Water

[pierce]

I'm building a mountain with like 3 moderate size rivers running into on then to a water fall from that to one river off the table. I'm thinking about either using Woodland Scenics Realistic
Water or using real water and appling it like Wanye Rodricks did on the Teton Short Line. Wayne's Water Page What do yall think would be the best, cheapest or easiest. That would look good. I've used elmers glue before but that abzorbed into the wood. Any ideas would be greatly appeated.
Thanks in advance,
Pierce

 

[Catt]

Pierce,welcome to the Gauge.I use Gloss medium for my water.If you want to use the Elmer's glue you need to seal the wood with paint firsy so thee glue can bot soak in.

 

[Matt Probst]

I also use acrylic gloss medium. You can get it any any good craft store.

Take care,
Matt--Hershey, Pa.

 

[Matt Probst]

Pierce:
regarding water falls, I've seen them made out of strips of scotch tape and I've seen them made out of monofilament line (fishin' string) both covered with a varnish. The foam at the bottom of the falls made with thin tufts of cotton. Pretty realistic in pics, but haven't tried the method myself. You may want to experiment for a while before settling on something,

Good Luck!!!

Matt--Hershey, Pa.

 

[shamus]

Hi Pierce,
welcome to the gauge.
I use High gloss yacht varnish for all my rivers/waterfalls.

Shamus

 

[Vic]

Hi Pierce and welcome aboard. For standing water such as a lake or pond I use Envirotex. To make mudpuddles I've used just some 5 min Epoxy thinned with alcohol.

I've had an idea in the back of my mind for sometime on how to model "rushing" water which I will need for a mountain river on my layout. It will involve the use of hardened gelatin and clear silicone caulk. If it works out I'll post it here on The Gauge. If not...then back to the drawing board

 

[billk]

Pierce - I went to the TSL web site you mentioned - cool site but the page about using real water is scary! Besides all the haseles mentioned, there's also the problem that real water doesn't always a "scale down" the way you want it to.

If I may wax phiolosophical here -- it appears that for many of the natural elements - water, trees, mountains - we attempt to model them without really finding out what the real thing looks like. If we model a building or some other man-made thing, we generally study photos or drawings, take measurments, etc., but seem to forego this step with the natural things. Why? Do we just think "I know what a tree looks like?"

 

[scoobyloven]

hi pierce when it comes to modeling water it is what ever u want but what most of don't think on when it comes to non man made things scale dose not come into play take a ride to a river and look at the bridge that crosses it and look how the water level changes i grew up in ohio and bye my house their was 5 train briges that cross the river and one would look like it is in deeper water then another when they are about 50 feet form each other it was how the river looked at that time of the year on my n scale lay out i'm useing real water for i can change the level with time to make it look like high water in the spring and low water summer but it come with a lot of planning

 

[BluePoint]

"Water" variations

I've used two types of "water" products:
1. Two-part resin: pricey, needs to be dyed, dries hard in 48 hours or less, stands up over time - looks good.

2. Woodland Scenics Realistic Water: easy to use, can be mixed with food color, takes forever to dry and must be poured in small increments with full drying before the next, also look good.

Two-part resin dries completely in a very short time. WS product takes 2 weeks(!) for a complete pour. Booth look about the same when finished.

If you use the WS product, follow the directions. Don't be concerned about the initial cloudiness - it dissipates.

Good luck,

Pat Garvey

 

[hminky]

Use Woodland Scenics Realistic water for shallow rushing water.

Just a thought
Harold

 

[Relic]

I tried latex varathane, seemed a bit slow to dry but I mighta put it down a bit thick ( not the patient type) .

 

[MilesWestern]

I like to use hot glue, but just for small streams, or it might get too pricey!

 

[Glen Haasdyk]

I have used two ways to add water to my layout. One was the Envvirotex two part epoxy for a small area representing a stream edge, the other was in my Harbour where I could not build a dam to keep the epoxy in one place so I used a piece of glass , painted on the backside. I plan to use WS wayer effects to make appropraite waves when I finish building my tugboat and barge.

 

[shaygetz]

I've used clear casting resin in the past. I prefer layers of acrylic gloss medium over a painted surface. Falls are done with strips of clear tape, aquarium floss and gloss medium. Real water on the level of Dick Patterson's Port Caribou RR & Western Navigation Co. (Nov. '97 MR) is a goal for my retiring years :thumb:

 

[Ralph]

I'm another fan of acrylic gloss medium. Its inexpensive, doesn't stink up the basement, and looks great. Here's an example of one of those fishline waterfalls Matt mentioned above.

http://www.the-gauge.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6793&stc=1

Ralph

 

[hminky]

I also think there is a future for metallic mylar sheeting, the methodology just has to be worked out.

Just a thought
Harold

 

[Twiget]

This being my first post. And as I am working on my first layout. I have not gotten to the point of modeling water. When I start on my creek I will try some of the sugestions I have read in this thread. Thanks for beaing here. I have learned alot just lurking around here at The Gauge.

Tom

 

[doctorwayne]

I prepare a solid base, like plywood, then cover it with a thin coat of patching plaster, working waves, rapids, or current effects in with a sponge or drywall knife before the plaster sets. When the plaster is fully hardened, I paint it with suitable colours of latex paint, and when that has dried, three coats of high gloss water-based urethane. Here's a link:

[url=http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109268]Finally, the 'Pictures at 11:00'...[/url]

Wayne

 

[Jim Krause]

Here's my two cents worth. Never have used real water. Always heard that it doesn't look real on a layout..

 

[doctorwayne]

Here are a couple of the examples that I noted above.

Wayne