I was thinking of using leveling sand- the type you get at a home store for adding realistic appearance to the sand containment bunker and areas around sanding towers (HO- Walthers Cornerstone Sandhouse kit).
Has anyone done this- or have alternate suggestions as to materials and techniques ?
Cedarwoodron
Hello I used some play sand. I like the look and color. Here is a pic.
hope this helps Frank
In any scale smaller than O, “sand” would be indistinguishable from flour or icing sugar from two feet away in real scale. Larger particles would be grossly oversized in scale. That means anything we would call sand is already too large for HO scale. However, if you still want something that looks like very fine sand at the distance between your eyeball and the HO sanding facility grounds, probably filtering sand of the type used in aquariums (aquaria) would be useful.
-Crandell
As long as you don’t get it wet, sanded tile grout is the right color and consistency for HO scale
And the mice thinking they have found flower will spit it out and go YUK!
I was in the Aquarium shop yesterday and there is a gritty stone like product I came across, that is used for Turtles. I can’t remember what it’s for ( I’m a fish guy) but it was very fine and I’m sure it would grind even finer between a couple of bricks. It was also the perfect colour.
Brent
ey Ron,
If you have a craft store in your neck of the woods, try looking for colored or decorating sand. It comes in a variety of colors and is ultra fine. I picked mine up at Michael’s for $1.49/bag. I use taupe for “green” sand and white for the dry sand.
Tom
Take the sanded grout, put it in a deep bowl, put a medium flow of water in it and let it fill (while stiring)and overflow to remove the cement and color. What will be left in the bottom is the sand that is much finer than any playbox sand and a light tan to almost white in color. That’s my plan for the sandhouse area.
I use a product called Behr Non-Skid Floor Finish Additive. It is a very fine white silica product that is used to provide a non slip surface on painted floors. It is available at Home Depot in small packets.
Joe
Hi… I would suggest a crushed granite material available in several different colors from a comany called Arizona Rock & Mineral Co. http://www.rrscenery.com/ .
They have a very finely crushed granite that is a light tan that would be ideal for Scale Sand. Check out their on line catalog.
Good luck,
HeritageFleet1
How about using the real thing? Sift it through a tea strainer, then through a piece of panty hose. Just be sure to get permission for the piece of panty hose you use. For the tea strainer too, if you don’t have a dedicated one on your bench already.
Don’t forget to run a magnet over any natural materials like sand, to get any motor fouling bits of metal before they mess up your locos.
Good luck,+