I’m thinking of getting a NuComp Miniatures pool to place in the backyard of one of the houses on our layout.
Neat little detail:
I’m wondering what the best aproach would be to simulate water in this pool.
I’m familiar with the Woodland Scenics line of “water” products. However I believe they can only be done in 1/8" pours with at least a 24 hour drying time in between.
While I don’t have the pool yet, I’m guessing it’s depth is around 1/2" based on the surrounding details.
1/2" means four 1/8" pours. Then a final touch up on the top for ripple effects. I suppose four pours can be done, but I’m not sure if they will end up looking like one body of water.
Are there any water effect products that can handle more then 1/8" pour at one time? EnviroTex maybe?
I also like how they added some figures to the pool. I think they were added when adding the water effect. If not, is there a particular way on how to add objects into a water effect?
Any other ideas on how to fill this pool with a water effect?
While I have yet to work with ‘water’ myself, I always read that if you need deeper water pour more layers. So I would think that it must blend well. As long as you can’t see the sides of the water I don’t think that it would be noticeable.
If you are filling the pool without people/objects, I suppose you could glue in a layer of plexiglass towards the top and just add the water effects to that. If you are using figures I would just stick with several pours of water for neat effect.
Any of the water products or resins used to make water can be poured in layers and will look just fine. Some people color the layers progressively lighter shades of blue, green, brown, etc., but you still can’t tell that it’s multiple layers.
Another product that would work is gloss medium or gloss gel, available at art supply stores. The gel can be used to fill the pool at one swipe, and it will eventually cure clear so long as it is exposed to air. One advantage to the gel is that it’s NOT self-leveling, and so will look wavy, like real water in a pool with people in it. You can also use this product to add waves on top of other products.
You should add the figures prior to pouring water. There is no way to insert them once the water product sets.
I used Envirotex for my water and saw no “seams” where the layers were, despite a variation in color of the layers. For putting your figures in, glue the standing adults in place before any pouring. If you have someone swimming at the surface, determine the depth they need to be and add them there. since the Envirotex finish is very smooth, I would suggest some Water Effects or Gloss Jel to make your splashing water surface.
To couple onto my first question, I have another pool on the layout that might benefit from some “water” as well since I’ll have to buy some “water” material and will likely have lots left over after filling the first pool.
You can see the other pool here in the background of this motel:
The motel is a Bachmann Plasticville kit that I kitbashed. The pool came with it.
As you can see it is not deep and has a paper insert on the bottom to simulate water.
I’ll have to form a bottom in place of the paper insert. Easy enough to do with styrene. But it won’t be deep. I measured and it is slightly under 1/8" deep.
I’m wondering if this lack of depth will be noticeable if I “fill” it with water. Painting the bottom may help simulate depth, but it’s a pool and not the typical riverbed or pond you see in HO scale. So the bottom really should be white or maybe light blue.
I can’t cut into the layout board to increase the depth at this location either [:(]
I really appreciate the helpful advice thus far, and I’m all ears to any tips on what to do with this Bachmann pool.
As for color, the blue it is now is quite typical of such pools.
As for lack of depth, if you varried the color of the bottom, added some “wavy” effects to the color might help. It will make it difficult to have people in the water, maybe one swimming at the surface.
You could also make a mock up pool of similar depth, color it and see how a single pour would look.
The other possibility, can you raise the pool a little. If so, a strip of 3/8" to 1/2’ stryene could be formed around the current shape. Attach a bottom and you’d have some more depth. I have seen semi inground pools, so it would not be uncommon.
After thinking it over, varying the paint colors on the bottom might work out for the Bachmann pool.
Worth experimenting with.
Probably use varying shades of blue to simulate a deep end and a shallow end. Realized that the blue will just simulate the sky reflecting down and not the bottom of the pool. Might work out, or might not. But never hurts to try [;)]
Painting the bottom gradually deepening shades of blue will definitely suggest depth, and the actual depth of the water product won’t be obvious.
The only thing that will cause you difficulty is standing figures, because the water is transparent all the way down, and you can’t just cut off their legs like you could to simulate standing in a deep river or lake. A swimming figure would work, though, because it would be near the surface, within the 1/8" depth that you actually have.
That’s a cool scene you have there. Why not use some gloss medium (ModPodge makes some good stuff you can pick up at the craft store) and paint that over top of, say, a clear plastic disk that would represent the surface of the water. Then the interior of the pool would actually be hollow, but the water effect would be there and everything attached to it on top.
