Bob,

Expert modeling for sure. I really like the looks of that glass for water too. I wonder if this stuff is good enough to fool people for HO scale purposes. It would be a lot easier than pouring resin or using chemicals to make water. Yours looks real. There was a fellow on Ebay a while ago selling plastic textured glass, but I was afraid to purchase it. It looked similar to what you have. But I think it was a clear sheet or a light blue

Rich

Bob, this plastic material that you used for water does look like the real thing.

I like the last photo above, the light shining through it gives a rippled texture under the water, very effective in making it look like it's actually underwater.

Greg Shinnie

Thanks for the background story Bob.

Well, I guess that special plastic would very difficult to find nowadays-

Bob,

You are indeed a master of illusion. I am amazed at the creativity you display in everything you do.

I am confident you will some day find a use for the purple plastic sheet.

Mike

Once again Bob, truly inspirational and simply OUTSTANDING work. That is terrific use of a material'.. :up: [:-star][:P]

Thanks for your comments guys. While that material seems to be no longer available or cannot be

found, there is an alternative. Make you own. I'm going to give you two examples, one quite simple

and the other a bit more involved, but both well withing the abilities of all you great model

railroad modelers. The subject were not railroad related but the modeled water still applies.

It will be easier to post them in separate posts.

The simpler method. This model was built for the submarine museum at Groton, CT. The water was

made from a plain piece of acrylic sheet (any building supply store). The waves were built up

with several applications of acrylic gel medium ( any art store) and the bow wave and wake were made

from 5 minute clear epoxy glue. Then the BOTTOM of the sheet was painted with two applications of

a blue glaze, I used Creamcoat by Delta transparent wood glaze #4502 blueberry ice.

Note that you can see the hull down through the water's surface.

I'll try to post the other method later today.

Bob

Hey, Bob! I've seen that model at the Groton submarine museum. Neat!

Did you slice the model and glue it to both sides of the acrylic or cut a hole in the acrylic and hide the edges with the gel medium and epoxy?

I've seen both ways, just wonder which you prefer?

Bill, I cut a hole in the material to fit the model. It has been my experience that doing so

beats slicing the model, subtracting the thickness of the plastic water, slicing that thickness off

the model, and lining up the bottom piece, every time. In my article I explained how to cut that

hole quite close to the model profile easily.

Bob

To explain the other method I will use a diorama I did on commission for one of the divers who was

actually there for the recovery of the Gemini Astronauts, based on a newspaper photo of the

event. To start I took a piece of aluminum foil and loosely crumpled it up into a ball. You could

use regular foil and spray it to keep some resin from sticking to it but the newer non-stick foil

"RELEASE" works much better. Open up the aluminum ball but do not press out all the wrinkles. I

mixed up a bowl of Envirotex Lite pour-on-gloss finish #2016 (at hardware and craft shops). I

then mixed in some Castin Craft resin dye, swirling in blue and green (craft store).

Lay out the foil, non-stick side up, and turn up the edges to form dikes. Pour the colored resin

onto the foil and if you do not need a lot of strength, let it harden. If you need variations

in color, I needed to make the water at the nose of the capsule much greener because they released

some dye marker to be seen easier. If you have a large area and need strength you can lay a sheet

of clear acrylic sheet over it, it will adhere to the resin and become the bottom of the surface.

In either case, after the resin cures you can very carefully peal the aluminum foil away. and

pin holes or bubbles can be filled with quick set epoxy glue. All detail such as rough water (I had

to show an area of disturbed water caused by the rotor wash from an unseen helicopter overhead)

with clear epoxy glue, acrylic gel medium, acrylic caulk, in any combination.





Bob

Bob', very cool models and great techniques. Thanks for posting this information'.

Superb, and thank you.

Karl.A

Very interesting techniques...Thank you for sharing.

Dave

Bob, thanks for sharing your talents & techniques with us once again!

Greg Shinnie