Kenny
LBI- what a place. Several of my cousins bought homes and live there year around. That makes me hate them=) We still have a family house on Jefferey Drive. 48 Jefferey, I believe. Spent many an afternoon playing wiffle ball on that street. Lagoon life is they way to live. I'll even accept the green flies as a neccessary evil to live there.
Ian
For that dio I just used celluclay with tan paintas a base, then painted the wet sand grey. I tried to blend the colors in with dried pigments, them dusted the dry sand in a beach sand colored pigment.
I would use celluclay for a dio in 1/35 next time, dusting with pigments and washing with oils to get texture, depth. Real sand is kind of big for that scale.
5 things I would buy if I were you:
1- celluclay, perfect for bases, texture
2- medium gloss gel, look for it by the oil paints white red black container
3-cheap set of oil paints along with some turpentine or turpenoid for washes in the sand, water, and on the figures (be sure to seal with varnish before and after washes)
4-cheap set of chalk pastels (NOT the oil pastels), and...
5) a coffee grinder to pulverize the pastels into powder, try a Goodwill or other thrift branch for a used one. Your mom will KILL you if you use hers.
Buy one of those 1.99 plastic, clear bead containers and put the powders into each holding cell. Dust things to weather them, like the hedgehogs above the shore line. Remember, those hedgehogs were seriously rusty; only rare spots of steel show through. Concentrate more on the rust and seaweed.