I was digging through some trash and came across a fountain, which also had a submergabal pump in it. I took it, got it working well again, and the idea of making a real water feature came to me. I would have a small tank(Probally about 1 gallon) in my mountain, over my tunnel. It would be supported by wood framework(1 x 2s), connected to the backdrop of the layout and the table. I would then have a waterfall off of the mountain and through a stream, to a lakebed, which would be the resevoir where the pump sucks more water up the tubes, to the waterfall. Another idea was to have the resevoir or pond be right at the bottom of the fall.
I’m sure most people will advise against it. The fact is there is a lot of moisture to deal with and most of the time I’m sure more than what you want will be wet. But, it’s your RR if you think you can make it work without problems. It’s your call.
One other thing, although you may get it to work like you want. Real water doesn’t scale out to well think back to some of the old Japanes movies you may have seen before.
Using real water for a water feature is a bad idea. It tends to leak out, corrode locomotives, gets to smelling bad, and in small quantity’s, real water doesn’t look like water. You’re better off doing the Gloss Medium trick.
I agree with joeyegarner. There are so many problems with using real water:
it will evaporate
if it is stagnate too low, mold and algae will grow in it
if you add bleach (or some other mold killer), the chemical will more than likely affect your scenery
real water is not ‘scale’ - the waves will be larger and faster than the prototype
Have you every seen a movie where a dam bursts (without CGI)? You can tell when a model is used as the droplets and mist of water are all out of scale and don’t look realistic.
I would suggest Envirotex Lite (available at many arts -n- crafts stores). As for the waterfall, use some scotch tape kind of crimpled longwise going from the base of the waterfall to the top. Then use clear silicon caulk to cover the tape. You can see the results on ’s layout in his new book coming out in September of this year. Here is a picture: http://www.zanestrains.com/scope.htm
One thing I just wanted to mention, is that I am doing the Plaster Cloth scenery way, so If I were to make it real water, it wouldn’t really effect the scenery. Another thing I wanted to add, is that I have access to ALOT of Pool chemicals and such that alot of other people wouldn’t. Various forms of acid, stabilizer, shock, purifier, ph increaser and decreaser, ext.
I would recommend against using real water in a model scene, not so much from the standpoint of moisture damage to the adjacent scenery, track and rolling stock (enough has been said by others) as from the standpoint of scale appearance.
It’s not that water doesn’t scale down, it’s that GRAVITY doesn’t scale down! The reason real water looks wrong in a model scene is that it is reacting to X (fill in the square root of the reduction factor of your scale) gravity force. In HO, that water coming over the fall is dropping through something above a 9 G field! Even water on a garden railroad moves in a manner more appropriate to Jupiter than to Earth.
My suggestion would be to use that fountain in the flower garden, and try some of the excellent materials suggested by earlier posters to model water on the layout. (One idea I intend to try is the cellophane-and-caulk waterfall, with some dry ice in water “vapor” to simulate the fine spray where water meets boulders at the bottom. Of course, first I have to finish framing up the new layout…)
Actually, plaster cloth is not a good barrier to water. You know how you can’t go in the pool with a plaster cast on? The plaster will disolve in the water, just as it did the first time you applied it. Plaster cloth absorbs water readily, which is why it’s recommended that if you apply still-wet rock molds to plaster cloth, you should wet the area first. Otherwise the plaster gauze sucks the water right out of the rock molding. Standing water would just turn your scenery to goop. Oh, and once you re-wet plaster cloth it gets brittle.
In the 60’s and 70’s there were a few articles about real water features on O and HO layouts in MRR. The mechanics were similar to yours. I never remember an article saying they were still using the feature a year later, though they may have. The problems discussed were the same as here. I have always assumed that if they really worked at all, one of Kalmbach’ scenery books would refer to them. I considered one as well this time around, but the bad looks were more a deterent than the mess, but there was no way it could be put in the section of the layout that had track or buildings.
Go ahead and try it out. I think that you’ll be surprised how much you don’t like it, but then again…!
I made my rivers on a base of plywood, covered with patching plaster (Durabond 90), then painted them with latex house paint, followed by two or three coats of water-based high gloss urethane.
To help put you off the idea once and for all, please imagine watching a slowish moving stream that has relatively low water due to it being late in the summer. You are on a bluff about 150 yeards away, and picture the water flowing down this gentle stream at, say, 4-6 knots. In order to get that effect in scale from your eyes to the layout water, a distance of maybe 30", you would have to provide a perfect river bed with a consistent grade from place to place, of about 0.02%!! Let me tell you, I wish you all the luck. Instead, your water will swirl and gush down the water course that you prepare at a scale speed of about 30 knots, or it will have to sit still, evaporate, leave mineral deposits as you replenish it and get more evaporation, maybe turn green and smelly, have insects valiantly attempting to leave it, some breeding in it,…need I say more? As for the chemicals, they are caustic and will give you many problems over time.
If you can stand to practise a couple of small square-foot settings of water and shoreline, I think you will find that Enviro-tex or other two-part epoxies will work very well, look great, and can be restored once a month with a clean damp cloth. To prevent scratches, dab it first with a damp sponge, then wipe it with a clean cloth. If it gets a bit scratchy over time, mix another small batch and re-pour a thin covering layer. It will look as good as new.
