Anyone done a winter theme?

[doug1980]

Wondering if anyone has pictures and/or advise about winter themes? Things like making the snow on the ground look slushy and mounded up, getting a realistic cover on mountains and trees, what material to use for snow, and how to make it all adhere to the surfaces?

 

[Selector]

There was a photo of the month contest over at 2 Guyz and Sum Trainz a couple of months back, and this image was judged best of the lot. It so happens that it is mine.

This is a regular layout done with aluminum window screen covered with ground goop and scenicked with ground foam and bushes from Woodland Scenics. For this image, I merely sprinkled their "Snow" around the tunnel portal and up the track a ways and then took the shot. It vacuumed up easily later.

One thing you might want to be aware of, and that is that white snowcover will not be white after about one year or so. You'll have to recover it with fresh snow, or take it all up and redo it.

 

[UP2CSX]

Doug, the concept of an entire layout covered in snow sounds like a good idea but it's hard to do in real life. Just like real snow, it tends to get dirty and cruddy looking after a while. It's not so bad if you just have some snow covered peaks but keeping a whole layout looking good when it's supposed to monochromatic is tough. If you're looking to build a small diorama, there are products that make it easier, like Woodland Scenics Soft Flake Snow, but it would be expensive to cover a whole layout with this stuff.

Others have used flour (bad idea), baking powder (bad idea) and baby powder, which is probably the best of the lot, since it's a little heaver and more sticky than baking products. Makes your layout smell good too. You can make it stick with a spray bottle filled a 50:50 mixture of water and white glue with a few drops of dishwashing detergent to help it penetrate. You can make it stick to roofs and the tops of freight cars by brushing on the same kind of mixture. Once you get the snow to stick and it dries, you can use polyurethane varnish to give it a slushy look and to form puddles where the snow has melted. Snow drifts and mounds are best done by making the basic shapes in foam and then covering the shapes with the snow.

Snow is probably the most difficult scenery element to model realistically. You also have to make sure that it's kept out of the engines since it will gum up gearboxes in nothing flat. Once you decide to go with snow that you want to stick, there's no turning back. You can never get it off everything again.

 

[doug1980]

Mmmmm well there goes that idea. : ) I think I'll just do a small diorama winter scene like you said or just cover the mountains. It was a good idea. Thanks for all the advise.

 

[Rico]

I'll be doing a section of the layout in snow, but as already mentioned, in moderation.
I think it was the Dec. issue of MR that has a great article on melting snow drifts from foam?
(btw Selector that is a great shot!)

 

[Cjcrescent]

There is a modeler from the UK over on the Trains forums named Jon Grant. Although he is currently modeling NA railroads, he has done a two module scene set in the dead of winter depicting a scene set in the WWI time era.

You may want to go over there, join, if not already a member and find one of his posts and then send him an e-mail asking how he did it.

Back when I was really active over there, he sent me copies of the two British Model Railway mags that featured his layout in exchange for some Birmingham Southern RR info I sent him. All I can say is even the pictures made you feel cold!