Everyone here has posted some excellent water modeling, I’m still waiting to hear what the OP has got in mind with this massive lake structure, and his reply to all your great posts !
Here’s all I have to offer:
The still area was done with the basic 2 part clear Enviro-tecs, or what ever it’s called, with the painted bottom. The falls and waves, rapids, etc was done with a super clear acrylic caulk, that comes in a clear tube, of which I don’t remember the name, bought at the local hardware store, and cost about $8.00 a tube, but it sure makes great ripples, waves, and rapid water. A tube would do more water accents than any of us have on our average layouts.
All three of the water scenes shown were first attempts for me, and the fact that I was pleased with the results is probably due more to the fact that the method is pretty easy than that I have any special abilities. (Either that or I’m easily pleased [(-D])
Durabond is a very hard patching plaster which contains a catalyst, and it’s available in 20, 45, 90, and 210 minute setting times, indicated by the respective number following the Durabond name. I use Durabond 90, not only for water features, but also for my plaster-on-aluminum-window-screen landforms and for casting the bridge piers and abutments seen in some of the photos.
For Lake Erie (and pretty-well all of the areas shown) I mixed the Durabond to the consistency of not-too-stiff peanut butter, simply dumping it into the depressed area and levelling it using a suitable drywall knife. I used a damp sponge, dabbing at the surface, to raise some choppy waves, and it will depend on the stiffness of the plaster how well they’ll remain raised - where they re-levelled themselves, I simply went back and repeated the process as many times as was necessary until the setting process got underway. To create the curled breaker, I dipped the tip of a drywall knife slightly into the plaster, then pulled slightly towards the backdrop while lifting slightly at the same time, then drew the knife towards myself to create the curl - this was done just as the setting process began - when it does, you have to work fairly quickly, as there’s no way to slow it. The already-broken waves closer to shore were easier, and required only to disturb the surface a bit with the edge of the knife.
If the plaster begins to set and you’re dissatisfied with its appearance, scrape it all out before it hardens, and try again. I thought mine was okay given the limited space within which I was working, and left it to fully cure for a couple of days. When I c
Durabond is a very hard patching plaster which contains a catalyst, and it’s available in 20, 45, 90, and 210 minute setting times, indicated by the respective number following the Durabond name. I use Durabond 90, not only for water features, but also for my plaster-on-aluminum-window-screen landforms and for casting the bridge piers and abutments seen in some of the photos.
For Lake Erie (and pretty-well all of the areas shown) I mixed the Durabond to the consistency of not-too-stiff peanut butter, simply dumping it into the depressed area and levelling it using a suitable drywall knife. I used a damp sponge, dabbing at the surface, to raise some choppy waves, and it will depend on the stiffness of the plaster how well they’ll remain raised - where they re-levelled themselves, I simply went back and repeated the process as many times as was necessary until the setting process got underway. To create the curled breaker, I dipped the tip of a drywall knife slightly into the plaster, then pulled slightly towards the backdrop while lifting slightly at the same time, then drew the knife towards myself to create the curl - this was done just as the setting process began - when it does, you have to work fairly quickly, as there’s no way to slow it. The already-broken waves closer to shore were easier, and required only to disturb the surface a bit with the edge of the knife.
If the plaster begins to set and you’re dissatisfied with its appearance, scrape it all out before it hardens, and try again. I thought mine was okay given the limited space within which I was working, and left it to fully cure for a couple of days. When I came back, I used a cheap 2" brush to apply the mud-coloured paint near the shoreline and the dark grey-green farther out, applying both colours “wet” to permit blending them somewhat where they met
I think that the faster setting time should work well for the sponge-treatment, as it’s easy to do, and if the mixture was fairly stiff to begin with, you could probably cover a fairly good expanse of surface before set-up occurs. Even the curled wave would be do-able, especially if you’d already established the technique for doing it, but all of this happened more-or-less as I was doing it - making it up as I went along.
The reason I used Durabond 90 was because I was, at the time, unaware of the availability of other setting times. I bought a 33lb. bag of it to try out over aluminum screen for making landforms, and for the speed at which I work, it’s probably the best one for me. Initially, I had a few partial batches set-up in the mixing container [banghead] so I learned to work a little faster and to mix smaller batches. Some of the hardened stuff got smashed-up with a hammer (shoulda done it outside, though) [banghead] and ended-up as rip-rap:
The clear “water” products are also useful for many situations, especially, as you mention, for showing shallower water or water with submerged objects. I used one many years ago on a diorama, and while it turned-out nicely, the smell was overpowering. Mister B and others have used it very effectively for swampy areas and fast-running streams. There are many ways to model water, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
I recall seeing water done with plaster and varnish back in the '50s, but the products available nowadays far outperform most of those used at that time. Durabond doesn’t crack, even if applied in thick layers - for the