Product Review: Secret Weapon Water Effects + Crushed Glass

Since I enjoy playing Khador and Legion who both hail from the snowy northern regions of Caen, I need snow.  I also want snow that’ll be on par with my paint jobs.  I’ve tried the GW snow and I used white glue + baking soda for the Pink Khador.  The GW stuff is horrid, and the Baking Soda yellows with time.  The Baking Soda is also rough, so if you touch it with anything at all on your hands, it pulls the oils off your skin, staining the bright white. Permanently.  Needless to say, I don’t want to do that again.

So, off I went in search of the right product.  I looked at Woodland Scenics’ snow, and it looks promising, but when I saw this picture…

… I knew I wanted whatever it was that made that.

Turns out, that is what you get when you combine crushed glass with water effects from the fine folks over at Secret Weapon Miniatures. I picked up a their glass and water effects kit, and I also picked up some of their Fall Leaves mixture. I figure the color of the leaves will spark up the otherwise monotone nature of my rock bases.

Founder and amazingly talented painter (and NOVA Open seminar presenter), Justin “mrjustin” McCoy, has a quick video on how to use the stuff:

So, that’s pretty much what I did. I made up a spare slate rock base that I use for my Legion and Khador, and painted it using my normal methods. I grabbed a little mixing cup, the crushed glass and water effects kit, and put on my respirator and gloves.

As you can see below, my cup of glass has some odds and ends in it.  I’m not sure if that’s normal or not, but I figure it’s normal to get debris in snow, so I’m not going to pay any mind to it.  We’ll see if it affects the final product.

First, I used some white glue to throw down a few colorful leaves onto thebase in nooks and crannies that might catch the leaves. Then, following mrjustin’s instructions, I measured out the crushed glass, estimating what I would need for a single base. This ended up being a bit too much by the time I was done.

I mixed in some drops of water effects, and applied this to my base like shown in the video. I used an old size 4 brush that probably should have been cleaned before I used it, but I was excited to finally be trying this stuff out (I’ve had it since November).

I’m ecstatic! The snow is glossy and a little sparkly, just like wet, slushy early November snow. I especially like the leaves under the snow, giving the base an Autumn feel:

Here’s the stuff in use on my latest Khador creation, Kommander Katya Cherenkov:

The show is a little whiter on her since I used a little less water effects, and piled the snow on a bit thicker since she’s a medium based model. This also showcases the way you can vary the ratio of the two ingredients to get different looking snow!

This stuff is fantastic, and I’ll be using it for all of my snow needs.

This is an unsolicited review.
I paid for these products, I have tried them myself and this is my honest opinion.