Got another one for the forums. I remember seeing in an MR about creating a waterfall of any size using monofillament fishing line, a piece of cardboard, and adhesive clear silicon caulk. I tried using the magazine database and came up with a few possibilites but they weren’t specific enough to help me. I’m thinking that the issue is pre-2010 as I have all the MRs from Jan 2010 at my fingertips so I know it’s not in any of those. I also seem to think it was after 1990 as that was about the time that I started getting MRs. I have that set in the layout but as I only have a limited timeframes when I get to said layout, I want to be as efficient as possible with that time. Other than that, I have been unable to narrow it down.
Any help the forums can provide would be most welcomed.
If you go with the fishing line technique, take a look at the fluorocarbon line. It’s virtually invisible under water. This would probably make it disappear in your waterfall.
Another suggestion, since the exact clear caulk product the author used in the article, may not be availiable any more, there are a variety of clear silicone caulks.
I had the best luck with a product called “Lexel”. It’s a crystal clear silicone that comes in the standard size, and the tube, or container it’s in, is also clear, so you can see the product. I used it on all of my water. It’s about $9.00 a tube, but one tube was enough for all the water and water falls on my layout.
Just in case it sounds appealing, this thread has info on how I did my waterfalls. The materials are somewhat different, but it’s a relatively easy method. I used polyfill material instead of the fishing line (although that newfangled disappearing line sounds interesting.) Wrapped that in plastic film, sliced open the wrapping once in place, then poured resin down it. Then I used clear cake decorating silicone with white acrylic paint mixed in for highlights.
I’m using “Lexel” on my stalled waterfall project. I applied several beads of it on a sheet of glass at first, then blended the beads together to get the uneven, falling water look. It remains quite flexable, so you can manouver it around a bit, then it stiffened some over time. Next I held it verticle and more to be the turblance at the bottom of the falls.
At my local, independent hardware store it comes in both a tube to fit in a caulking gun and a toothpaste like tube, smaller, handy if you aren’t doing too many water projects or just want to try it out.
The outfall pipe drainage isn’t much of a waterfall, but I used Woodland Scenics Water Effects. The stuff is not inexpensive, though can be used for other water effects, like ripples, eddies and waves. Woodland Scenics has a nice YouTube waterfall how-to vid., the technique might would work with other mediums.
mbinsewi, That’s a great waterfall and scene! Your backdrops are fabulous, do you paint them yourself?
Mike L, Nice, your waterfall makes me think Yosemite with spring snow melt.
Peter, thank you ! [bow] Your ditch scene is excellent ! Yes, I hand painted the entire backdrop. You can click on my links and see the whole thing. The city backdrop scene (buildings) is from Backdrop Wharehouse, but I cut the scenes apart, reconfigured what I wanted, and painted tress between the layers to give it depth.
I also used the Lexel to add ripple effects to the water scenes.
As I suspected, I did have the actual maganize in my collection on my layout. It was the article that I was thinking of. Unfortunately, the author used liquid weather striping instead of the silicon caulk like I was thinking. Given that the idea is to glue the line together, I could see how the idea could be adapted to a clear adhesive caulk product that remains flexible.
