Does anyone have tips for creating realistic-looking snow for winter dioramas? I’ve tried a vast range of “fake snow” products with no success. Christmas spray snow looks good, but I’m unsure of how to seal it to keep it from rubbing off.
Any other ideas?
your generally not supposed to play with a diorama, so why would the xmas snow rub off???
Hey gozzizul,
From what I have heard “baking soda” works very well in representing snow!!
You can find this at your local super market.
Flaps up, Mike
I agree with Airbrush. If you do not have kids or animals your diorama should be safe.
mark956
Question for ya,
If you use the Christmas spray on snow, could there be any reaction w/ the plastic or the paint?
I know my folks have used it but they did not have anything that had any real physical contact w/ it.
This may seem as a dumb question but I really never worked w/ the spray on and yes it does look more realistic than the baking soda.
Flaps up, Mike
I used the spray snow once a few years back. The results were pretty good but I found that old dio a few days ago and the snow was slightly yellow. But I think pretty much all white materials get yellow-ish over the years when exposed to sun light.
baking soda, talc, plaster all work pretty well for snow. Ive seen really fine salt crystals mixed in sometimes and it makes an effect like ice crystals when light reflects off them.
parafin makes a nice ice effect as does resin. If you let it start to set up and then drip it on the branch, overhang, etc it will create an effect like icicles. If you dip it successively into resin it will create large icicles.
Don’t forget to notice where you put snow. i.e. snow will not accumulate on the rear decking of an operational tank. On helmets of walking soldiers, etc.
Hope this helps. Lets see some pics of the finished project.
Mike
I transport my dioramas for shows and competitions, so I need to use permanent or semi-permanent materials that can be handled by other people. Durability and longevity are important to me for that reason; I don’t play with my dioramas, or do I need to worry about kids or pets.
Thanks to everyone who had suggestions.
Hi Gozzizul,
I made snow for the base of an old wargaming model once. I created it using sand mixed with PVA wood glue, after it dried I painted it white then did a blue wash. It look really good, in my opinion. But keep in mind, I live in north Queensland and have never actually seen snow!! Only on telly!
Good luck mate, Wacky
You are lucky wacky. Snow sucks.
mark956
Try two part foam or the stuff that comes in a can. You have to do some “wrangling” but it trims up when its cured. Paint it white, and short of a barn fire it will last pretty well. It has a snow like quality about it.
The other possibility is to mix very fine sand into plaster. Very fine almost a powder. When it sets up, it will give you again that soft texture.
The talc or baking soda works well if you put it over celuclay or plaster painted white. It will give that snow like quality to the ground but you wont have to use as much. Just enough to “texture” the ground material.
mike
Have a search under “Snow”.
There was an extensive thread on this recently with good advice and lots of suggestions.
Cheers, Pete.
Get down to the chemist/pharmacy or whatever you call it, wherever you are, and get a box of Epsom Salts, also called magnesium sulphate. Brilliant stuff for scale snow!
Stick it on with white glue (try a test piece first) leave to dry & then spray lightly with a couple of coats of gloss varnish.
It’s cheap, and is used to erm, clean out your insides, if you get what I mean. So make sure you wash your hands well after using it, you do not want to find out how well it works!
With careful handling it should stick to your diorama’s during transport.
I have made deep snow drifts with foam beadboard (the white stuff) I painted it with white latex paint, added some gliter to give a little frosty sparkle, then dusted it with spray snow from about 3’ above. It has been around for several years now. It hasn’t yellowed and has traveled extensivly. It stands up well to handling and doesn’t adversly effect styrene.
Carl