I want to indicate standing water in drainage ditches alongside tracks,water around wash racks leaking hoses near cinder pits,melting ice blocks,etc.
what would give the most realastic results?
Carve out a depression where you want the standing water to be, and spatula in a thin, smooth layer of plaster, either dyed a yellow-caramel color or paint the plaster when dry. Then, cover it with WS Realistic Water or Envirotex, or gloss medium, or any two -part epoxy, again in a thin layer, maybe two.
If you have carved out a realistically shaped puddle or ditch, and found a believable shade of light muddy water, then your cover of the epoxy or medium will render it quite realistic. I wish I could remember who it was that posted his pix within the past three weeks or so, he had done a fine job of it. Karl (UKGuy) has an excellent water scene, but it is a river or bog, not a large puddle.
I like the idea of using 2 part epoxy.when mixing small amounts,i use the little detail parts ,polly(?) bags.i noticed that when you pull up the dried epoxy,the side that was against the bag is very smooth and glossy.I’m going to experiment a bit to see how it looks when incoporated into the layout…thanks selector
A solution I have seen which can be very effective, and which does not rely on resins (which can shrink), is to model the depression’s bottom – weeds, junk, tires, gunk, whatever – then cover the depression with small pieces of glass. For very small areas, one can use microscope cover slips (which may be had in several thicknesses). Consider the likely viewer location and angle of any visitors who might espy these details: I know of one person who took a model log, sliced it, and installed half of it below “waterline” and half above. The angle of the cut was changed to mimic the proper angle of refraction when the scene was viewed from the aisle.
My first posting or response.
Just produced some standing water areas in runoff from a river, near gravel bank.
Used plaster base, painted irregular, darkish coloration, used 2 part thermoplastic resin (Tap plastics) as a very thin layer, placed some pebbles and debris and then a second thin layer. During setting I disturbed the top layer in a few areas to make the surface somewhat irregular.
Like the result. Is on my indoor G scale layout, Mexican short line.
Richard
For really small areas, you could even use white glue, but they need to be shallow. Epoxy sounds like a good idea for for slightly larger areas. Envirotex is for those really big jobs. You did say puddles.[swg]
I think, looking back, that it was hminky who posted his pix on a puddle. If he is reading this, was I right?
Yes you are correct Crandell,
the thread link to the topic is :-
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=-1&TOPIC_ID=36056&REPLY_ID=366599#366599
and the link to hminky’s instructions how to model standing water is:-
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/4x8/pond/
here is a pic of his work :-
Harolds work is excellent and his web site has some great tips and advice.
Have fun & be safe
Karl.
Darn, we’re good, eh, Karl? [^] Thanks, Bud.
How about using some Future acrylic floor “wax” for areas that are just wet? It gives a nice thin wetlook to what you brush/airbrush/flow it on.
GQ
painter62 That just reminded me of a project that I did when I was in junior high. I had a gondola…all weathered up and nasty looking. Loaded it with all kinds of metal scrap…and I wanted to make it look like there was standing water in it. First I just used real water…but that evaporated too quickly. Then, I got out the bottle of floor wax…not thinking that it would harden
…I was just trying to think of something that wouldn’t evaporate so fast. After a few days it had hardened over…and it looked great!
underworld
[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]