desert sand

Thanks guys for the support and I apologize from pulling this topic off of what jinithith2 was asking.

Regards, Dan

QUOTE: Originally posted by HeavyArty Screw the competition judges, most of them have never seen the actual vehicles being modelled anyways. Build it for yourself, not them. If it looks good and is accurate enough for you, Great! I have seen some really inaccurate and poorly built models that were way over weathered, overly artistc jobs, not realistic at all, that have won contests. In those same contests, some really well done models that are realistically weathered and in a realistic setting were overlooked. If you are building for contests, you will be disappointed. Better to do it for yourself. If it wins a contest, great. If not, you will still be pleased with it.

Gino, I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Dan, you’ve gotta me shg me. Take Tanky's advice and report the SOB, geez this is supposed to be hobby, you know some thing you have fun at. That kinda stuff should not be tolerated.

Some pictures of the terrain:

some vegetation

a fighting position

dry soil with a few plants

plain old sand

QUOTE: Originally posted by jinithith2 hey are there any tannish weedy grass that grow in the iraqi region (in patches)?

To answer this question generally, yes. Iraq has a very diverse environment, and you could base a diorama on a wide amount of terrain conditions. Near the rivers, where the land is heavily irrigated, you have fertile farmfields, lush grasses, bushes and palm trees all over the place. The further you get away from the rivers, you hit the desert. The desert conditions range from wide-open sand with a few dry bushes, to some barren soil areas with a little more vegetation, but still very dry. I'm no botanist, so if you really wanted to get in-depth, you could check out some books about the topography of the middle east. Otherwise, just looking at pictures and videos from books or the news services should give you a good idea of what terrain our forces are operating in.

hey are there any tannish weedy grass that grow in the iraqi region
(in patches)?

Wow Dan, if what that guy did to you is true, it is absolutely despicable.
Forget about reporting him to another judge -- they may be involved with bribery too. Also forget about reporting him to a higher modelling authority; it'll turn out to be nothing more than a "he-said, I-said."
If I had been thinking quick enough in that situation, here's what I would have done: Raise your voice to make a little announcement to everyone in the room about this judge's offer. Now, since everyone's sense of fair play is threatened, he has about a dozen ticked-off modelers angry with him instead of just you, and you have now publicly disgraced him. Hopefully he'll be stared down by all as he leaves the contest that day -- never judging a thing.

Back to the sand issue -- yeah, screw the competition judges if your granules aren't "to scale." I like the filtering suggestion to get the finest particles, but, another idea may be to use something like talcum powder. This would need adhesive or glue to really fix it together, but it might be more "to scale," and besides, a lot of the high traffic areas in the desert sand gets a consistency of powder, literally.

hey, what if that judge was one of the forum members?
oooo... he'd take a huge verbal beating!
hey! u call urself a fudging judge?!?!?!?!?!?
ur more like a little moron who just probably fake IDed the judges' ID's! hahahahahahahahahhahahah u are a disgrace to the modeling world and the entire world itself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

QUOTE: Originally posted by boybuddho You said it, Gino! Just a note on contests... I recently entered 2 of my models in a local contest and was taking photos with my camera, when a "judge" walked up to me and said that I was using his camera. I told him it was mine and he told me if I gave it to him that my entries would win first place. I told him I wouldn't give the camera to him and that I entered the contest for fun and winning was secondary. He said he would make sure of that. When they gave out awards, the 2 categories I entered my models in were deleted du to "lack of interest." I wonder if that was done on purpose because others who entered in those categories suffered the consequences as well. Regards, Dan

Seriously?!!! WTF is with these people?????!!!! Report him to the Nats or regionals guys!! They'd ban his @$$ so fast he won't know a Phantom from a Bradley!

