Snow Diorama
When Jürg and I spoke about a snow diorama I knew I'd want a snow shed to be involved. I very much like the look of old beat up and weathered concrete in Z scale, and a snow shed from the early to middle 20th century was a good choice for this. In addition of course was the snow and ice. From marble dust to Woodland Scenics... a lot of snow was blowing around on this build!
Some early looks at the design and building of this diorama. Most of the photos in this group detail the snow shed. Initially I was going to cast this in high strength gypsum but instead went with resin cast under high pressure for the strength it would provide. At the end of the process I think a good concrete look was achieved.
I tried a different approach for this snow dio... I built the entire piece as if it were to be a non-snow scene. Lots of late season grasses, full soil covering on the ground, etc. I wanted to ground to "poke" through the snow all over the place and the way to do this was to have a full non-snow ground cover.
Bare trees and some small details. I really enjoy adding the small details such as the Micron-Art fence or telephone poles to a scene. They add a nice touch of believability. Tested the major brands of snow currently available including marble dust.
Trees, the think I fight with all the time in Z scale. Here you can see a mix or wire armatures covered in latex, then painted. In addition there was a lot of natural material used to simulate deciduous trees with no leaves. Also began test snow in different areas to get a better feel for it.
Adding the snow. Now it was time to add the snow permanently as well as dust the trees with snow. Since this piece had to survive an Atlantic crossing... the snow had to be strong enough to survive the trip but not look like poured concrete, it had to look like snow. The ice was a challenge but overall I like the look.
Stay Warm Jürg!
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