While the previous one is drying decided to experiment on groundwork for the Pz 38t. I’d noticed the yellow sand applied to the wet Mig Mud was full of sparkling grit. Checked and the white sand also from Hobby Lobby was also full of shiney grit.
Picked a small base from last summer’s stock pile for the model. Took scrap plastic card, outlined the Pz 38t’s ground contact, and taped off the footprint. Applied Mig mud again and sprinkled with white sand.
Sidebar - Wearing a quality respirator with these microballons is in my opinion very reasonable. They are like fine dust and no on wants to inhale this sort of stuff.
I liked the microballons and tried ballast freeze which was a mistake
Lot of learning the hard way with AK Acrylic Snow & AK Snow Microballons.
Placed the Pz 38t on the card, then applied AK Acrylic Snow and AK Microballons. For me the AK Acrylic Snow proved a very difficult product to work with as it sticks to everything. A little water on the brush helped.
Test fit to base, as additional tweaks are likely.
Matt, thank you! That means a great deal as applying the snow was the most stressful hobby task Ive done in a long time.
Today added pastels to muffler, exhaust pipe, spare tracks plus some AK Snow Sprinkles. Measures and marked where the plastic card would go on the base.
Settled on this composition for the 251/23. After my experience with the AK snow products probably going to do majority of this with white sand and VMS ballast freeze. Will use the AK products for the finer points.
Based on the experience with the small plastic card base, white sand was shook over the large base wirh ground work. The base was shaken several times to settle the sand before another round of sand was shook over the base.
After third round of white sand shaking and VMS Ballast freeze. Learned very quickly, rhe VMS bottle tip should be held just barely above the sand before dispensing a drop of fixer. If it’s held more than a ~3 millimeters (modern units) or 1/8 inch (freedom units) above the sand the drop’s impact will cause a wave ripple in the sand like a stone skimming on water. However, it doesn’t self level afterwards.
Letting it all cure overnight…may be add a little AK snow product to the tracks in the morning.
Soapbox -
For me the AK snow products are all three very difficult to use. The microballons are like ultra fine dust and look flat but will form nice snow rifts. No idea how to freeze those rifts in place as they all scattered when I tried. The Terrian looks nice when applied but its like trying to paint with a tube of toothpaste. Water helps but I honestly hate this product it’s so difficult for me to use. Yes, I watched the AK videos etc. Snow Sprinkles looks like snot and it applies similar to a wooly bugger. I don’t like working with it either. Other folks may be able to use these three AK products with ease. If so I hope they will share any tips they know.
I like the simplicity of the white sand and VMS freeze. The sand pretty much goes exactly where I want it without much fuss and it’s is easy to secure in place. Loose sand is easy to clean up.
If you sprinkle the snowballoons on a wet surface, like the terrain snow or the snow sprinkles they will stick, just shake off the excess.
The AK terrain snow works a bit easier if you mix the stuff with a little bit of their still water or like you noticed, a damp brush.
I like the effect you got with the white sand though, I just think that the track marks wouldn’t be as snowy as you made them.
PS if you think adding the snow onto your base was scary, wait untill you add it to your finished models for the first time
Bert, that’s an outstanding looking pair of Merkava’s! Very nicely done! The snow looks great. It had to stressful applying the snow!
Agreed, the 251 tracks in the snow need tweaked. Thank you for the AK snow tips, they will be very handy. One of today’s goals to try and work a little snow into the suspension…
Naturally, if adding snow to rhe suspension is a goal, the question becomes what should that look like? I found these two videos very informative, as one gets to see a 251 zipping around in snow.
How much experience of snow do you have?
The stickyness of snow depends on temperature.
Very cold snow doesn’t really stick to anything. When the temperature rises the snow gets stickier and can be compacted. When it starts thawing out the liberated water will make it slick and it will slide off. Snow that has been through a few cycles of near thawing and refreezing will get a grainy structure. Dangerous as h-ll on steep slopes, the grains act like crude roller bearings and big sheets of snow starts sliding …
Simple advice: Pick a picture you like and replicate it.
Wade, your very first picture of the snow base visually speaks to me. It so reminds me, it’s a damp, windy, bitter -5C (Nova Scotia cold) that creeps to the bones, frost has now sunk down into 6” range and is here to stay until April. So long fall…. winter is here. I showed SWMBO the before and after and she said WOW!
I could open up a whole conversation of cold comparability throughout Canada lol.
I’ve heard many good comments about this specific Dragon kit over the years and been delighted they seem on the money!
Decided to do the wheels first, there’s two styles to choose between which is sweet. As many others have said Dragon nailed it with their seamless wheel design. A+++
