Anyone have any suggestions for modeling snow? I’m going to do a small HO layout for under the tree, and I’d like it to be a winter scene. Recently I found this little blub that seems like it might be easy enough, but I’m curious if any of you might have some better suggestions:
“Recently, I found a product that fulfills all my modeling requirements and yet retains a snowy crystalline appearance. I happened upon a canister of ‘snow’ by Woodland Scenic. The ‘snow’ is a powered plastic material, which retains scale size and sparkle. The instructions state to use Woodland Scenic scenery glue to adhere the snow in a layered fashion. I however, found to just too tedious building snow banks one layer at a time. I solved this by mixing the ‘snow’ with Mod Podge (MP). MP is a glue-like liquid with the ability to seal and attach materials. I prepped the surface to be snowed with straight MP and then sprinkled on the snow. For drifts and banks I mixed the snow with the MP until it was a thick ‘batter’. This allowed me to add it to both vertical and horizontal surfaces. One the MP/snow dries it retains a beautiful sheen of wet snow. It can be applied to vehicles and figures using a disposable brush or plastic applicator.”
If you have a source of foam insulation you can cut it to the shape of the snow banks and piles you want. Paint white and sprinkle on the WS snow. Wouldn’t use up as much of the snow and would use up some of those scraps of foam. (I use it for dirt/coal piles.) A few spots of brown to indicate where the plow caught the dirt or the sand from the road crew piled up would add some realism.
It should work fine. Modge Podge is basically acryilic matte medium, not much different from Woodland Scenics scenery glue. Only problem I’ve found with snow scenes is that ‘model snow’ tends to look like a collections of snowballs, rather than a uniform covering. I’ve considered following Bill Henderson’s tip for his Coal Belt RR and using talcum powder. It’s very fine and should be fairly long-lasting, since pure talc is a ground up mineral.
I plan on painting the under-the-table-top-tree layout board wite, then adding some foam to make snow banks and drifts and gluing/sprinkling the WS snow on top and see how it comes out.
First got to order it and get it in house. wholesaletrains.com has it in stock. TOo bad I didn’t think to buy it when I was at their store two weeks ago!
Note that Mod Podge comes in two varieties: matte and gloss. You would want a bit of gloss in your glue at least because snow is sparkly. Matte finish will dull your snow. Personally, when I made a small winter scene temporarily on my layout, I didn’t want the snow to remain. It, of all things, will look the worst over time because dust will show early. It won’t clean well, not even with gentle vacuuming. You will either have to cover it with another layer or simply vacuum up the first when you can’t stand it any more and relay the snow. This is what I elected to do…not glue it so that it could be retrieved easily. For one thing, if you vacuum it through a piece of panty hose, you will be able to collect some of it which can be washed, dried, and re-used. Or, if you wish to retrieve most of it, use one of those cyclonic vacuums with the see-through swirly canister that you can remove and empty and re-attach to the machine.
