I’m looking at changing seasons on my model railroad for a couple of reasons… Snow is a great cover and eliminates the need for alot of detail. And snowy winter scenes seem to be a rarity among modelers. Do any of you model snowy winter scenes? All the layouts I have seen assume warm seasons without snow (as if global warming has come early in the modeler world).
I’m working on a module set in Mid Winter. I use baking soda on dioramas, but will be using Woodland Scenics snow on the module.
Just to see how it might look I have sprinkled plaster powder on to represent a light snowfall.
Vacuumed it up again pretty promptly though. I’ll be using Woodland Scenics snow when I get around to buying some.
Mike
I’m interested to know how the Woodland Scenics snow works out for you both. I’ve seen it in the hobby shop and have often wondered about using it to model a late fall snow covering.
This is a temporary removeable Christmas scene on the 4x8 “plywood central”. It’s made of layers of that terrrible pellet type white 3/4" stuff - used it because of color. The buildings, trees, and some of the other stuff is the Christmas Village type stuff, trains & most of the figs are regular HO. This was put together with the help of my grandson John [:)] The foam was cut out with a hot knife, glued to gether with white Elmer’s, and the edges smothed by useing a Bernzamatic torch (in the detached garage - don’t ever do this in the house!!) The neat part is that I pick it up after the holidays & the foam is ready for next year! This is the previous year’s set-up.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
(ONLY THREE MONTHS EARLY)
My last layout was set in early winter, kind of a “first snow” time period…which in northern Minnesota can be mid-September of course!! My new two-deck layout is going have one deck as summer, one as mid-winter.
One problem is that about 99% of figures are made for summer. There’s very few figures of people bundled up for winter. Trees can be another issue, although the new ‘dead’ trees that are out will help. It’s easier to model a tree in summer than in winter, where you can see all the branches and twigs of the tree exposed.
I’ve made this with snow from Noch, perhaps like snow from Woodland. It’s removable.
Wolfgang
Some people use plaster dust.
Too durn depressing for me [:(] We get real winters in upstate NY (not as bad as Minnesota though) and the real snow is sufficient, thank you.
That being said, my layout progresses from spring through summer to early autumn with a rainscape along the way. The autumn part is still under early construction, spring/summer 80%.
I may include a square foot or two of snow at the highest and furthest area after the rest is done. I recall seeing some cool ways to make ice in old issues of MR. (pun intended).
Also, this book shows some techniques: 
Karl
On a prior layout I used balsa filler, it’s white, it’s super easy to work with, and will not shrink, dries quickly, cleans up with water. I mixed in a little bit of fine silver “sparkles” from the craft store to give it the snowy shine look. It looked great! If I ever do another winter scene I would not hesitate to use the same method again.
I will be posting a winter scene in WPF this weekend. If you take a gander through that thread, it’ll be there before long. I used Woodland Scenics “snow”. Useful stuff! And a little goes a long way. For dusting lightly about two square feet, I think I used about 2/3 cup of the stuff. It vacuums up nicely afterwards, as you would expect.
-Crandell
YIKES ! ! Snow !! Here in Canadaland with 10 months of frozen tires and 2 months of poor sledding it is not too popular a subject, do you know what an optimist is in Canada?? he’s the guy who scrapes ice off all his car windows before he tries to start the car.
Legend has it that John Allen sprinkled flour on part of the Gorre and Daphetid as a photographic prop - then vacuumed it up again because his birds started flying south…
There are practical problems to modeling snow, mostly having to do with full-scale dust. A scene with snow drifts could end up looking like the Mojave, absent frequent visits of a Dust-Buster. OTOH, underclothed micropeople aren’t that much of a problem. A few minutes and some thick paint can equip that beach scene bikini-filler with bunny britches, mukluks and a hooded parka. Adding clothes and weight is easy - going the other way isn’t.
If the modeled scene includes a ski resort, the moving chair lift or cable-borne gondola could be included as realistic animated scenery.
On the master plan to which I am (slowly) building, there is a town, at the far end of the narrow gauge and the bottom of my priority list, named Miyukidani. With a name like Beautiful Snow Valley, what else could it be?
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
How do you model a rainscape?
Pardon my ignorance, but what is WPF?
Weekend Photo Fun. It is a thread started by any member, usually on a Friday, and goes well into the next week with some diehards and enthusiasts. It is underway currently, and will be sure to show some excellent modelling by regular members before long.
Gotcha. I see it now. Thanks.
I am SERIOUSLY contemplating a dusting of snow on the higher elevation of The Buttes on my MR. It’s set in the California Sierra during October, and it’s not unusual to get an early snow around 6-8,000 feet around that time.
Besides, I’ve been looking at that new Athearn rotary. Yummy!
Tom [:)]
Guilford Guy-I like that shot. It LOOKS cold!
I remember MR had a shot in Trackside Photos a while back of a Soo Line caboose in a winter scene and it looked fantastic!