My wife and I had a home and graden shop in the 90’s, and one of the things I got pretty good at was making table-top water fountains using large, flat bowls, natural rocks, and adjustable flow pumps. Flow volume is easily adjusted by twisting the outlet valve so you don't wind up with Niagara Falls trying to run through a backyard crik. I have a few pumps left over to play with.
Like the guy above, I have seen real water used very effectively & realistically on the one of the HO display layouts at the Model Train Show in Novi, Michigan back in the good old days. Though I agree with everything written here about why real water features are a bad idea in general, done right it is awesome.
I am just about finished with the first module of a new 5-module HO layout, and plan to install a real water saw mill sluice and creek feature that runs into a small mill pond on module #3. I’ll report back to you folks when I get to that part of the build.
Happy railroading,
Gerg
Modeling the (fictitious) Pere Marquette & Chesapeake.
Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg/Germany probably has the largest water feature on an HO scale layout there is in the world, holding over 30 (!) tons of water. They spent an enormous amount of time and money to make it look like the real thing, I am afraid to say they did not succeed. It sounds like a pardoxon, but nothing looks more unrealistic than real water. You just cannot scale down its properties. Even large ships look like a rubber duck floating in a bathtub. Worse than that, you´ll be able to see through it down to the ground, Any attempt to color it failed.
But see for yourself.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
BATMANThe reason I am asking is I saw an HO scale barge being loaded and unloaded and the barge would list to the side as this happened. It looked so real but I sure wondered about water maintenance. Maybe lots of bleach would help.
I would think to get the water to "scale" better, you need it "wetter", like what we do for setting scenery and ballast.
Dish soap works by making the water wetter, or thinner. Could you see that? Like using regular dish soap in the dish washer. Don't ask me how I know about that.
I never wanted to try it.
The wife had a windmill yard decoration thing on the back patio that used water, and it was a pain to maintain. Of course we have a lot of lime in our city water supply, so that makes it all worse.
Mike.
My You Tube
mbinsewiDish soap works by making the water wetter, or thinner
How to prevent that stuff from foaming?
No chance!
I use real water in my bathtub layout!
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrain I use real water in my bathtub layout! Rich
Rub-dub in the tub!
Don't do it.
You will be spending a lot of time adding make up water because of evaporation. And, you will have to keep the water moving to prevent any kind of algae growth along with some sort of disinfectant. And, if you have hard water or water that has a lot of dissolved solids, like here in Phoenix, there will eventualy be a white crust along the banks. When you get tired of the white crust, you will have to empty out all the water and somehow remove that crust.
Believe me, don't do it. In a previous life I was a water resources and water quality engineer. I may not know a lot about a lot of things, but I do know a lot about water and water quality.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
After all of this, I'd actually encourage a doubting reader to give it a shot. Please come back in three months and tell us how it went.
Since GT Mills reopened this thread, I guess we'll have to wait for him to "report back" as he says in his post, as he offers a brief description of what he's doing.
I guess we'll see. maybe.
I agree with others that it will not look realistic.
I used to be very involved in sailing and had a decent sized boat. I also had a radio controlled model sailboat that was about 18" long. It did work well but never looked realistic going through the water. It always looked like a toy. The viscosity of the water was too 'thick' for it too look real. There is a big difference between a 1 lb. boat going through the water to a 3 ton boat.
CN Charlie