers of cotton wool, but as it was a City scene it was unsuccessful.
I went next for a 'light dusting' using talcum powder. That was over a year ago. That is where I am now. (Hopefully) giving a Wintry feel to Leeds Sovereign Street Station.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Way back in the 1970's I used white laundry detergent as snow on my layout. It wasn't a great idea - didn't react really well with stuff, especially the metal rails. It looked really cool though.
My Build Thread: https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/185298.aspx
Follow me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/stephenkingsmaine
I'll keep it in mind as an option, but it'd better look really good to be worth all the mesothelioma
Maybe?
Flakes by Edmund, on Flickr
Well, it IS fireproof
— on the other hand...
Good Luck, Ed
Hey all. I'm thinking of building a winter theme portable module and thinking about how to cover the layout in snow. I've tried various combinations involving white paint, white grout, and climber's chalk, but results have been unsatisfactory.
So then I was looking at products like WS snow, Buffalo extra fine snow flurries, and extra fine white craft glitter. I was thinking I'd try coating the layout surface in flat white paint and then sprinkling these products on top so that they stick to the wet paint, then shake off excess, like how one applies ground foam.
But before I go buying multiple bags of microplastics that may just end up in the landfill, does anyone have experience to share about making good looking permanent snow? I mention "permanent" because stuff in the pantry like flour or cornstarch might make great looking snow but do such things eventually get eaten by bugs/microorganisms?