I’ve read about this in various how to books and in several online forums but I’m still confused. What exactly is Acrylic Gloss Medium and where can I find it. I would like to use this over the woodland Scenics stuff because I have several lakes and rivers on my layout and 14.95 a bottle puts a dent in the pockets[8D].
Also, if anyone has used Acrylic gloss medium, can you tell me how your water looks.
Thanks
Walmart, crafts section, where the artist’s acrylic paints are found. Look for Mod Podge Gloss Medium.
I have not used it. I tried it over a previous set of pours of two-part epoxy because I wanted to get ripples and waves. I didn’t like the results, and it peeled off the surface of the epoxy with ease.
Izzy,
Greetings, I posted an article here not long ago concerning the use and the final look of the process you refer to, however I used a diffierent type of product, Polycrylic.
Acrylic gloss is a wood finishing product that is completely water-soluable, in other words it will clean up with soapy water after you use it. It is made by several brands, Miniwax is just one name brand.
Pour the gloss onto whatever surface you want to repesent the water, a lake, pond, stream, whatever you have decided. Waterfalls are not as complicated as you would think, build them up to scale, (mine is HO) so they are appropriate in size to the area. Build them like small staircases using insulation foam or wood,or something that is similar.
You can paint the surface to be covered, at this point I highly recommned that you use all acrylic paints for the layout as they match many RR colors and are easily cleaned and thinned with water, if needed I can offer tips on airbrushing as well. I used blues and greens to simulate waterfalls and used bathtub caulking to make the froathy rapids for one river and used natural colored sand and tiny gravel for an almost dry riverbed that is flat. Either way follow the next steps:
4.) Pour a thin layer of the Polycrylic (brand name) onto the surface with just enough to cover the areas to look “wet”, then let that dry completly and apply more layers as you wish the depth to look like. Place pepples in to the first layer for simulating rocks in the water…or if you want a clean look leave out the rocks. The results of the process will depend upon how deep you make the water and the base colors.
Izzy,
I’ve used both the Woodland Scenics Realistic Water and Acrylic Gloss GEL (NOT medium, but any art supply store that sells acrylic paints will probably have both). I find that for deep water (lakes and ponds), the Realistic Water is hard to beat, but anywhere you want ripples (rapids, swift streams, waterfalls), gloss gel is the champ because it imparts a fuzzy, not quite transparent look. It also takes paint very well.
Gloss medium, being thin, runs too much to make convincing ripples. Gloss gel (I use Liquitex, but I’d imagine all brands are fairly similar), on the other hand, stays where you put it (it’s about the consistency of paste). Use an old brush, because you get the best results by smashing the brush down and pulling it up again, which tends to be rather hard on the brush.
I use Polycrylic on my floors and furniture. I’ve never tried to model water with it but it should work just fine, come to think of it. My hardwood floors DO look wet when I apply a new coat.
I should note at this point that the REAL key to making good looking water isn’t the polymer that’s poured on top, it’s doing a top-notch job of modeling the sand, mud, rocks, weeds, logs and other characteristics of a real stream. And there, alas, my modeling skill fails me somewhat.
Oh yeah, a word of warning about Realistic Water. It’s self healing, which means it never really hardens. My son set a cast resin flat car load in the middle of his lake (whether intentionally or not, I don’t know), but I came back 2 days later to find it embedded in the surface. When I pulled it out, the lake had a lovely square imprint in the middle of it. [:(]
I use a varity of methods to make my water.
You can find Acrylic Gloss Medium at any craft store, or the craft section of Wal Mart. With this I paint a smooth bottom, and then brush on several coats of gloss medium to build up the shine. To make small waves, I make wide arcs with the brush to build up ridges of gloss medium.
I’ve also used WS Realistic Water. Here, I used ballast and talus to make the creek bottom. Then I added the reeds and such along the waterline. Finally, I made several pours of WS Realistic Water. Be warned…it will shrink. And the thicker you pour it, the more it shrinks.
Lastly, for more rapidly moving water, I use a high gloss clear sealent called Lexel.
Nick
ACRYLIC GLOSS MEDIUM can be found in any craft store, like MICHEALS. I sent for mine from an on-line dealer. It’s a semi-thick white paste that dries clear, can be spread over a painted surface, or mixed with a little paint. (if you do that, though, make sure the paint’s also acrylic).
Also, as the name implies, it dries to a high gloss shine. Dave Frary talks about it in his scenery book (I forget the name) and also tells how to also use it for snow and ice.
[quote user=“johncpo”]
Izzy,
Greetings, I posted an article here not long ago concerning the use and the final look of the process you refer to, however I used a diffierent type of product, Polycrylic.
Acrylic gloss is a wood finishing product that is completely water-soluable, in other words it will clean up with soapy water after you use it. It is made by several brands, Miniwax is just one name brand.
Pour the gloss onto whatever surface you want to repesent the water, a lake, pond, stream, whatever you have decided. Waterfalls are not as complicated as you would think, build them up to scale, (mine is HO) so they are appropriate in size to the area. Build them like small staircases using insulation foam or wood,or something that is similar.
