Need some snow help

[shrugger]

A friend of mine is creating a simple snow covered base
for one of his tanks. He built up the snow with 'Sculpta mold'
to where he liked it. He then used 'acrylic gel medium'
to completely coat the sculpta and then shook a half salt
shaker of 'baking soda' onto it.
It turned out to be the most realistic looking snow you can possibly imagine
It looked exactly like freshly fallen wind swept snow!!!
The problem however, the next day he was tapping the excess
powder off the base and the'acrylic gel medium' just fell off in big chunks!
It seems the soda either dryed the gel too quicky causing
it to lose its adheasion or had some other reaction to it.
So the question is, what can he use as an adheasive that
will either dry clear or white that won't react badly to 'baking
soda' or what could he use that would look exactly like the
baking soda?

[DennisH]

what can he use as an adheasive that
will either dry clear or white that won't react badly to 'baking
soda'

Diluted white glue?? Elmers and water.

I had to put down a lot of small rocks for railroad ballast on a RR model project where I worked years ago. I do mean a lot. I first started out with a bucket of thinned glue and a paint brush applying(sp?) it as fast as that process can go (which wasn't fast enough, did I mention that there was a lot to cover?).

I finally thinned it down to the point where I could spray it through a regular spray bottle. Of course I had glue overspray to clean up on the tracks afterword, but it was faster than the brush route I was going in originally.

Anyway, the glue soaked down into the rocks and and bonded them and the base together into one solid chuck of gluerock/rockglue and dried clear enough that it wasn't noticeable.

The whole thing survived a 250-300 mile road trip and being set up for display (the thing was 2 1/2 to 3 stories tall/long) without anything chipping or falling off.

I'd go with the brush method for your friends dio. You have a lot of play with how thin you make the glue, but with a brush it goes right where you need it to and he could do small sections of snow at a time.

Just my thoughts.


Dennis

[Shinnentai]

A friend of mine is creating a simple snow covered base
for one of his tanks. He built up the snow with 'Sculpta mold'
to where he liked it. He then used 'acrylic gel medium'
to completely coat the sculpta and then shook a half salt
shaker of 'baking soda' onto it.
It turned out to be the most realistic looking snow you can possibly imagine
It looked exactly like freshly fallen wind swept snow!!!
The problem however, the next day he was tapping the excess
powder off the base and the'acrylic gel medium' just fell off in big chunks!
It seems the soda either dryed the gel too quicky causing
it to lose its adheasion or had some other reaction to it.
So the question is, what can he use as an adheasive that
will either dry clear or white that won't react badly to 'baking
soda' or what could he use that would look exactly like the
baking soda?

The method you describe seems like a very good one (and simple too!). You don't need any extra adhesive (acrylic gell media does that as good or better than white glue all by itself), you just need to not use baking soda. Acrylic gel media is water based, so it's VERY easy to imagine it throwing the baking soda out of whack, as baking soda does have moisture issues. Use glass microballoons instead of baking soda (check with the RC aircraft section at your hoby store- some people add it to epoxy glue to make a sandable filler), it'll give exactly the same effect, and won't interefere with the chemistry of anything else.

[Go Flight]

Here's a snow tut -
http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/ot ... ngahn.html

[Warped Speedster]

Good stuff Kev.

[SGluedMyFingers]

Perfect. I was wondering how I was going to do this AT-AT base. A little of this on the feet should look good as well.

[Stingray]

what can he use as an adheasive that
will either dry clear or white that won't react badly to 'baking
soda'

Diluted white glue?? Elmers and water.

That's exactly what I've used for years to make snow, diluted white glue and baking soda. Looks great. Also works well for making pavement, but of course you paint it grey instead of white.

-S

[en'til Zog]

You might try Red Devil vinyl spackle for the main mass of the snow - it can be formed into mounds and ruts nicely, and takes tread and foot marks well. When it's dry, take some spackle and mix well with water until it's very thin, and then brush that on, then sprinkle on micro baloons, salt, baking soda, whatever.

For general terrain, mix the spackle with acrylic paint (black or brown) to tint the entire volume (in case it cracks or chips you have consistant color all through the mix) then add a final layer of dilluted spackle & static grass, sand, rock chips, and whatnot. Don't forget the whatnot!

Z