I am building a swamp with Satin Gloss Varnish, but I am having problems damming the edge of the layout so the swamp doesn’t pour. I used an article which told me to put making tape ofer the edge then clamp on a masonite dam, I tried that, and in the morning all the water was in the catch bucket except for some below the edge leval; I then tried Duct Tape and the masonite and Aluminum Tape, but it leaked out through the bottem where the tape meets the foam even though I folded it under about 2 inches.[banghead]
I am getting really frustrated and am close to making this a dry swamp or filling it in! Can someone help me with this?
Foam? Foam and varnish. Did you seal the foam with a latex paint so that the varnish cannot eat through it? I am guessing the varnish eats the foam where it is “sealed” against the tape making it not sealed any longer.
Ohhhh… I did seal the inside with latex paint, and the edge is painted black with latex paint, so I’m pretty sure that’s not it. It’s running in a bulge in the tape which wasn’t there when it was applied.
How thick a layer of varnish are you trying to pour? For a pour like this for modeling water, you really should be using a resin like Envirotex. Varnish is heavily amber in color and will take forever to dry if poured to thickly.
The satin varnish will disolve the glue on the tape and most anything else it contacts. The only way I know to use it is to paint SEVERAL coats on with a brush. That is why envirotex and WS water works better.
small bead of clear caulk to seel the dam. Just a thought may or may not work. Maybe a product called goop, it stays flexible especially the stuff made for fish tanks(have a couple of those too) and should be able to peel it off when everything is dry.
Hey there TrainmanTy i dont know if this will help but i used one of the large sized paint paddles and wrapped it with waxed paper, figured the paper would act as a gasket, but you should test to see if the varnish will eat away the paper, i used WS realistic water.
Several coats of what? latex paint or “water”? I will try caulk, and goop if the caulk doesn’t work. Thanks for all the help guys, I was beginning to lose my sanity! (Or what was left of it!)[:D]
Several coats of varnish. They would dry before they ate the tape, and protect it from the varish you put on top of that. But I think you have gotten other good acvice since then.