realistic water

[jwar]

Thanks guys. Well I think i hit the sweet spot in ataining my goal. I took a bit of everones advise above and I think its great. I painted the bottom of gouged out foam 2 inch in depth, painted as sugested above, added boulders and rocks, debrie, then placed a plate of glass over it and colored som envirotex, Yep its in like 3-D....lookks great and with sumerged limbs ect, looks deep and is extreamly effective from different angles, So thanks again for you help, take care.

[jwar]

Thanks guys. Well I think i hit the sweet spot in ataining my goal. I took a bit of everones advise above and I think its great. I painted the bottom of gouged out foam 2 inch in depth, painted as sugested above, added boulders and rocks, debrie, then placed a plate of glass over it and colored som envirotex, Yep its in like 3-D....lookks great and with sumerged limbs ect, looks deep and is extreamly effective from different angles, So thanks again for you help, take care.

[wp8thsub]

The fictitious Plumas Creek on my layout is based on the prototype North Fork Feather River. The base for the creek is built from sand and rocks held in place with diluted yellow glue. I've tried painting effects for rocks and such but the results aren't as convincing as if you're modeling the river bed in 3-D.

To increase the look of depth, I airbru***he center of the water course with black, feathering it out toward the banks. I then touch up the tops of the major rocks with an approximation of their original color if necessary to make them stand out beneath the epoxy resin "water."

There are a lot of products out there that modelers use to represent the water itself. Unfortunately most of the modeled water I've seen really looks awful. Color and texture are important but frequently ignored. The best products I've used are epoxy resins like Envirotex, they deliver good representations of prototypical depth and are easily colored with a few drops of enamel paint like Testors military paints or Floquil. The prototype Feather River isn't clear, most photos and first hand observations I've made show the water to have a distinct greenish cast from whatever's in the water. Pullman green works great for creating this color in the resin. Any water modeled with clear resin is almost guaranteed to look fake when viewed from above, so proper use of color is worth experimenting with until you get the right appearance. As was stated in another post avoid blue.

Epoxy resin dries smooth, but that's not a disadvantage. Use acrylic gloss medium to add ripples; it's easily controlled when applying with a brush. Small rapids can be simulated with white paint, while larger ones can be built up from layers of acrylic gel medium (the consistency of paint but it's clear), again touched up with white.

Woodland Scenics water products are popular but of very limited use for really realistic effects. Their pourable EZ-Water was this horrid yellowish goop that even the WS people couldn't get to look good. Their newer water product is basically like gloss medium and probably won't deliver the look you're after by itself. It may be worth a try for the top coat of gloss.

[wp8thsub]

The fictitious Plumas Creek on my layout is based on the prototype North Fork Feather River. The base for the creek is built from sand and rocks held in place with diluted yellow glue. I've tried painting effects for rocks and such but the results aren't as convincing as if you're modeling the river bed in 3-D.

To increase the look of depth, I airbru***he center of the water course with black, feathering it out toward the banks. I then touch up the tops of the major rocks with an approximation of their original color if necessary to make them stand out beneath the epoxy resin "water."

There are a lot of products out there that modelers use to represent the water itself. Unfortunately most of the modeled water I've seen really looks awful. Color and texture are important but frequently ignored. The best products I've used are epoxy resins like Envirotex, they deliver good representations of prototypical depth and are easily colored with a few drops of enamel paint like Testors military paints or Floquil. The prototype Feather River isn't clear, most photos and first hand observations I've made show the water to have a distinct greenish cast from whatever's in the water. Pullman green works great for creating this color in the resin. Any water modeled with clear resin is almost guaranteed to look fake when viewed from above, so proper use of color is worth experimenting with until you get the right appearance. As was stated in another post avoid blue.

Epoxy resin dries smooth, but that's not a disadvantage. Use acrylic gloss medium to add ripples; it's easily controlled when applying with a brush. Small rapids can be simulated with white paint, while larger ones can be built up from layers of acrylic gel medium (the consistency of paint but it's clear), again touched up with white.

Woodland Scenics water products are popular but of very limited use for really realistic effects. Their pourable EZ-Water was this horrid yellowish goop that even the WS people couldn't get to look good. Their newer water product is basically like gloss medium and probably won't deliver the look you're after by itself. It may be worth a try for the top coat of gloss.

[Anonymous]

While you're checking out techniques on the WS site, just go ahead and use their newest pour from the bottle water instead of envirotex. It works, and it doesn't smell!

[Anonymous]

While you're checking out techniques on the WS site, just go ahead and use their newest pour from the bottle water instead of envirotex. It works, and it doesn't smell!

[der5997]

If you are going for realism, have a good look at real water in streams, ponds, rivers and lakes. It's amazing how little of it is blue! If you are able to get the base dark (very dark brown or black for most bodies of water, but I'm not familiar with the Feather River river bottom colours) so much the better, even if it looks wierd to you. That's all the base, rocks and all. Once the gloss is on from the Envirotex (or whatever gloss medium you choose), the blue will come in from reflection to the sky on your backdrop. That's what happens, so to speak, in "real life".

[der5997]

If you are going for realism, have a good look at real water in streams, ponds, rivers and lakes. It's amazing how little of it is blue! If you are able to get the base dark (very dark brown or black for most bodies of water, but I'm not familiar with the Feather River river bottom colours) so much the better, even if it looks wierd to you. That's all the base, rocks and all. Once the gloss is on from the Envirotex (or whatever gloss medium you choose), the blue will come in from reflection to the sky on your backdrop. That's what happens, so to speak, in "real life".

[Anonymous]

Used gray primer for riverbottom with gray rocks. Deep areas were painted darker gray to black. I used real rocks and enviro tek and then drybushed whitewater with white acrylic paint. Added twigs and limb fragments from yard that were weathered and chopped up by mowing. Stacked them up around piers. Added barrels and other junk from the extras box to cover not quite right areas. Cut old car in two at angle and put it in water after rusting it. Added Old tires from cut from car and o rings. Looks good.

[Anonymous]

Used gray primer for riverbottom with gray rocks. Deep areas were painted darker gray to black. I used real rocks and enviro tek and then drybushed whitewater with white acrylic paint. Added twigs and limb fragments from yard that were weathered and chopped up by mowing. Stacked them up around piers. Added barrels and other junk from the extras box to cover not quite right areas. Cut old car in two at angle and put it in water after rusting it. Added Old tires from cut from car and o rings. Looks good.

[Anonymous]

use white glue as water mix it with paint or food golorinng before it sets and leave it alone if you want a clear stream

[Anonymous]

use white glue as water mix it with paint or food golorinng before it sets and leave it alone if you want a clear stream

[Anonymous]

Check out woodlands scenics website. Http://www.woodlandscenics.com They have info about making trees and tunnels. They might have info on making realistic water.

[Anonymous]

Check out woodlands scenics website. Http://www.woodlandscenics.com They have info about making trees and tunnels. They might have info on making realistic water.

[jwar]

In MR july 03 (modeling a creek) was wondering if one could paint rocks for a submerged effect, before applying the Enviro Tex. Thinking of doing somthing like the feather river, lots of rocks and clear water, rapids ect. Have any of you made rapids.

[jwar]

In MR july 03 (modeling a creek) was wondering if one could paint rocks for a submerged effect, before applying the Enviro Tex. Thinking of doing somthing like the feather river, lots of rocks and clear water, rapids ect. Have any of you made rapids.