Making Snow / Ice

[NukeMM]

you could always use plaster of paris for the ice around the ship. then grind some up, or just wack a sheet of it with a hammer. Then sprinkle the dust into certain spots coated with future as an adhesive? A good alternative for the wet kind of snow is the craft snow flakes mixed with some water and dish detergent and a drop or two of white glue for adhesion

Doctor,

I'm not sure about my trying the plaster for the ice around the ship but, maybe for creating my own snow dust perhaps. It may be worth practicing with.

[NukeMM]

I met with some armor modelers from my IPMS Chapter. They brought some samples of materials for ideas for snow.

One was "Snow Wonder" from http://www.seasonsofcannonfalls.com which requires the addition of a little water to it to mak eit fluffy. However, it does not solidify enough or stay intact and looks like it will blow away or crush under the slightest touch.

The second one was "Snow-Coat" and "Ice-Coat" from SmallShopEU.com (out of production and no web site anymore) with looked like it was going to be just right. It is very fine, has a sparkle to it and can be attached with white glue however, the crystal turned dark when it hit the acrylic paint on my practice ice. Weird!

The third option was Granulated Alum which the guy said could be found in the spice aisle at the grocery store. This is very, fine and is probably what I'll go with for the snow effect.

I've been practicing with the floating ice effect that Jan Klarbaek did on his 1/350 U-Boat of which there is a "How To" on the modeling web site that is forbidden to mention on this web site.

Jan used melted down white decor (unscented) stick candles and poured it out onto a cookie sheet to the thickness that he wanted and then when it solidified, he broke it up into pieces for his dio.

My candle wax ice sheets are a little too, thin I feel. And the water that I thought was going to be the base for my model is probably going to be my latest practice water base unless I can pull it off, somehow. I've still yet to try the other effects that Jan used on his U-Boat; i.e. adding some acrylic gel, here and there, and adding tiny pieces of ice, here and there.

I'm not ready to show anybody my practice attempts, yet. Sorry. But, wish me luck anyway, will you?

[Cliffy B]

Nuke, you can see my attempt at ice with the modeling paste here:

viewtopic.php?f=74&t=88208&start=120#p459495
viewtopic.php?f=74&t=88208&start=120#p459640


I found the paste next to the Gel Medium in Michael's, same brand and everything; Liquitex.

[NukeMM]

Nuke, you can see my attempt at ice with the modeling paste here:

viewtopic.php?f=74&t=88208&start=120#p459495
viewtopic.php?f=74&t=88208&start=120#p459640


I found the paste next to the Gel Medium in Michael's, same brand and everything; Liquitex.

Oooo! Nicely done, Mike!

1/700, right?

This is the kind of scene that I'm looking to portray in 1/350 with my USCGC Cook Inlet. The ice is rather far apart and not dense around the ship. The ship will be creeping slowly between them with just a ripple of a wake.

I have some of that paste, actually. I'll add it to my experiments.

I saw DrDoom's Russian sub, there, too. I see what he means about the plaster, now. Very effective, as well, Dr.!

[NukeMM]

I think I'm ready to share my method for the ice field for my diorama. I'm not finished, of course. It is still a work in progress.

I'm using a piece of 1/8" thick wave-texturedj, blue-tinted plastic sheet (no brand name but, I got two 3'x5' pieces of it from the trophy guy who makes my nameplates).

Other materials include Liquitex Gloss Gel, Liquitex Super Heavy Gel, white candle melted down and poured out to desire thickness, Future acrylic floor liquid, Model Master acrylic gloss clear coat.

The ice sheets are painted white but, with now snow powder, yet. Not until after all of the gloss coats on applied.

[Timmy C]

Brilliant effect, Carl! I may well steal it for a little scene of HMCS Calgary in Arctic operations next year.

[NukeMM]

Brilliant effect, Carl! I may well steal it for a little scene of HMCS Calgary in Arctic operations next year.

Thank you, Tim!

I hope that it turns out like I envision it. I'm still holding my breath during the whole process.

Here is the water sheet inserted into a recess that I routered out, for it, in the wood base.

[NukeMM]

Still now snow powder but, work continues on the ice.........

[ArizonaBB39]

As I said on FaceBook, excellent work Carl!!! I guess I should have looked at page two of this thread before asking how you did the ice!

[NukeMM]

Thank you, Abram. I gave you a link to here so that I wouldn't have to explain it again. You understand, I'm sure.

Here, I've connected the small ice pieces by using gray-blue wash and a white wash to simulate soft, icy slush.

Ooops! My turret is doing a wheely!

[Russ2146]

Now that is very effective!!!!!!!!!!!

[NukeMM]

Now that is very effective!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm extra happy that you like this, Russ!

[NukeMM]

The ice sheets at the stern of the ship have been a big debate with myself. I think that I'll learn to like this effect, although it wasn't exactly what I had envisioned.

I scrapped the white paint off of the wax and sanded the bare wax smooth.

I added a white acrylic paint wash to this, allowing some of the transparency of the wax to show.

I then applied Liquitex Super Heavy Gel to these areas working the gel to replicate it flowing up over the ice sheet and carrying some broken pieces of the ice sheet along with it.

After the gel dried, I wasn't satisfied with just the white wash beneath it. So, I added a darker wash of Dark Sea Blue and then some Navy Blue-Gray wash and then a dry brush of flat white.

The water flowing off of the starboard ice sheet was more super heavy gel.

I'll add the effect of the screws chopping up the water just beneath and around the fantail after the model is finished and attached to the water base.

[NukeMM]

[NukeMM]

This is the 1/8" thick textured water effect sheet that I used for the foundation of my ice flow diorama. I bought two 2.5' x 5' sheets of it from a friend. It is tinted in a medium blue.

Besides this diorama, I used it on my USS Duxbury Bay diorama, too.





Here is what I am finding to be the best for my snowy diorama. It is Granulated Alum which is commonly used in making pickles to make them more crispy. It can be found in the spice aisle at the grocery store. I found that I could grind it up further with the mortar and pestle method. (A ceramic bowl and a screwdriver handle.)





The alum interacts with the glue, a little, and looses some of its powdery effect but, if left untouched after sprinkling the alum over the glue, the powdery and sparkly effect will remain.

[NukeMM]

Here are my results with the Granulated Alum and white glue.

[ArizonaBB39]

I was just looking at these on FaceBook. Excellent work Carl! I love the effect, and the tip on something new to use for snow!

[Bigdaddy Mark]

I think you got it!!!

[NukeMM]

What about a Snow Globe?

I can seal the dust cover and fill it with water and white flakes!

[Timmy C]

That's a brilliant idea, Carl! Perfect for a small Arctic ship like Orange Hobby's 1/700 (or even 350th) Visby corvettes!

The trick would be to find an empty globe with a base, though I suppose it does not necessarily have to be a globe.