QUOTE: Originally posted by boybuddho You said it, Gino! Just a note on contests... I recently entered 2 of my models in a local contest and was taking photos with my camera, when a "judge" walked up to me and said that I was using his camera. I told him it was mine and he told me if I gave it to him that my entries would win first place. I told him I wouldn't give the camera to him and that I entered the contest for fun and winning was secondary. He said he would make sure of that. When they gave out awards, the 2 categories I entered my models in were deleted du to "lack of interest." I wonder if that was done on purpose because others who entered in those categories suffered the consequences as well. Regards, Dan

what is he?? a moron?
maybe he seriously has mental disabilities

QUOTE: Originally posted by boybuddho You said it, Gino! Just a note on contests... I recently entered 2 of my models in a local contest and was taking photos with my camera, when a "judge" walked up to me and said that I was using his camera. I told him it was mine and he told me if I gave it to him that my entries would win first place. I told him I wouldn't give the camera to him and that I entered the contest for fun and winning was secondary. He said he would make sure of that. When they gave out awards, the 2 categories I entered my models in were deleted du to "lack of interest." I wonder if that was done on purpose because others who entered in those categories suffered the consequences as well. Regards, Dan

Dan, you should have immediately reported the Judges action to the Contest organizers. If it was an IPMS sponsored event, send a report to the Regional & National guys. This type of behavior should get the Judge banned.

Regards, Rick

hmmm I would go through the prints and see if you have any of him with his arm around a woman... maybe that's why he was so adamant about the camera... that's crazy though.. I would have called him out on it just for the sake of other modelers facing stuff like that...

You said it, Gino!

Just a note on contests... I recently entered 2 of my models in a local contest and was taking photos with my camera, when a "judge" walked up to me and said that I was using his camera. I told him it was mine and he told me if I gave it to him that my entries would win first place. I told him I wouldn't give the camera to him and that I entered the contest for fun and winning was secondary. He said he would make sure of that. When they gave out awards, the 2 categories I entered my models in were deleted du to "lack of interest." I wonder if that was done on purpose because others who entered in those categories suffered the consequences as well.

Regards, Dan

QUOTE: Originally posted by HeavyArty QUOTE: Originally posted by gringe88 be careful bout using regular sand for stuff, if yer gonna enter it in a competition. i used some on my old tamiya M1 i built a while ago, and i found out later that i didnt do well in a comp. because this judge thot the sand grains were too large for the scale! (he was probably right, but i just hadnt thot of it before...) Screw the competition judges, most of them have never seen the actual vehicles being modelled anyways. Build it for yourself, not them. If it looks good and is accurate enough for you, Great! I have seen some really inaccurate and poorly built models that were way over weathered, overly artistc jobs, not realistic at all, that have won contests. In those same contests, some really well done models that are realistically weathered and in a realistic setting were overlooked. If you are building for contests, you will be disappointed. Better to do it for yourself. If it wins a contest, great. If not, you will still be pleased with it.

RIGHT ON DUDE!

ahh...... there's an idea!

use a pair of old stockings to use as a filter if you want to get the real fine sand going, that way it wont be really clumped up when you lay it down. little trick i learned from reading fsm heh.

Heavy!!

yeah, I was worrying about that stuff too, but i'm not gonna enter it in a comp.
just going for the cheap!

QUOTE: Originally posted by gringe88 be careful bout using regular sand for stuff, if yer gonna enter it in a competition. i used some on my old tamiya M1 i built a while ago, and i found out later that i didnt do well in a comp. because this judge thot the sand grains were too large for the scale! (he was probably right, but i just hadnt thot of it before...)

Screw the competition judges, most of them have never seen the actual vehicles being modelled anyways. Build it for yourself, not them. If it looks good and is accurate enough for you, Great! I have seen some really inaccurate and poorly built models that were way over weathered, overly artistc jobs, not realistic at all, that have won contests. In those same contests, some really well done models that are realistically weathered and in a realistic setting were overlooked. If you are building for contests, you will be disappointed. Better to do it for yourself. If it wins a contest, great. If not, you will still be pleased with it.

be careful bout using regular sand for stuff, if yer gonna enter it in a competition. i used some on my old tamiya M1 i built a while ago, and i found out later that i didnt do well in a comp. because this judge thot the sand grains were too large for the scale!

(he was probably right, but i just hadnt thot of it before...)

yay!
than i can keep it yellow brown!
thanks for the help!

The best sand for a dio is playsand. You can get it from home improvement centers, it is very fine. To secure it, use PVA (Elmers style) glue. Simply spread the glue all over your base and sprinkle the sand over it. As to color, depends on what desert you are representing. Sahara is very red, Iraq is a yellow-brown color, Mojave of CA is yellow and rocky.