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The topic says it all. I tried using the Gale Force 9 snow flock and it just came out looking weird. Do you guys have any suggestions as to which snow flock to use? Also is there a trick to using it?

Woodland Scenics is pretty good, as is Noch - though many people are quite happy with baking soda too.

I flip around a bit - though generally I will avoid the various "hobby" companies for flocking of any kind as most of it is just repackaged something else (either repackaged WS or other bulk materials).

What sort of snow are you looking to make? Some snow is best handled with putties and paint, some is best with glass microbeads, some with powders...

How you apply it can have a big impact as well. If you soak through a powder - it ends up looking a bit more like plaster than snow. To get that fluffy look, you will need to top dress it again with the flock. If you want snow that has been trambled down though, mixing the flock with a bit of glue and then smearing it around, followed up with some ink work for things like blood trails and muddy water in the bottom of tracks...

Lots of options really...all depends on what you are after.

All I really want is to create the effect that snow is on the flock on my base. I have some greyish flock that I use from Army Painter that i drybrush white onto so what I want to do is cover part of the base with snow.

Something like this would be great, but I'd do smaller patches of it interspersed throughout the grey flock that I have.

http://privateerpress.com/files/products/DestroyerExtreme_CLPD.png

Mix bicarbinate of soda with pva glue, put on the base in lumps, sprinke with some more bicarb to 'fluff' the top a bit more. Leave for a few hours, oh look its been snowing

James811 wrote:
Mix bicarbinate of soda with pva glue, put on the base in lumps, sprinke with some more bicarb to 'fluff' the top a bit more. Leave for a few hours, oh look its been snowing

Doesn't that turn yellow after some time though?

Only if you pee on it.

There is some risk of baking soda yellowing, due to its ability to absorb airborne chemicals...but I have some snow of that variety that is nearly 10 years old and still white. A good quality PVA glue should also avoid yellowing as well.

Which PVA glue would you recommend?

I also add a drop of white paint to avoid that sorry I forgot. And just any PVA, I use the stuff from the pound shop

Last time I used snow flock I used Elmer's glue which seems to work well for all of my other flock.

I've used the baking soda+PVA glue trick, and it works... for the most part. If you leave the mini's out in the sun, or someplace with a lot of airborne junk, it will change color. If you go this route, you end up with a pretty messy paste that is difficult to use and spread around. It can also give you some mass, so you can make snow drifts and build up the bass a bit. Just don't pin or use the snow as anchor point for your miniature. The final step after putting down the first snow mass and letting it completely dry, is to use some really, really watered down PVA glue (like cloudy water- a 10:1 mix). Get an old brush, get it damp, and wipe it on the snow base. Then, sprinkle some baking soda over the top of that, let it dry, blow it off. Now you have fresh snow.

Another little trick- add some color to the PVA glue to tint or change the color of your snow. I've used a base layer of P3 Frostbite, mixed with the PVA glue, and baking soda, applied that to the base, dry brushed it white, and added a final layer of baking soda and it turned out pretty good.

Anyways- it's a hard mixture to prepare and make it look good. It's easy to make, difficult to make it work. I've basically switched to Woodland Scenics' snow. I've also read and heard some great things about Secret Weapon Miniatures crushed glass and water effects for snow. The crushed glass "sparkles" and is completely inert- will never yellow, react to anything, etc. etc.

Last pointer- If you snow base your model with baking soda+PVA, then the snow should be the very last step. Like, after you have already varnished the mini, or gloss coated it, or whatever. The baking soda/PVA glue has a tendency to absorb everything around it, and it reacts to some of the chemicals in spray on varnish. Also, if you get just a drop of a wash or ink on the base, it'll pretty much ruin the entire snow effect.

Good luck!

The crushed glass is a really interesting suggestion!

Baking Soda sounds awful for me. Something always happens to my minis so I think I'll just avoid it. Would any of the tips you said apply to the Woodland Scenics snow? I feel like that may be the look I'm going for based on what I've seen on their website.

I'll second the Secret Weapon Miniatures crushed glass. It looks awesome.

 Jimsolo wrote:
I'll second the Secret Weapon Miniatures crushed glass. It looks awesome.

Makes me laugh a bit...why not skip the whole crushing part and just stick with a fine grade of white silica sand? It is after all what the crushed glass would have started out as...plus you are not paying the premium of having someone take the sand, turn it into glass and then crush it.

In any case, the Noch Snow Crystal Flock has the same light catching properties...is finer than the Secret Weapon product (the last time I saw it at least) and is safer to use (because...although it too is silica based, it is tumbled and filtered to remove fines that could become airborne and sharps which could embed in an eye or skin). Plus, you get 2 cups worth...which if my memory of conversions is correct is about 10 times as much...for the same price, or nearly so.

http://www.sceneryexpress.com/prodinfo.asp?number=NH08750

I use army painter snow, it comes in various sized small balls, i just pva an area then sprinkle it on. I did try the GW snow, but it was just like white static grass.

I know everyone will boo me for saying this but the GW stuff although expensive is easy and looks just fine, plus It's a nice crisp white. Just mix equal parts GW snow flock and GW PVA...tada snow. Use a cotton swab to spread and then lightly dust with more flock ... Blow and dry.

Sean_OBrien wrote:

 Jimsolo wrote:
I'll second the Secret Weapon Miniatures crushed glass. It looks awesome.

Makes me laugh a bit...why not skip the whole crushing part and just stick with a fine grade of white silica sand? It is after all what the crushed glass would have started out as...plus you are not paying the premium of having someone take the sand, turn it into glass and then crush it.

In any case, the Noch Snow Crystal Flock has the same light catching properties...is finer than the Secret Weapon product (the last time I saw it at least) and is safer to use (because...although it too is silica based, it is tumbled and filtered to remove fines that could become airborne and sharps which could embed in an eye or skin). Plus, you get 2 cups worth...which if my memory of conversions is correct is about 10 times as much...for the same price, or nearly so.

http://www.sceneryexpress.com/prodinfo.asp?number=NH08750

Are there any good pictures of it? The picture on the website is really small and I can't make out what it looks like.

leroy233 wrote:I use army painter snow, it comes in various sized small balls, i just pva an area then sprinkle it on. I did try the GW snow, but it was just like white static grass.

What you just showed me is what I'm going for with my snow and tufts. Did you put the tufts on first and then sprinkle snow on them to make it look like the tufts have some snow?

Not sure what specific type of good picture you are looking for...so here is a gallery with a lot of pictures to flip through:

http://s1091.photobucket.com/user/TrainsandBoats/media/The%20Rochester%20and%20Richmond/Frostbite%20Falls/100_2799.jpg.html

The vast majority of that is done with Noch Snow over a base of plaster or white latex (about the same as you will get with sculpting drifts and peaks with putty then top coating). The stuff on vertical surfaces will be snow goop - which is a mixture of something like Noch Snow and PVA in order to adhere to those surfaces better. Scale is 1/87 - so a good bit smaller than GW figures when you are trying to gauge size.

Hey red comet, yes, i did put the tufts of grass down first, on a base of pva glue. I base as usual with normal rock coloured flock and an mix of different railway flock (all different greys). Then put the grass on then sprinkle the snow it a few places, and bits do get caught in the grass.