Jim Oberst Dave, I appreciate your advice. I will do a test pour first. Can you tell me why you prefer Magic Water over envirotex... and if it's available from someone online... I don't have any great hobby shops in my area. Thanks! Jim.
Dave, I appreciate your advice. I will do a test pour first. Can you tell me why you prefer Magic Water over envirotex... and if it's available from someone online... I don't have any great hobby shops in my area. Thanks! Jim.
I'm also in favor of putting the pilings in first, followed by the Envirotex. I think it looks better to have the pilings extend below the water line. I like the idea of painting the pilings green underwater before pouring, too.
Lion, I always tint my water before pouring. I do 3 or 4 pours for a body of water, with the darker colors at the lowest level tapering to clear at the top. I use only a drop of two of cheap acrylic craft paint per pour. More paint makes it more murky.
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Peter, thanks for this idea. Your water certainly looks good. Jim.
In the interest of avoiding large resin pours and permanant attachment I chose setting the models atop 1/4" plexiglass. Acrylic mediums like gloss gel can help hide the abrupt 'waterline' along with the shadow and absence of detail below the surface.
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Regards, Peter
Selector, I appreciate your detailed advice. I'm covering a large area - about 8 square feet. I've made it as level as I can, but I'm sure it's not perfect. Being able to pour another layer if the first isn't deep enough in some places is definitely a nice option to have. Jim.
The LION will (If he can ever climb up the two flights of stairs to the train room again) model the Gowanus Canal. This has both concrete and wooden pilings and sea walls aong its sides. Obviously these will be in place before the pour, the water needs to be an opaque muddy brown, perhaps I will pour a drop or two of gasoline on it to give it the proper petroleum patina so beloved in the Gowanus Canal.
ROAR
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Hi, Jim. I have always placed items first, and then added the medium. It always migrates outward and upward...some. You should try to do a rough estimate of how much volume you'll need for the thickness you want, but my advice is to go thinner, and twice if necessary, than to try to do it all in one pour. It's expensive stuff, compared to other methods, so you can always add a topcoat to cover up a mistake of any kind, and that's where that leftover bit comes in handy.
Using gel medium, whether gloss or matte, is up to you. I would assume gloss would end up looking only like more of the migrated-upwards epoxy (Envirotex) on your pylons. Matte, on the other hand, would dull that migration as it is manifested, and maybe look quite a bit more realistic. Of course, real pylons in wavy water will be wet above the water anyway, so....think about it .
If this is your first time with a substantial pour, two things, well three...:
a. mix equal measures of hardener and resin carefully, and then combine all of it, scraping with a wooden popsicle stick if necessary, and be patient when pouring. Then, as the instructions say, mix the beejaysus out of it. Mix, more mixing, stir the opposite direction, and mix some more. At least four minutes. They often say to pour it all into a second container. Don't. Just mix the beejaysus out of what you have in the one container. Ignore that it begins to look opaque and has zillions of bubbles.
b. work the edges outward as it slows there with that stirring stick. If it is too little product, let it set and cure and add a second pour in a day or so. Main point here is that you must somehow cover it so that no dust or hair or wafted lint/dustballs get into it. Wiped off cardboard is often good, or plywood thick enough to not sag over the center of the pour. 12 hours minimum.
c. and lastly, the bubbles. They'll be there, maybe in large number. With a pour about 1/8" thick, about 95% of the total will disappear on their own within 5 minutes. Ten minutes later, go back and blow gently over the surface with a soda straw in your mouth, and the lower end about 1" above the 'water.' All other bubbles will quickly dissipate. Watch for anything on you falling into your pristine new pour, so give that a thought first.
One other consideration; exposed bodies of water are almost never placid. They have wavelets due to surface objects and wind over the surface. That look can be achieved with a thin topcoat of gel gloss medium (not matte) and then stippled gently with the side of the applicator foam/brush. For waves, use gel gloss medium to fashion them, and then paint the edges with a slightly blue white acrylic to get whitecaps.
One last instruction, and it's the duty of every responsible hobbyist; have fun!!
PS. I forgot about what Dave mentioned, above, about sealing the 'vessel' into which you intend to pour the medium. That's very important, and you should have layers of newsprint under the area to protect the floor. I have used clear caulk to seal some places, but plaster and paint work well, and masking tape over a clean and smooth edge, say at the edge of a table, works well if it's pressed carefully into place. Paper or drop cloths, please, under the pour.
I'd install the pilings and then pour. Why? That way you can detail the submerged part of the pilings with simulations of seaweed and actually capture the visual of the pilings being in the water, which I think would add to realism.
Now if you think at any time you'd want to remove those pilings and the buildings above them then two options occur to me. The first would be to have a "sleeve" around the pilings below the water line so the piling could be pulled out (and be put back in later) yet it would still look like the piling is in the water. The other option would be your idea of installing the pilings on top of the hardened "water."
A third option occurs to me which is to have short little pilings which exactly match those under the buildings and have those in the water right to the water line, and then place the buildings + pilings on top once the water hardens, using your idea of a bit of gloss medium to hide the seam (and remember that "stuff" seems to gather around pilings, floating bits of things, foam, chunks of rope, dead fish, so there are many ways to hide that seam). This could call for some pretty precise work. Perhaps a pin in the upper piling could match a small hole in the "submerged" piling. You'd want to test it all out before the "big pour."
If envirotex lite works like Magic Water from Unreal Details (the product I use and like), then be aware that while the product is setting from its liquid state it has a slight tendency to creap up things in the water that come up above the water line. Since those things tend to get wet anyway just from normal wave action, even in a brook or stream much less a port, this does not bother me. But be prepared for it.
The other thing is, before the pour, give some thought to underwater detailing. Ground foam looks like water vegetation. There is usually stuff on the bottom, both natural like waterlogged logs and man made trash, sunken rowboats and rusty cars. And there is stuff above and below the water such as ropes and logs and buoys.
Given the nature of the product you have one chance to get this right! That is why before my first ever "big pour" with Magic Water, I created a small stream bed of styrofoam with a deep part and shallow part, complete underwater "landscaping" and floating logs and such. Using the product is a skill and any skill takes practice. Sure it "wasted" a bit of product, but it avoiding wasting a whole bunch of product. And yes in spite of all the warnings on the package every time I use the product I am once again surprised by how readily the liquid product finds holes and gaps and places to leak. Latex adhesive caulk that dries clear can be your friend here.
Dave Nelson
I will pour a 1/8" to 1/4" deep, large water area with Envirotex Lite. I have several harborside buildings that sit on pilings in the water. Should I install these first and then pour, or should I pour first and then install the pilings on top of the water (hiding the "seam" with gloss medium)? Do you have any experience to share?