Need help simulating slushy snow…

[Greg Bowman]

Anyone have a realistic way to simulate slushy snow? I have a project that I would like to add some thawed areas to the snow and was wondering if anyone might have some good ideas on how to I can achieve that thawed\slushy look.

 

[Mack]

Try to use the crystal snowball from an italian manufacture called Prochima, I don't know if you know this brand.
They are crystal spheres that simulate the snow in the best possible way.Here in Italy a lot of us use it for the absolute likness of it with snow.You mix it with white glue, apply it with a brush where you need and you can add some mud colour to the mixture or doing it later. As all the things in our hobby the more you experiment the more you get...
take a look here: http://www.prochima.it/pages/neve.htm
Let me know.
bye

Marco

 

[megroot]

Greg,

I make my snow from Natriumbicarbonaat. It is the same stuff as bakingpowder but i get it on a chemistry. Then you get the pure stuff and costs almost nothing.
With with glue (Elmers glue i believe in the USA) and a little water i mix the snow and with an old brush i bring on the spots that has to be covered.
You want a dirty look, Oke, i mix some MIG pigments in.

I hope this wil do.

Have a look here.
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4940

Marc

 

[Mack]

The problem of baking soda is the time...
In fact, after an indefinite time (one year or more, or less) the baking soda assumes a yellowish ugly colour for a reason that I ignore, but I think it could be the exposition to the open air (?). A way to reduce this is adding glass powder to the mix (for glass powder I intend the breaking a little piece of glass, a broken lamp for example, and reduce it to powder).
Bye

Marco

 

[amherbert]

Hi

For good slush/corn snow I have used Hudson and Allen 'Slush'.
It's some kind of sparkly mineral stuff, with a coarser grain than microballoons or baking soda. It looks pretty good when dry, and if you find it too shiny, it's easy to scale back with some matt finish.

So far it's the only thing I've found that looks like wet snow or slush.

Andy

 

[CarlStartin]

Hi greg,i love depicting snow and i find sandblasting powder works for me,it comes in all colours and grades,but ive managed to find a white fine grade used for polishing it has what appears to be either glass or mineral type bits in it,the stuff actually "twinkles"at you in the light!Just apply with white glue,and it sets solid also does not yellow,for slush add acrylic paint or powders.
You can look @ this helmet,

 

[Guy]

Originally posted by amherbert@Aug 7 2005, 11:26 AM
Hi

For good slush/corn snow I have used Hudson and Allen 'Slush'.
It's some kind of sparkly mineral stuff, with a coarser grain than microballoons or baking soda. It looks pretty good when dry, and if you find it too shiny, it's easy to scale back with some matt finish.

So far it's the only thing I've found that looks like wet snow or slush.

Andy

I agree Andy.......I also use Hudson & Allen "Slush" and it works great for slushy snow

 

[Einion]

Geez I must be losing it, I thought I posted to this thread when I was on earlier!

I usually use baking soda for snow but it won't work for this kind of application, it's best for simulating heavy snow, applied as a thick paste made up with PVA/white glue with a drop or two of water to make it workable. For the record pure baking soda does not yellow over time - I have some on a model that's approaching 15 years old - if you experience this problem it's the glue or something else that's the cause.

Einion

 

[Bluesking]

I too have used the Hudson and Allen "slush" to good effect.

 

[poch mahone]

I use powdered alum for snow and slush, just apply it with p.v.a glue.


Brian

 

[pkw4]

hi Geg try this;
bicarbonate soda(not baking soda)
Glass beads for sand blaster 50 or 100 microns work well
mixed with acrylic gloss medium
after apply let set for a while(15-20 minutes) then shape with a toothbrush.
good luck
Roberto

 

[Greg Bowman]

Thanks everyone… for all the great suggestions. I think I’ll experiment with some of the materials suggested and see what I can come up with.

 

[Figure Mad]

Hi Greg I know that got onto this one a bit late, sorry on holiday, I have posted a small peice that I completed a while ago for a 90mm figure and have included it hre for you....

The ground work started off as the original base that came with figure, glued and screwed to the wooden base. the root was then attached to the base on a peice of steel wire to be able to bend it around to the desired position. The rest of the ground work was then built up with normal household filler and left to dry.

The next stage involved using superglue light gravel to create the muddy area under the snow, when this was dry I glued on top of this some of the leaves that used on the tree at the end. Once this was completely dry, the dark mud colour was mixed with dark leather, black and ochre, this was then airbrushed over the whole of the ground area and lightly up the tree base and left to dry.

The next stage was the snow. I use something for snow that is very difficult to get hold of, its called Alum (its actually a powder for bed sores) this aside it works brilliantly, it is transleucent and when it’s ground down to form a finer powder, it stays slightly seethrough. I use white wood glue (no water) to attach this to the surface of the ground and just sprinkle the Alum on top, then tap off the excess immediately. Then build up to give deeper snow. Once this is dry I spray the base ground colour around the edges to give the thinned out snow look and then use gloss laquer to give the final wet ground look....

hope this helps

Dave

 

[Dan Morton]

A word of caution, guys! A lot of different materials have been mentioned, some I can readily identify and others I'm not sure about. [I'm sure they're great products and make super looking snow!] Take a little care how you are applying them to avoid breathing them in. Alum = aluminum sulfate or potassium alum or sodium alum; sandblaster grit contains glass & probably both amorphous and crystalline silica; no idea what the product "slush" contains. The first two are respiratory irritants and can (with long term high exposures) cause some serious illness. I doubt that anybody gets enough exposure to cause serious illness (unless you're manufacturing them!), but, if you have a predisposition to asthma or respiratory allergies, take some reasonable precautions. Keep the materials wet wherever possible and limit the dust production. Wear some rubber gloves.

All the best,
Dan

 

[Figure Mad]

Hi Dan

I do agree with you, that they can cause respiratory irritation with intense usage. And with a great amount of consideration I decided to use Alum, because of the effect, I also found that using some of the other products that are used in other areas of our hobby, had a far more horrible effect on my breathing due to over use, rather than the single use of this product. And the Alum I used just had Potash after its name, nothing else....

But I do take your point, as there can be some dangerous stuff out there that we use, we just need to be careful...

Dave

 

[Guy]

Looks good on the snow Dave.

When the forum statrs to run slugglishly......and is slow to refresh a page.........its the oversize photos that can create this. Please....please....please try to keep the photos within the screen where you don't have to scroll and scroll to read a post. would appreciate it :lol:

 

[Greg Bowman]

Dave

Thanks, for the step-by-step on how you constructed your groundwork… It has a lot of really great information in it that I am sure I will be able to use. The groundwork itself looks first rate… Thanks again.

Dan

Thanks, for the heads up about the potential hazards of using some of these materials. The last thing we need is for some one to get hurt using them.

 

[whitewarrior]

I just tried the baking soda with what looks like good results. Can any type of sealer be use to "seal" it? dullcote--etc