Woodland Scenics Realistic Water - A Cautionary Tale

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
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When Woodland Scenics says to pour Realistic Water at depths not to exceed 1/8 inch, believe it.

I have used Realistic Water before and without any problems. But, each time, I abided by the instructions and limited the depth of the pour to 2/8 inch.

This time around, I designed a lift out section to accommodate a bridge over a river. For various design reasons, the Masonite base of the lift out resulted in a 5/8 inch depth from the surface of the eventual river. After applying plaster cloth and a thin coat of Hydrocal, the depth of the river bed still measured 1/2 inch. What I should have done was to build up the river bed with more Hydrocal to limit the depth of the pours. But, I didn’t.

On November 25, 2012, I made the first 1/8 inch pour. It cleared within 24 hours.

On November 26, 2012, I made the second 1/8 inch pour. It took 48 hours to clear.

On November 28, 2012, I made the third pour. While it slightly exceeded 1/8 inch, the bigger problem was that the first two pours had shrunk, if you will, into the various crevises created by the putty knife used to smooth the river bed of Hydrocal. So, that third pour was probably and nearly 1/4 inch in spots.

Today, the 51st day since that third pour, it is finally completely clear. Over the course of the last 51 days, I could see it gradually clearing. I tried everything. I moved it to a room to lower humidity. I used a floor fan to circulate the air. I used a needle to poke holes to let moisture escape. But, what finally did the trick was exposing it to the sun in a south facing window.

To my knowledge, Realistic Water always clears - - - - eventually. But, if you pour at a depth greater than 1/8 inch, the water quickly develops a cloudiness due to trapped moisture. I even read on another trains forum that one guy waited 8 months for a 1/2 inch pour to clear.

I still have to do one final pour. Oh

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Rich,

I had the same results with a small stream. One part of the stream was deeper, and I let the ‘Realistic Water’ fill that area and then poured until I had about 1/8" in the rest of the stream bed. By the next week, everything looked good. About a month later, I got a ‘cloudy’ area where the pour was deeper. If finally cleared up after another month.

Follow the instructions!

Jim

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Rich,buddy,

There go’s that old saying again,‘’ When all else fail’s,read the instructions’'. Ha, Ha,

Cheers,

Frank

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Oh, I read the instructions all right, I just didn’t follow them.

Rich

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Jim, you said it better than I did. That is exactly the problem. Realistic Water is sort of a self-leveling fluid. So to get it to pour level with the top of the Hydrocal, you wind up pouring more than 1/8 inch deep because of the crevises caused by the putty knife used to apply the Hydrocal. It is in those crevises where it took the longest for the cloudiness to dissipate.

Rich

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Think of it as turbitity as a result of the stream motion interacting with the uneven bottom. When it clears up the stream is no longer moving water at an increased rate.

Ok I’ve been doing too mcuh water modeling lately. I’ll take your heads up to heart. I have a pour for a new club modual coming up.

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Hmmm, this is interesting.

A few years ago I was given a kit for a small waterfall from Woodland Scenics. I haven’t used it to this day, but I have opened the package a few weeks ago. I noticed the paint it came with has separated. Should be ok with some stirring. The Water Effects is only a very small jar, not sure what I’m going to accomplish with that small ammount, after seeing videos of it being used in large quantities for small areas. That’s not my main concern though. All the videos I’ve seen shows the Realistic water is fairly runny and easily poured. The Realistic Water I have is more like translucient slime. I haven’t opened the jar, but when I tip it, it takes a long time to level out. I’m guessing this isn’t the norm. Is this product now garbage or can it still be used?

Lorne

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Lorne, that is a hard question for me to answer.

I can say that my first two pours for this current project were from older bottles of Realistic Water, a previously opened bottle that was five year old, and an unopened bottle from five years ago,

The third pour was from a newly purchased bottle of Realistic Water from Hobby Lobby.

Your description of it being translucent slime that takes time to level out is an accurate description.

So, I would say that your bottle of Realistic Water is probably still OK.

Rich

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Dear Rich & Friends

Your post came at a time when I’m fighting some anxiety over pouring my son’s pond. The base is smooth but slightly uneven Sculptamold. I’ve sanded it with coarse sandpaper to get it as smooth as it is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s as much as a half-inch difference between the highest and lowest points.

I was going to use a router to carve out the pond, but y’all wisely advised against that idea, so I cut out the foam all the way to the top of the ping-pong table and filled in with Sculptamold to the height I thought was right. I got it as level as I could, but it’s certainly not perfectly level.

I’m worried about having an uneven top surface after pouring Realistic Water, and I’m worried about how much Realistic Water the pond will require. I received two bottles of Realistic Water from Blue Ridge Hobbies today and, as you know, the stuff isn’t cheap.

Based on the attached image (width of table is five feet), how many bottles of Realistic Water do you believe my son’s pond will require? I don’t know how much to pour in total, only not to pour more than one-eighth of an inch at a time. I plan to prime the base with a warm gray (Dave Frary’s recipe for “scenery black”) and paint the general center flat black. This hopefully will blend into some cerulean blue, which hopefully will blend into some earth-colored paint.

(All of this stuff y’all do is a million miles over my head. I bought the Woodland Scenics Tommy’s Treehouse Mini-Scene. Then I bought an OptiVISOR LX-4 to be able to see it, and now I still don’t know how I’m going to paint the dog’s name on the doghouse’s microscopic nameplate. I’ve been working hard and long on this little ping-pong table layout for my son since August.)

Sorry for the asides. I appreci

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I would paint the bottom of your pond black, and blend in about half an inch of your earthtone paint around the edges. I find an airbrush to be the most effective tool of this. Stay away from the blue, unless your trying to model one of those neavily mineralized rivers that really are blue. If I were you, I would add more Sculptamold to level it out. Use a small level to check. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but pretty close. Then paint and add you water product.

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Dear CTValleyRR

Thank you for responding. I have an airbrush (Paasche VL), but I was trying to follow Dave Frary’s method. He stipples the blue into the black, and the earth-colored paint into the blue. All I want is a hint of the blue, such as that one might see in a real pond on a sunny day. Here in Georgia, the pond is definitely going to be a brown with some green and hints of blue in the reflection.

Your advice has been solid for me in the past, so I think I’ll use it now. (But, gee, I just bought a whole tube of cerulean blue paint.)

The base is level enough so that I can’t see its not being so, but with the level you suggested, I’m certain I can find one or more areas in which to apply more Sculptamold.

Thanks again for responding. I really appreciate your sharing your experience.

–Jaddie

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I agree. Add more Sculptamold and then level it out more so the amount of required Realistic Water will be less. And, keep each pour to 1/8 inch or less.

if there are deep crevises in the Sculptamold, you could pour some Realistic Water and then use a paint brush to spread it into the deep areas on the first pour. Don’t make my mistake by trying to pour enough to achieve a level surface because then some areas will be deeper than 1/8 inch.

As far as coverage is concerned, my area was 6.5 inches x 20.5 inches, or 134 square inches, 1/2 inch deep. It will ultimately require two bottles of Realistic Water. So, one bottle covers 67 square inches, 1/2 inch deep. Had I limited the depth to 1/8 inch, I could have accomplished the task with one pour of 1/2 bottle.

Rich

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Rich,

Please show us that scene now? Do you have the bridges installed now too?

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I still need to do another pour. Then, pix.

Rich