I wanted to get some advice from some folks around here before I started. I’ve decided to set the time frame for my RR in the winter. (Montana area, present day)
Is there anything specific I should know about modeling the winter? Tips etc.?
Thanks!
Acela
[:-^]
–Make sure your water is frozen.
–There should be a lot of white in your color pallet.
–Your Loco’s should have plows.
– Make sure the Pot Bellied Stoves in the cabeese are fired up and have lots of fire wood on hand.
–Your Section Gangs should have new brooms and shovels.
–If you have a first class operation you might issue new lined gloves to your employees.and put away a few dollars for some nice Turkeys for the staff for Christmas.
—Ho Ho Ho. [(-D]
Johnboy out…must write a letter to Santa.
Since your scenery will be very white, and since Montana isn’t a place where the snow quickly crusts over with airborne grime, make your scenery vacuum-cleaner-proof and expect to have to suck the dust off frequently.
You might also use the search function to find ideas for modeling snow. Plain white paint or plain white plaster doesn’t sparkle the way new-fallen powder does.
Since my own modeling is set in late summer/early fall, snow isn’t in my scenic plans. The snowplow sits on a spur where it will be available when I need it (mostly for plowing construction debris off the rails…)
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Rand Hood had an excellent article in MR about modeling winter scenes. You can see it here…
Steve S
Winter would mean bare naked tress.
Here are amitrues only if interested:
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=20014327
Winter would mean plenty of snow and white would be your palette.
Woodland Scenics makes “snow” if you haven’t found it yet:
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=20010854
Dollar stores often have “pine tress” with “snow” on the branch ends for a dollar a 4-6 pack this time of year…but hurry in as they sell out fast. If you can’t find the snow version, you can add snow to the regular Pine trees.
WS makes some:
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=200851958
Here’s WS own site with about 1 or 2 pages of snow stuff and how-to-scenery making for winter:
Ice skaters:
http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/item/a1899
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/woo/wooa1899.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Skaters-Single-HO-Preiser/dp/B000KSLKQA
Heres a tube vid of making a snow scene:
Modeling a convincing winter scene on a layout is an ambitious project and requires a lot more thought and work than just a generous dusting with one of those commercially available “snow” products.
You need to cover everything with a layer of snow, even the ties and the ballast. Snow tends to soften the contour of the scenery and snow drifts pile up. Vehicles and people leave tracks in fresh snow.
The best method I have seen is to cover everything with a layer of a mix of plaster and PVA (makes it a little less brittle) and paint it with a white latex paint, to which some glitter is added. Before tackling an entire layout, I´d suggest to try your hand at a little diorama.
Look at this nice little tutorial:
Hi!
Most important… stay away from using real snow!
This is the photo gallery of our own mikelh:
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/6348
His layout is set in winter in New England. He captures the season perfectly, with ice and a bit of snow, but not the white blanket seen in greeting cards. I can’t think of a better example of winter modeling than this.
Do not forget a FLANGER eh? also geographicaly speaking Saskatchewan would be located in the GREAT WHITE SOUTH Montana is located in the Great White North.
Mr B that was very kind of you. Thank you!
For me the toughest thing about modelling winter is the bare trees. It’s a real challenge to get that fine twiggy look and I still haven’t got it as I’d like. Wire armatures are a decent start but I add other materials such as sisal rope fibres and coconut fibres. I also pull up weeds in the garden and use the roots. Everything gets a good coat of paint to help preserve it.
For ice I added a hint of white acrylic to two part resin, just to make it less transparent, and when dry I very thinly painted some greyish white acrylic with gloss gel medium over the top.
For snow I’ve used Woodland Scenics Flake and I find Heki Glitter Snow sprinkled sparingly over the top gives a nice sparkle. You can just see some sparkle in the bottom right corner of this shot
The WS snow is pretty hard to glue down, and it goes dull and dusty before too long.
Currently I’m experimenting with making my own snow using artists texture paste mixed with white and a dash of blue. It works ok, but I find it looks better if I add WS and Heki snow over the top, pressing them gently into the wet mix:
Mike
“The best method I have seen is to cover everything with a layer of a mix of plaster and PVA (makes it a little less brittle) and paint it with a white latex paint, to which some glitter is added. Before tackling an entire layout, I´d suggest to try your hand at a little diorama.”
Ulrich, What is PVA? Not a term/material I am familar with here in the US.
Sheldon
White glue - Elmer’s in the US, I think.
Sorry Sheldon, PVA is a British term. It´s just ordinary white glue.
I was at Lowes this afternoon and saw a Valspar display. For what it’s worth which may be nothing Valspar has products for Christmas decorating which are safe on plastic as well as just about everthing else. One is called frosting and the other snow.
Bob