All you need to make sandbags for vehicle and dioramas is available in the floral and paint section of craft departments in major stores. Best thing about this system is that there’s no mess to clean up.
Here’s what you’ll need:
• Green floral putty or clay (It’s sold in rolls or bricks, but rolls work best for sandbags. The rolls are about 2' long and 1⁄2" wide.)
• Green floral tape
• Scissors and hobby knife
• Paint for sandbags (typically tan or olive drab)
Step 1: Cut off about 1" from the roll of floral putty for each sandbag. Remember that sandbags piled on top of each other will flatten out somewhat so those lower in a stack can be pressed a little thinner while those on top can be more rounded.
Step 2: Cover the putty with floral tape, leaving enough at the ends to fold over and simulate the stitched ends of a sandbag.
Step 3: Paint the sandbag cover with appropriate color to match the respective landscape or military service. In the past, most sandbags were burlap and were dyed to match the landscape where they were being used (such as green for jungles). I recommend acrylic paints.
Newer sandbags, from the Vietnam War on, were made of a plastic material. As you work, visualize the type of material to use for your sandbag applications and model them accordingly.
One additional note: Mud-filled sandbags, such as the ones found in Vietnam, soon take on a heavy stain of the color of the mud used to fill them. So, a red-brown or gray colored clay would be accurate for a diorama of that area.
Tip submitted by:
John StaehleDeming, New Mexico