Hi all
I’m going to have a bash at snow and read somewhere that “marble dust makes the best snow”. I wouldn’t know. Has anyone had experience with it? I’ve read the excellent Kalmbach book on scenery - some terrific snow examples in there, but they haven’t used marble dust. I’d really appreciate any advice.
Mike
I have seen people use baking powder for snow…
hope this helps
I have used, and liked, the WS “snow”. However, we have had spates of sowbugs showing up from time-to-time in our basement, and my wife had been told that baking soda is great along the base of the walls on concrete, tile, or lino. Sure enough, the sowbugs are stopped dead. However, I have noticed that the baking soda looks good and white when left undistrurbed. There is not reason not to use it. It is initially cheap, you won’t need much unless you are doing a complete winter theme, and even then it is still relatively cheap. Looking dusty or clumping due to moisture? Vacuum and reapply annually.
Do you ever have any problems with baking soda’s absorbant qualities, such as turning colors or picking up odors?
I have used Baking Soda and have had good results. You must be careful about putting it down. I put some down while my ballast was still wet and had a real mess. But, I re-did it, and it looks great now. A little tip I learned was to run the baking soda through a sifter to help break it up. Hope this helps.
Hi Mike,
For large areas like grass-covered hills, I modeled the scene using Sculptamolde. The finished terrain I painted then with the whitest white I could receive. When the paint was still wet, I sprinkled fine “Glass sand“ over it. This lends to the mystery glow, which is peculiarity of snow. Glass sand is available at firms who made Street Markings and other reflective signs. A quart of it goes a long way. For the details, I use WS snow.
Have fun
Rene.
Huh I thought I remember a post here some time back. Baking soda doesn’t yellow over time?? Or was it…gray… Regardless I have experience with woodland scenic…Seems to work fine for my 1 year old Christmas layout. 
Hi Mike
Of the few things I’ve heard from users, marble dust doesn’t seem the long-term solution. If not kept in a dry enviroment, it tended to get ‘clumpy’ as one friend said and he had a hard time removing it. All ‘snow’ gets dirty. I’ve found Woodland Scenic snow the easiest to use and, when needed, to vac and replace. Plus, a dehumidifier couldn’t hurt! Dick
Richard ( I normally use my nickname I’ve uesd for 62 years but ‘Bergie’ the monitor of this new forum has decided it’s “indecent”)!
Thanks to everyone for your replies and advice.
I have to admit I’d never thought of vacuuming it up and renewing it but the idea of fresh snowfalls appeals to me!
Can’t wait to try out the glass sand, WS snow and baking soda. I’ll do some trials on scraps of track and scenery. And PDragon I love the look of that scene. It’s the kind of coverage I’d be aiming at.
Thanks again.
Mike
If you use WS snow, make sure you don’t have loose ballast near there because when they get mixed in, it looks absolutely horrible when you reapply it, but if you keep little stones away from the snow, it looks GREAT!!! Of course, I can’t speak on baking powder or marble dust [;)]
[2c]
Pdragon - Tell us how you do that terrific looking smoke/steam!
Hi Harry,
The steam/smoke is generated using the airbrush in Photoshop. It was too difficult keeping the layout at 20 degrees above zero and the thottles were too cold to handle![:)]
Pdragon
I used Vintage Reproductions (I think that’s the name?) snow on my last layout and I thought it worked well, they have different versions (wet snow, dry powdery snow) some of which have a nice ‘sparkle’ that looked good.
The only hesitation I would have about baking soda is it is basically salt - not sure I want to use food as a scenic material, especially one that can speed up rusting in metal.
I am experimenting with what I refer to as ‘snow-coats’ that I am making out of aquarium silicon, with gloss white paint mixed in before it sets. I spread the mixture real thin (about 1/16 inch) over waxed paper and on one end of the ‘snow-coat’, I have embedded slivers of clear acrylic strips to represent icicles and I have coated the icicles with clear silicon.
When dry, the entire snow-coat can be removed from the waxed paper and because it remains flexible, it can be draped over the roofs of various structures and still conform to the shape of the roofs. My goal is to add winter scenes to my layout that can easily be removed later, and reused time and time again. If done right, the icicles on one side will hang vertically along the edge of the roof. No clue how this will look when all done but I will study the pictures I am going to take, and make improvements from there.
When you want to clean the snow-coats, just rinse them under the sink and dry them with a towel.
Sounds fascinating, Perry. I’d like to see that!
Mike
When fog was required on a movie set, sometimes the solution was to use dry ice because its evaporative residue resembles fog. I don’t know what is done today to make fog.
I’ve often thought that a really cool effect when modeling snow would be to have a dry ice cooler under the table with vent tubes exiting at the top of the layout (hidden by a bush or small hill) to allow “fog” to accumulate on the layout to further enhance the illusion.
An added effect would be a slightly cooler temperature on the layout to further convince the viewer of a snow scene.
To create smoke, you could do the same with a building chimney or even a steam locomotive sitting in a static position over an exit tub…if you don’t mind getting the underside of the loco wet.
PS…I have way too much time on my hands.
PPS…I’ve used really fine-chopped blue sequins lightly sprinkled in & over the snow to resemble the (sometimes) bluish hue of freshly fallen snow in the early morning.
Mike,
I will post a picture for you, when I finish.