Snow & Ice themed base questions

[Nikos]

Hello, Im working on a little daemon army with a snow base theme. normal snow is fine but...

1. On the khorne bases I want to have frozen bloody snow, a bit like a strawberry slush puppie. Any ideas on how to do this?

2. On the lord of change I want crystals, a bit like this...

What materials should I use?

3. Any good tips on making ice effects?

Any help would be really appreciated!

 

[desfer]

Hey Nikos, for bloody snow try mixing soda with pva glue and/or water effects and then add some red. You can check this snow tutorial if you want, it's very helpful.

http://fantasygames.com.pl/blog/snowy-base-with-tree-bark/

Also, an icicle tutorial: http://fantasygames.com.pl/blog/iceicles-make-your-own/

As for ice crystals, how about these?
http://www.gf9.com/Default.aspx?tabid=348&art_id=2922
You might be able to create your own ice crystals if you cut some parts from the plastic sprues and paint them. However, i believe it is a bit hard to make them look realistic.

 

[Nikos]

Cheers Desfer, the icicle tutorial is very handy I like those ice crystals as well they are what I want but maybe a bit too blue.

 

[Tim]

On a related topic, how does baking soda compare to an "official" base product like GW basing tub snow? Has anyone tried any terrain product and bicarbonate of soda and how does it compare?

 

[desfer]

well the modelling snow from GW, army painter and other companies is a bit expensive to be honest and runs out very quickly. Soda is cheap. One negative thing about soda is that it might turn yellow after some time. You can solve this by adding white paint in the mix. What i do is use soda first, apply pva glue and varnishes on it and then sprinkle some modelling snow on top. It looks fine.

 

[Zerodaimaru]

I use baking soda mixed with PVA glue as a snow base for my warriors of chaos and it works pretty well. Adding a drop of red paint to it after it has set well but before its totally dry does a passable "bloody snow" effect.

Only thing I found was that if you don't use some kind of sealant on the model after applying the snow it will turn yellow after about a year or so.

 

[Tim]

So does the official product turn yellow after years and does it give a better realism effect to warrant its price tag?

 

[Nikos]

On a related topic, how does baking soda compare to an "official" base product like GW basing tub snow? Has anyone tried any terrain product and bicarbonate of soda and how does it compare?

I've been using the bicarb method and sprinkling in a bit of the GW snow and it seems to be working out alright. The GW snow on its own looks a bit off in my opinion, seems a bit too fluffy.

 

[SotF]

I tend to use Army Painter's snow rather than GWs version.

For ice there is a rather easy way to do a frozen lake look. Take some of the old blisters and cut the plastic to fit and use superglue. It frosts up quite well.

For crystals, go to the local hobby center, not the gaming focused ones, and look at the decorative ones meant for filling vases and the like. Pet stores also tend to have them.