Art Resin Used to Make Lakes and Rivers on Model Railroads

Member since Jan 2004 From: Canada, eh? 12,628 posts

Posted past doctorwayne on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 11:39 PM While I have used articulate casting resins in the past, the water features on my current layout were all done using Durabond xc patching plaster.  Information technology sets in approximately xc minutes (hence the "90" in the name) allowing plenty of time to work-in ripples, rapids, waves, etc.  The type of such piece of work will depend, of course, on the consistency to which you mix the product.  It volition , however, set up in the stated time whether it's mixed equally stiff as peanut butter or as watery as a bad cream-style soup.   One time fully-cured, information technology's tough and permanent - mine has been subject to countless cameras placed upon its surface, with no impairment to raised details or scratches or marks on the surface. The riverbeds, in near cases, are plywood, merely I've too poured rivers into depressions in the plaster-on-screen landforms.  On plywood, the "h2o" is usually less than 1/8" thick, and is finished with drywall knives.  On plaster terrain, the "h2o" tin can be over ane" thick and is normally poured into place.  Regardless of the thickness used, it doesn't shrink or crack. I used flat latex house paint to color it, practical with a 2" brush.  The dirt colour used to correspond muddy water is also useful, when thinned with water, equally a colouring launder for my plaster-on-screen terrain, prior to adding ground embrace.  For the water areas, though, it's practical full-forcefulness.  The night grayness/green, used to represent deeper water, is also used on background trees and distant hills. To make the "water" look wet, it gets three coats of clear, water-based loftier gloss urethane, applied with a brush and strictly following the manufacturer'south instructions on re-coating times to avoid having to sand betwixt coats - difficult to sand water, specially if it'due south not calm and smooth. Wayne Reply

Member since December 2004 From: Bedford, MA, U.s.a. 20,415 posts

Posted past MisterBeasley on Wednesday, Oct 1, 2014 seven:02 AM I'one thousand an Envirotex Light guy.  This is a 2-part epoxy resin.  My first hint is to go to www.michaels.com or www.acmoore.com and discover the coupon.  At that place is ususally 1 good for xl% off of ane detail.  Use it to buy Envirotex, every bit it's a fleck pricy.  I've found that it has a very long shelf life, fifty-fifty after it's opened.  Mix it thoroughly (stirred, not shaken, as yous don't wan't bubbling) and then it will set properly.  Pour it no more than 1/8 thick per pour.  Each pour takes virtually 24 hours to set. I have a foam base layout, which I typically carve out to grade pond beds.  I then comprehend the foam with plaster cloth to become the contours I want. I seal the plaster cloth with white glue, rubbining it in with my fingers to fill the little holes.  Since you're putting the lake at the edge of the layout, build a dam with styrene or other impermiable material and gum the edges with something like Aileen's Tacky Glue that will seal the lake bed just still be removeable.  Envirotex, similar most "h2o" products, will find small holes and seep through them. After that, I pigment the bed of the pond and add together rocks and such. I employ several thin pours.  I tint the first pour with a drop or 2 of dark acrylic craft pigment, thoroughly mixed into the Envirotex.  This both darkens the base of the h2o and gives it some "optical depth" which makes that shallow pond bed expect much deeper.  Subsequent pours (3 or 4 total, commonly) get lighter tints, disposed more towards green in this case. Envirotex will "creep" up the sides of the pond and to some extent will soak into scenic materials.  So, sometimes when you get up in the morning to check on your pour, at that place won't be equally much in the pond as there was the nighttime before.  This is typical of the get-go pour.  Of grade, information technology could be a leak, too. I prefer to do the concluding scenic materials like alpine grass after the concluding cascade of Envirotex.  This makes it easier to hibernate the edges of the pond. It takes an fe man to play with a toy iron horse. Reply

Member since February 2005 From: Vancouver Island, BC 23,060 posts

Posted by selector on Wed, October ane, 2014 12:25 PM I would use either enamel or water-based paints, but but first as a test...not every bit something I regretted and had to at present figure out how to either remove or to cover.  In my case above, I used just a one-half-driblet of Hauder Medium Greenish acrylic craft paint from Wal Mart and a one-half-driblet of yellow.  In order to become some turbidity to the h2o, I also added about 1/4 teaspoon of plaster of Paris powder.  Once mixed very thoroughly, so poured, you can just let information technology settle and spread over the adjacent ten to fifteen minutes or so.  No longer, though, because y'all'll desire to go back to run across if there are still any tiny bubbles just at or below the surface.  They WILL class, but many volition rise and disappear on their own.  Those that don't will need help, and you lot do that past gently bravado through a soda straw at them with the lower end of the straw no closer than an inch from the curing surface. It takes near 12-18 hours for the hardness to set in, and by then you'll know that you volition need one more batch to encompass everything, or fifty-fifty another couple.  Your total depth, all pours in identify, should rarely be over 3/viii".  My pours never exceed 1/4" in depth, and that ordinarily means about three mixes poured over bare plywood in total. Y'all should never mix enough at one time that yous cover all yous need to, but besides at a depth of near one/two".  Most experienced hobbyists say its is much better to tinker with the mix and tint in three pours than to regret your i decision that is now curing at one/2" deep. Don't fret if y'all grossly underestimate the requirement in that get-go pour.  If it doesn't spread enough, there's always another opportunity to add to it, and you can elect to cascade it clear or with some other very low-cal tint to it...or more turbidity.  The second, or maybe the third cascade, will spread enough to cover all you lot need information technology to, and from at that place you lot but add another until you go at or simply above that i/4 - 3/8" depth in total, all pours in place. Finaly, you can utilize a swizzle stick or natural language depresser to help each pour spread a scrap.  It quickly fills in any trenches you create with the tip of the tool you employ. Remember, it will fizz a fleck, specially as you lot stir it well if you use the two office epoxy (every bit I utilize), and yous must do this...mix for at least iii total minutes.  It will fizz with a tiny pinch of plaster powder added.  Let it exercise its affair once you pour information technology, come back in a timed x-xv minutes and have your straw handy. If you tin exercise it safely, it is never a bad idea to notice a manner to embrace the curing plaster, say with some grit-complimentary cardboard slabs.  Keeps curious pets out, maybe an insect or 3, and keeps unwanted airborne items from marring the surface. -Crandell Reply

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