How to apply non-skid surfaces

Many modern armored vehicles have sand textured upper surfaces to provide a non-slip grip for crews boots when mounting or working on the vehicle. There are several ways of modeling this type of surface including textured mediums, textured spray paints, white glue and silica sand, liquid model cement, and Mr. Surfacer 500 stippled on to the surface with a stiff brush. The easiest method I've found is very similar to applying flocking on a model car interior floor. The materials are very simple, all you need is a wide brush, a smaller brush for getting in to crevices, masking tape, acrylic paint (I prefer Model Master) and baking soda. Using your references mask off the areas that are not supposed to have the texture on them, then using your wide brush apply a layer of acrylic paint. While the paint is still wet sprinkle the baking soda on to it from a height of about 4" or so making sure to keep an even layer. It should be noted on the real vehicle this is a hastily applied medium much like the field applied zimmerit of WWII so you don't need to make it absolutely perfect, just even. After the paint dries (I give it about 2hrs) use a wide makeup brush to dust off any excess baking soda leaving you with a texture that looks something like this.

 Any bare or uneven spots can be lightly touched up with more paint and baking soda.

The final step is to paint over it with the proper color, add a wash, then dry brush to pop the texture. The entire application on the upper hull of the tutorial subject Academy M1A1 Abrams only took about an hour and really looks the part. Try it out on your next modern armor build, you won't be disappointed.