Folks,
I started drawing where I want my water bodies to go on the 2" styrofoam sub roadbed. Do I just cut out the areas for the water to go and sand it smoothly? How deep to cut the holes for lakes and rivers? For rivers, I thought about 4" wide and 1" deep. I read that lakes need to have a smooth bottom regardless of depth, but I have seen many lakes w/o smooth bottoms. Do rivers also need such requirements?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Best,
Lee
I am going to refer you to Joe Fugates Scenery Clinic. The clinic on modelling water starts near the bottom of page 4.
Here are a few links to topics I found by using the forum search function.
Making Deep Water
How Deep, Small River
Water/streams and lakes
Water
And one I had on hand.
As those excellent links will say, a great lake or river is really an illusion. The banks take depth by 1/8 inch properly painted will give you what you want.
On foam, it must first be sealed, for all the water products will disolve the foam.
Hi Lee: I don’t claim to be an expert on bodies of water, but I’ve observed many streams, rivers, and lakes in my life time. The depth of, say, a stream can be deceptive. It may look like it’s only a foot deep, but step into or measure it and it could be 3 ft. deep. On a model, we can simulate depth with color. Dark colors, black, dark blue, or dark green work well. Then transition to lighter colors toward the bank. Make sure your river or lake is completely water and leak proof, including the banks. Also, if the river ends at the aisle, make sure it is leak proof, too, or have a bucket handy. IMO, the bottom doesn’t have to be smooth, unless it’s sand or mud. Here’s my Stoney Creek. I used spackling to seal, grimy black for the center, earth towards the banks. I used Magic Water, WS Water Effects for the waves, and dry brushed with light gray paint. Hope this helps. Oh, and it’s approx. 1/4" deep.
That’s a great scene there Grampy! [tup]
Here’s a few pictures of my river and lake. The water is resin and the banks are a foam build-up with molded rocks on the edge. The very fine bank line is sand.
There are no hard and fast rules. Basically, if it looks right to you, it is right.
If you’re going with a flat painted bottom, like this:
You can use a shallower cut out. This one’s about 1 1/2"
If you want a detailed bottom:
You might want to go a little deeper. This cut is almost 4" deep.
Nick
I hereby nominate that you be referred to as “Expert Water Modeler”! [tup] Very nice scenes that show the superb “illusion” of reality that can be produced with simple materials. Fortunately, most of my prototype water scenes are “murky.” I plan on just painting a flat surface different colors to simulate depth and then clear coating for the glossy water effect, then adding gentle ripples/waves as needed similar to what you show in your photos. I used this technique on a little 2x4’ n-scale layout with about a 4" long creek, and I can’t believe how much realism that tiny waterway added to the overall feel of the layout with a few dollars of artist acrylics from Wal-Mart and about 10 minutes of work. Jamie
Hello all,
I have posted this idea on both this MRR as well as FSM as I have many 1/35 scale WW2 models as well and the water effect is the same.
I use Polycrylic wood sealer for water, pour it in layers about 1/4 inch deep by itself over sand, dirt or acrylic paint as a base. The depth given is up to you but my rivers seem very deep as illusion is half the effect.
I’ll be posting photos on this forum as well as FSM for scenery techniques as I use all acrylic products including acrylic caulking for ground work thinned with water and paint. The effects are amazing and the use of hardware store items bought in bulk beats anything from the Hobby-work product.
johncpo
Hi Lee, take a look as how I got my river started, may give you some ideas.
Gary
http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f336/GIIG21/?action=view¤t=918cd90c.pbr