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Hi guys

Me and my friends are about to embark on the adventure of creating our own modular gaming table. We're going for a snow theme but so far our attempts at making snow have been less than satisfactory.

We're pretty amateurish when it comes to scenery making so does anyone have any simple tips for making (cheap) effective snow that would suit a table?

Thanks in advance
Balls

safe......white emulsion paint from b&q with sand mixed in shaded with blues.

non safe.... paint it white coat it in pva and then while its wet cover it in super glue {poundland stuff 5 bottles for £1} the super glue reacts with the water in the pva and sets in a nice textuerd snowy base

IT WILL GIVE OFF VERY NASTY FUMES SO USE A MASK AND DO IT OUTSIDE !

I believe that baking soda and PVA gives a reasonable snow-like substance for reasonably cheap. Layer on a thin dusting of GF9/GW snow flock on top just to give a fluffy upper layer, then reclaim the excess once the PVA has dried out.

That seems less likely to kill you !:]

PVA and baking soda is a popular method for basing and terrain work, but I don't know of anyone ever doing a whole table like that. Slapping down a hint of texture and letting the paint do the talking would be the easiest method (base with a light blue, drybrush heavily up through white), but then you risk any nicer snow effects you do on terrain/bases not matching. I'd try making a test patch and roughing it up a little. If glue and baking soda holds up, I think it'll be the most attractive option, without breaking the bank.

Hear are a few guides to some really good looking snow


http://www.angelfire.com/empire/paintingdude/snowbase.html

http://warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=26757.0

what i've done befor is grind down some white quarz. It really needs to be ground down to a fine powder, and care needs to be taken that you aren't smudging it with other stuff. I used vice-clamps to this effect, Do it in a box and wear safety glasses and use a large tray to collect the dust. The box is from overhead to prevent the pieces from flying everywhere, and then the safety glasses are in case they do fly everywhere. The dust has a sparkly shen to it, and it still remains fairly heavily granuled, so it needs to be mixed a bit with whatever else you are using. If you want to see what it looks like, PM me and i will get a picture up for you.

All since i got into wargaming i wanted to build a santa's village terrain board. I think there's a snow table article on GW's website.

SilverMK2 wrote:I believe that baking soda and PVA gives a reasonable snow-like substance for reasonably cheap. Layer on a thin dusting of GF9/GW snow flock on top just to give a fluffy upper layer, then reclaim the excess once the PVA has dried out.

I would not suggest baking soda. It yellows with age, meaning you have to constantly replace the stuff.

Best bet is Woodland Scenic's snow.

Me and a couple buddies did this and getting a nice snow effect was much easier then we'd anticipated. Take some paper towels and put them across the table, and then spray paint white over them. The towel will wrinkle abit which gives it a drift look and if there were any patterns on the towel itself they add abit of a shading to the whole thing. It'd looks pretty good and isn't to pricey for larger areas.

The problem I have with a lot of 'modelling snow' is that it looks too much like crystals, like sugar almost, and not realistic snow. I made a FoW board and ended up using textured masonry paint, which has the advantage of not even needing sand mixed in with it. Then use the 'sugary' modelling snow for layering on to bushes and trees etc. where the masonry paint would be too course.

I know this might be a little dangerous, but what I saw was people using VERY fine crushed glass as snow ( I assume this could then be coated with a layer of glue or some kind of sealent to protect you And the glass!) This gave off a really nice effect and looks pretty much like snow, but again not too sure of the saftey features of this

Kanluwen wrote:

SilverMK2 wrote:I believe that baking soda and PVA gives a reasonable snow-like substance for reasonably cheap. Layer on a thin dusting of GF9/GW snow flock on top just to give a fluffy upper layer, then reclaim the excess once the PVA has dried out.

I would not suggest baking soda. It yellows with age, meaning you have to constantly replace the stuff.

Best bet is Woodland Scenic's snow.

The solution is to add white paint. Works like a charm. Glossy white paint is best.

If you're looking for an icier terrain instead of powedry snow, try spraypainting or housepainting it white- in sub-zero conditions. It causes the paint to crack and curl a bit in a very 'icy wasteland' sort of way. Could probably be used with sandier colors for dry riverbeds and such, too.

If you really want to give it your all, base the terrain in white, light blue, or other 'icy' colors before hand, then do the 'frozen paint' thing, so there's more 'snow and ice' beneath it.

Pacific wrote:The problem I have with a lot of 'modelling snow' is that it looks too much like crystals, like sugar almost, and not realistic snow. I made a FoW board and ended up using textured masonry paint, which has the advantage of not even needing sand mixed in with it. Then use the 'sugary' modelling snow for layering on to bushes and trees etc. where the masonry paint would be too course.

Which is why you're actually supposed to build the table up like a standard table(flock, rivers, etc) before you put down the snow.

The best way to do snow is mix Woodland Scenics Snow, white glue, and a touch of water. You want a loose paste to spread on the areas in question. Do small parts at a time. This looks more like real snow when it dries as it has some loft to it.

Thanks for all the great suggestions guys, we're going to try each of them out as test pieces and see which we prefer.

Morls