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Modeling water "works"

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  • Member since
    February 2002
  • 8 posts
Posted by david53 on Thursday, January 3, 2008 4:35 PM
You guys ought to try Magic Water sold by Walthers.  Great stuff, easy, and no nonsense.
  • Member since
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  • From: Westcentral Pennsylvania (Johnstown)
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Posted by tgindy on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 6:21 PM
 johncpo wrote:

  Sorry for the delayed response, my wife had me doing some Christmas chores and that's OK because the kid's are more important than model building.

Know the delayed feeling.  My internet was knocked out for the last two days due to ice storms.

The Minwax idea really does look like a good direction to plan in the plan!

Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956

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Posted by ham99 on Monday, December 17, 2007 5:01 PM
I use Environtex Lite for water and have been very pleased with it.  I have seen other products used, but none of them looked very realistic to me.  Environtex can be colored with food colors if you prefer a blue or green tint.  Pour in shallow layers and let dry between coats.
  • Member since
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  • From: New Mexico
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Posted by johncpo on Monday, December 17, 2007 11:46 AM

tgindy,

  Sorry for the delayed response, my wife had me doing some Christmas chores and that's OK because the kid's are more important than model building.

  Answering your questions; The depth of Minwax is measured only by the # of layers you pour in at one time and the drying time.

  Drying time is about 2-3 hrs between layers and pouring a second, third...layer depends on how deep you want the stream or whatever to look. I have High desert into the mountains terrain so water would not be readily available.

  I'll attempt Photobucket" one day soon as I now have a digital camera (phone) which is actually pretty good when the image is cleaned up using Abobe Photoshop. I still shoot film exclusively but the Cell phone camera works to see down inside at the "eye" level as if one were standing on the track of the layout.

  I had an older digital camera and tried that method, it is very realistict and you can see the image of your work much better.

 The best,

  johncpo

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • From: West Virginia
  • 157 posts
Posted by Chartiers on Saturday, December 15, 2007 1:19 PM
I just finished the creek on my layout except for some touch-up along the banks.  I used EnviroTex topped with some acrylic gloss gel medium for ripples.  I like the way it turned out.  Pictures on my web site. 
  • Member since
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  • From: Westcentral Pennsylvania (Johnstown)
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Posted by tgindy on Saturday, December 15, 2007 12:17 PM
 johncpo wrote:

 1.) Minwax Polycrylic is water soluable, one step ease, fast drying, won't crack as it dries and is ready in about 2-3 hours at room temp for more layers.

 4.) Poured into a streambed with a sandy and rocky bottom and the affect was superb! I can say in all honesty that this is the best system yet and without promoting the product itself, when poured in layers of about 1/4 inch deep and bulit up it looks real.

Minwax - one step - fast drying - no cracking - Neat!

How deep and how many layers?  How much do Minwax layers add to depth perception?

Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956

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  • From: New Jersey, US
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Posted by topcopdoc on Saturday, December 15, 2007 10:34 AM

Hi johncpo, 

I am almost finished with my river bed and was going to use Environtex or similar product for the water. I didn't want to get into mixing resin and hardeners if possible.

I have a can of MinWax Polycrylic in my shop. Is the MinWax just as good as the Environtex? Do you have any photos?

Doc

Pennsylvania Railroad The Standard Railroad of the World
  • Member since
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  • From: New Mexico
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Posted by johncpo on Friday, December 14, 2007 5:06 PM

By far the following method works better than anything I have seen on posts, magazine articles and from the art supply departments. The original source of any water I simulate is a home improvement product, Minwax makes a water-based "polycrylic" sealer that I use in the following steps to create rivers, lakes and the rest.

 1.) Minwax Polycrylic is water soluable, one step ease, fast drying, won't crack as it dries and is ready in about 2-3 hours at room temp for more layers.

 2.) I have used the product and in fact saw an article from several years ago in Model RRer that showed the use and application, I had forgotten about the article until I went to use the product on wood finishes for my military diorama frames.

 3.) Rivers, streams waterfalls, rapids and more can be built using a foam base, wooden base and sand or pebbles and made to look very realistic. The acrylic product when mixed with an acrylic paint blends very well to make water scenes. Also, I have used it without mixing with any colors into it.

 4.) Poured into a streambed with a sandy and rocky bottom and the affect was superb! I can say in all honesty that this is the best system yet and without promoting the product itself, when poured in layers of about 1/4 inch deep and bulit up it looks real.

 5.) This is among a few more home improvement products that I have read about and continue to use from time to time that work on dioramas with a very high cost effectiveness. Bulk is always better than buying a small amount of an art product and this is good for those who need lots of something.

 Best of luck with this and all the acrylic products.

 johncpo

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, December 13, 2007 2:07 PM
Thanks for the link! Very informative.
  • Member since
    May 2005
  • From: Westcentral Pennsylvania (Johnstown)
  • 1,496 posts
Modeling water "works"
Posted by tgindy on Thursday, December 13, 2007 1:37 PM

This week's Model Railroader e-mail had a link to this Josef Brandl article, "Make a realistic lake for your model railroad," with tons of pictures...

http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=1126 

This makes a nice addition to a PDF Library when using a freeware program like CutePDF.

QUESTION:  What water "works" for some of you?

Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956

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