You can paint the surface to be covered, at this point I highly recommned that you use all acrylic paints for the layout as they match many RR colors and are easily cleaned and thinned with water, if needed I can offer tips on airbrushing as well. I used blues and greens to simulate waterfalls and used bathtub caulking to make the froathy rapids for one river and used natural colored sand and tiny gravel for an almost dry riverbed that is flat. Either way follow the next steps:
4.) Pour a thin layer of the Polycrylic (brand name) onto the surface with just enough to cover the areas to look “wet”, then let that dry completly and apply more layers as you wish the depth to look like. Place pepples in to the first layer for simulating rocks in the water…or if you want a clean look leave out the rocks. The results of the process will depend upon how deep you make the water and the base colors.
I’ve used the acrylic gloss medium for water effects, such as wind ruffling or ripples, over clear high gloss furniture varnish. The beauty of it is the acrylic will peel off easily if you’re not happy with the result.
nbrodar - I love that streamside close-up!
Mike
I have used acrylic gloss medium for my entire layout and it works great. Soap and water clean up, if you don’t like the results you can go over it again, no smell and quite inexpensive. Craft stores carry it, usually for podging. That’s adding a gloss coating to any craft. The pictures from nbrodar are pretty good representaion. If you paint the bottom of the river/lake bed, you can get some pretty realistic depth variations. Good luck.
Thanks, Mike.
The trickiest part of using acrylic gloss, is painting the bottom. It can be difficult, especially the first few times, to effectively blend the colors together.
I usually seal the bottom first with my basic earth tan paint. This prevents the water colors (I usually use a very dark blue or green, and a tan a little darker then my basic earth tan) from being absorbed and drying too quickly. I brush the paint on rather heavily, and use the same brush for both colors (don’t rinse it). After you get the two colors down, sorta squish them around, until they blend together.
It take some practice, but once you start you’ll see how it works.
Nick
This pond was made with about 6 coats of acrylic gloss medium on my O scale layout. I’ve used the WS Realistic water also but only in places that are out of “touching range” of the curious. I’ve also found that the Realistic Water surface tends to trap dust since it never hardens really solid.
Jim Policastro
Acrylic gloss medium. Good stuff. Paint bottom first, add gloss medium w/brush. Can be built up to show wavs and ripples and/or rapids. See example.
The rock is carved pink foam,the bridge track is model engineering,.
Gloss and Matte Medium are clear acrylic finishes. It’s original use was by artists to seal in paintings. It’s basically the acrylic version of Dullcote and Glosscote. I like to use matte medium for ballast, unlike water and white glue (which dries brittle) dullcote stays rubbery so pieces don’t “break off” if you bump them. I use gloss medium for water, you can use it in several pours to build up depth or just apply a thin layer on top of painted ‘water’ to make it shine. You can put small waves in with a fan brush.
One note: If you mix gloss medium with water, it loses it’s shine !!
you can also mix Acrylic Gloss Medium with a little paint and it won’t lose any of it’s shine. Dave Frary shows how to use it that way in his scenery book-SCENERY FOR MODEL RAILROADS, or whatever it’s called.
Thanks for the tips. But I have another question. With my river bed, I used sand, twigs, etc. from my backyard as my base. Will the gloss medium look good with these, or should I use paint.
Izzy, google ,pacific coast airline. He’s got a great tutorial on how to do just what you want.
You definately should use gloss medium rather than paint. If you want your water to be muddy, polluted (well, I wouldn’t, but I won’t tell you how to run your railroad), algae-filled, whatever, you can add paint to the medium and then apply it. Add paint sparingly, you don’t want ruin the transparency of your “water”, especially because it sounds like you’ve done a great job on your riverbed. But ALL water, no matter how filled with other stuff, has a certain transparency about it, hence the need for a polymer or acrylic product.
I recommend you try it on a piece of heavy cardboard first until you like the color. I once tried putting down a layer of “clear” water, then streaking it with “muddy” water, but I couldn’t make it look natural. so I ripped it out and replace it with all clear (which is my final word of advice – if you don’t like how it comes out, DO IT OVER until you do!).
Liquitex (found in artist supply stores) have two mediums. One is “Matte Medium” Increases paint translucency, flexibility and adhesion, drys dull, not a gloss and I use it in rapids. The other is called “Gloss medium & Varnish” This can be mixed with acrylic paints to increase flow, gloss and transparency and can be uses as a varnish type topcoat. Great for smooth lakes I use realistic water for smooth ponds and rivers, after dry I stipple Matte Medium for a slight wind current on the water, or for a mild ripple effect. For rapids I use “JO Sonjas texture paste” and dimple with my finger to get a rapid effect, paint for water effect, use gloss med and then when dry, use a white cream to just touch to tops of the finger prints to get the whitewater effect. This was my first attempt…John
For demonstration purposes, here is a shot of the water on my diorama for Take Your Model Train to Work Day (see the full story on the four foot diorama thread: http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/1215205/ShowPost.aspx
This water was made with Woodland Scenics Realistic Water for the slow-moving river, and Liquitex Acrylic Gloss Gel for the stream. The stream is drybrushed with a little white acrylic paint to simulate white water. Notice the reflections of the bridge and figures in the water.
I made my river w/pouring resin — it dries completely hard. Dave Frary has several books out and some of them cover the use of this resin and teasing the surface for ripples just before it sets — great books!
