QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Realistic sand
Q.
Been working on my Walthers HO sand house and I’ve been
contemplating what to fill the sand bin with. How well does
real sand scale down? I’d like to find a common everyday type
item that would work.
– Michael
A.
Sand is a fine subject! Sand feels gritty when rubbed between
the fingers. Silt, by comparison, feels like flour. Geologists define
sand as particles ranging in diameter from 0.0625 mm to 2 mm.
For a very rough conversion to HO scale, move the decimal point
two places to the left; a large grain is .02 mm, or 0.000787402”.
Rick:
Oftentimes, scale-size items don’t look as good as out-of-
scale (too-big) items. Sand is a perfect example, in that HO (or
smaller) scale sand would look like a completely smooth surface.
Questions, Answers & Tips - 1
