I’m at the point now that I need to consider how to model a part of the Chesapeake bay for my layout. I’ve got a thousand ways to make a lake or river, but nothing on open ocean water. Any ideas how to duplicate the waves and whitecaps? I want the feeling that the dumpster ducks could get a fish if they dove in, not just some painted surface so maybe a resin, but how to get the surface texture? Many thanks for any ideas…
I am big on my water having depth, even if it’s only half an inch. It’s really hard to put a boat or a fish IN painted water. Boats ON the surface look silly unless you sand off their bottoms. So, I’m with you on the resin. (Envirotex lite works great). Don’t forget to paint the bottom and let it dry thoroughly first. For waves/wake/ripples you might try clear lines of clear silicone teased with a toothpick for small ones or a popsicle stick for larger ones.
Disclaimer: I have NOT actually done this as my catskills really don’t have ocean frontage [:D]but it should work. You can cover all of it with brushed on gloss medium to give even the flat areas some texture. It is possible to tease envirotex when it’s just about set up but it’s a pain to get it right. 
(Inflation).
Karl
Well, it’s not the ocean and it’s not resin, but this inlet of Lake Erie was fairly easy to do. This particular location was simply a low spot in the plaster-on-screen terrain before I decided to turn it into a water feature.
Since the layout here is only 20" deep, the scene looks best from a low viewing angle. Adding a boat here would have been easy enough, though, as I added almost a full inch of patching plaster to bring the surface of the “water” up to a suitable level. I used a product called Durabond 90, a patching plaster containing a catalyst which causes it to set in approximately 90 minutes. Other setting times are available, designated by the number following the name. It sets regardless of how thin or thick you make the mixture and won’t crack as it cures. I pre-wet the existing hardshell (also Durabond) to avoid having it remove moisture from the new application. When completely cured, it is extremely hard and durable - I used it for all of my rivers, too, and often take layout photos with the camera sitting directly on the water, with no scratching of the surface and no raised details, such as swells or ripples, crumbling or breaking.
For the inlet scene, I made the mix fairly thick, glopping it into the depression in the existing scenery, then levelling it, more-or-less, with a drywall knife. Since I had some time to “play around” with techniques (this was my first attempt at “waves”), I experimented by dabbing at the surface with a damp sponge - this raised enough material to create a suitable “chop”, while dragging a drywall knife lightly across the surface (dip the knife in water, then s