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After doing research into snow basing i think i want to do bicarbonate of soda/ pva / water



What has been your experience with this method? Wood glue over cheap elmers PVA?

Will it yellow? What is best type glue to use.


On a side note does anyone have links on a unique painted space wolves army ( not typical grey)

Wood glue would dry yellow (or another color if you get a colored one), I would stay away from that.

I also hear baking soda turns yellow over time.

Can't help you on the basing front, but I paint my wolves a much darker grey than is typical using Adeptus Battlegrey (Mecanicus Standard Grey in the current GW paint range). I contrast this with a rather pale gold that is highlighted all the way up to Runefang Steel, and heavy chipping. I find this captures the SW feel far better than GW's super clean and friendly paint scheme

I have heard and seen beautiful snow basing dne by a golden demon winner, but the problem about snow basing is, if you want it to look amazing, it's not something that goes on the table and if it does you need to be very careful.

The best snow results are from mixing the realistic water for modeling, with crushed glass from secret weapon. You can buy all that stuff from most hobby stores

WORDS OF WARNING!!!!!

If you decide to go down this path, you HAVE to take the safety measures when using crushed glass, wear a face mask so not to breath it in, and wear gloves. You mix the water and glass and it makes glorious snow.

Just google crushed glass bases

I've used corn flour (corn starch for any colonials) to good effect with a little watered down PVA. It's very fine grained, white and mouldable.

I have used aluminum oxide for sandblasting and it works pretty well.

i believe it should be color stable

i glue it with super glue and white glue.

Thanks for the tips guys! I appreciate the help. If anyone has first hand experience with the bicarb mix please share!

GentGiant wrote:
Thanks for the tips guys! I appreciate the help. If anyone has first hand experience with the bicarb mix please share!

I mixed PVA glue with white color as a base, then sprinkled the sodium bicarbonate on it. When it was dry I washed it with diluted white, 2 or 3 times.
That worked pretty well except for some patches, which are now (8 years later) a bit yellow. Maybe I did miss those patches when I was washing the base?

Note that I did not seal any of the bases. I was afraid that the varnish would mush the bicarb together.

I would say, as long as you use white both in the PVA and in several washes, OR you use varnish at the end, the bicarb will stay white.

Try the Army painter snow,it is very fine and looks the part.

I avoided the baking soda approach after hearing mixed reviews regarding yellowing.

I just finished a little pack of GW snow. It did OK, but was overpriced. Recently picked up a big thing of woodland scenics as part of a supply drop, have high hopes for it.

Price was pretty good, for what amounts to a lifetime supply.

I used bicarb and PVA glue until I figured out that the best way to go is Woodland Scenics Soft Flake Snow mixed with their Realistic Water. I will also use crushed glass and Realistic Water for areas where snow has started to melt.

I've used the bicarb and pva mix recipe for years - no yellowing yet (but I tend to keep them out of direct sunlight).

Incidentally, this is the mix that Tim Burton used for the miniature sets on "Nightmare before christmas" and those were laid out for several months, exposed to high-intensity studio lighting, with no yellowing (they do put out a lot of UV in addition to the visible light and near infra red ranges).

Same as chromedog, bicarb and pva, and I've never had any discoloration after over two years on display in cabinet light or daylight.

For the bases on my wolves I mix woodland scenics water effects with white pva and gale force 9 snow. It looks great in my opinion.

I made some little test swatches on a piece of cardboard, oh... 3-4 years ago, I'd guess. I used baking soda over CA glue, mixed with PVA, sprinkled over PVA, and mixed with an extra sprinkling over the top. I then divided each patch and threw gloss varnish over half, to see if it made any difference. They've been sitting around on a little shelf in my workspace for all this time and there's not a hint of yellowing. A little grey, at first, but once I brush the dust off, they look the same as they ever have.

I made some snowy terrain a year or two ago with a slightly different method. I used the PVA/baking soda slurry to lay in heavier patches, then sprinkled more baking soda around after they had dried, as I wanted light, powdery patches to make up the bulk of the coverage. Spritzed the loose 'snow' with a little pump spray bottle (airbrush would have blown things around too much) from the craft store filled with a 1:1 mix of matte medium and water. Much nicer effect, IMO, and equally resistant to yellowing, thus far. These pieces have been sitting in my display cabinet collecting a bit of dust, but are otherwise looking just fine. If UV light is a concern, they're right next to sliding glass doors. The closest piece is literally 8" and three panes of clear glass away from being outside - they get sunlight.

I've used it a few times and really like the look, however ive read somewhere on a scale modellers forum that it can have a reaction over the course of a few years depending on the brand due to it being a strong alkaline. Something about yellowing and eventually turning into foul smelling sludge.

Ive never had a problem, however my midels are barely 6 months.