Has any one heard of or had any sucess using a small water pump, flowing water over rocks and pumping it back behind the scene to flow over rocks continuously like a creek on an HO scale?
Thanks, Rob
This discussion comes up every so often. Yes, I have heard of modelers using real water but the general consensus is that it is not a good idea. Real water just doesn’t scale down well. The movement doesn’t look right and it is too clear to be realistic. In addition you are introducing a humidity problem. Then there is evaporation to be considered with. Keeping it clean and free from organisms make it a maintenance headache. And mixing water with electrical components is never a good idea. Soon after I got into this hobby, I read in one of my how-to books that nothing looks less like real water than real water. With all the excellent products for simulating water, there is no reason to bother with the real thing.
jecorbett, you got that right. The exception is with G scale in a garden railroad.
Real water being used on a model railroad is something that has been tried many times, perhaps going back as far as the first model railroads. It tends to leak out, damage surrounding scenery/structures, corrode equipment and in small quantities, water just doesn’t look like water. An approach I’ve used with great success is to use acrylic gloss medium on an appropriatly painted base. Clear at the edges getting darker as it goes out to simulate depth.
I remember an old article by Lynn Westcott where he said something like "in model railroading, nothing looks less like water than real water. " Not an exact quote but something I’ve always remembered.
Wayne Wesolowski used pretty much the same line in the Kalmbach video ‘The Basics of Model Railroading’, which I have.
I imagine using real water with something electrical like a model railroad is a 911 call waiting to happen, especially if you’re running DCC.
Never mind that wherever the water contacts plaster scenery, it’ll rehydrate the plaster and turn it to mush…
…or that it will dissolve white glue holding scenic materials in place under and around the water…
…or that unless your layout is 100.0000% level with zero leaks, the water will eventually run to the floor…
…or that evaporation will remove a fraction of your water every day…
…and then there’s the issue that others have raised, and that’s that real water looks nothing like scale water. It’s just way too flat and way too clear.
I’ve never seen anyone use real water on an indoor layout that I found convincing. It’s been done, but never done in a way that looked like water to me. It never looks like more than a decorative fountain or a cheap parlor trick IMHO.
I recommend you save yourself the trouble and use acrylic gloss medium, or acrylic resin like Woodland Scenics Realistic Water.
That’s what I used below:
Thanks to all. I’ll try the artifitial way.
Yes, I believe this was the quote I was referencing in my earlier reply in this thread. Linn Westcott’s HO Primer was one of the first books I got when I got into this hobby and it was invaluable in my early years (1970s). Many of the techniques discussed are still popular today. I still have my copy and enjoy going back through it once in a while.
I think it is a bad idea, but:
Interior latex house paint over Durabond patching plaster, with three coats of water-based high gloss urethane.
Wayne