I poured a layer of Woodland scenics Realistic water last night; I woke up and found the surface bulged and crazed- like bad paint. It was in my garage and the temprature was probably about 25 degrees F at the lowest.
Help!
-Crewman1
How thick was the layer? I use Envirotex, but all of these products advise pouring very thin layers and building up one layer at a time. I use about 1/8 inch as my standard.
My guess, though, is the temperature. They probably put “room temperature” or something like that in the directions.
I would wait until the weather is warmer, like maybe it stays above 50F all night. Try another pour on top of what’s there. It may blend in and give you a good surface, with some sub-surface structure that might actually look good.
Unfortunate but perhaps somewhat predictable at that low temperature, which in turn might have created some condensation in the air or on the base. That product needs dry conditions and, I assume, typical indoor temperatures.
Other than sympathy my advice would be to NOT try another pour of more stuff over the problem but to rip it out and start over. Every effort I have ever seen to cover up a problem with any clear water product ends up not working.
Dave Nelson
Hi there and sorry about your troubles with this, something you might want to try is to warm it up and see if it will flow out some, is there any way to get it into the house? at least for a day or so, if not maybe a space heater or hairdryer might help, this stuff is non hardening so it may be worth a try, but other wise i would also say it would be better to start over from square one before you pore more over a bad area, also this stuff never really gets hard so be warned if you are planning on putting anything on it, it will stick really good!
Chuck & Heather.
Maybe I can get it into the house, but I don’t know if my mom will let me…
Thanks for the help guys,
Crewman1
I think the Woodland Scenics product is acrylic / water based so it shouldn’t have a strong odor like resin does, so it should be OK in the house.
I would try to salvage it before ripping it out. Maybe try pouring some in a dixie cup and adding a tiny touch of color like blue or green…dip a toothpick in acrylic blue paint and then just touch the toothpick into the water, it doesn’t take much. Then pour a thin layer to fill in the low spots or cracks. If there are still low spots tomorrow, do the same thing again. Then go over the surface with a thin layer of clear acrylic gloss or something similar, and put in some ripples with a fan brush before it sets.
Am I thinking of the right stuff? I know Woodland Scenics makes two water products, the yellowish pellets you melt on the stove top that can be reheated and smoothed out again and another product with a different name that turns hard. If these were the yellowish pellets then yes a hairdryer or other moderate heat source might smooth out the rough surface.
By the way emory boards make a surprisingly versatile hobby tool, since they can be cut with a knife or sissors to fit tight situations, and flex around curved surfaces. I was able to pick up a cheap supply that had been printed as campaign give aways fror some failed political candidate or other.
Dave Nelson
Are the pellets called Realistic water also? that i am unsure about, what i was thinking is that since it was so cold when he used this stuff maybe if he got some heat going it might flow out more, i know when i used the one in the bottle even at room temp. it remained plient enough after 4 days to allow some canoes and a small work boat to sink in and stick hard! the boat sank in around an 1/8th", so my theory was that if heated above room temp it might soften enough to smooth out, but then again i may be all wet as far as that goes!
Chuck & Heather
HERE IS A PIC OF THE WATER WOODLAND SCENICS SELLS. THE MIDDLE BOTTLE IS FOR MAKING RIPPLE EFFECTS IN THE WATER ITSELF. THE PELLETS YOU HAVE TO HEAT UP TO USE.
When I used this stuff it was just above freezing (my guess is that inside your garage it was above freezing, too). What I found was that when WS says it takes 24 hours to cure, they mean it.
Since I was new to this stuff, I checked on mine every few hours and I found that about 12 hours into the cure it looked awful (like you describe). After 24 hours it was looking good. A week later it was even better.
It seems to stay somewhat fluid for a LONG time and continues to very slowly flow and improve.
As one of the other posters mentioned, it will also adhere to the bottoms of boats, etc. So wait a while before adding these.
My recommendation is to give it a few days before you take further action.
Good luck!
This is more than a little off topic, but the previous post reminded me of the odd fact that glass is a liquid, it never completely turns solid. There are old buildings (like old European churches) that have glass windows that are hundreds of years old where you can see / measure that the glass is thicker at the bottom than the top of the pane, because the liquid glass is slowly being pulled down by gravity.
[:O]
And i understand if you take a heat gun to them they flow right back into shape so…lol[D)]
I like using clear acrylic resin instead of that instant water … plus I can get it cheap here by the gallon or quart ! Alot less expensive and always perfect . Plus once and awhile I embed objects in it … which is cool in itself .