Realistic Water

[taylormade]

I'm building a waterline model of a Muskokas Lake steamer and am searching for any tips, tutorials or suggestions on creating a realistic water surface for my model.  I tried the search function on the forum, but haven't had any luck.  Any help would be most appreciated.

[BikerMart]

Woodland Scenics, for example, purvey a couple of products for simulating water. Doubtless other model railway-centric manufacturers also have their own versions.

[kurtvd19]

SeaWatch Books published a book by Justin Camarata called - Waterline Dioramas: A Modelbuilder's Artform  with a review here on MSW -

It might be out of print but if you can borrow one it will be a good read.

Check the model railroad sites as they do a lot of realistic water.

[Jack12477]

Do a search on YouTube, there are a number of videos on making water for dioramas.  Woodland Scenics has produced some as have a number of modelers.

[Landlubber Mike]

39 minutes ago, kurtvd19 said:

SeaWatch Books published a book by Justin Camarata called - Waterline Dioramas: A Modelbuilder's Artform  with a review here on MSW -

It might be out of print but if you can borrow one it will be a good read.

Check the model railroad sites as they do a lot of realistic water.

 

I have this book and it is fantastic.  Highly recommend it!

[Jim Rogers]

I use Realistic Water from Woodland Scenics. They have a slew of water products.

[mcb]

Hi taylormade,

I had good results with Magic Water (in model railroad applications) if you can find it.  It is a two-part mixture that can be tinted and has minimal curl at the edges.

It had good shelf life. 

unrealdetails.com I think was the website.

 

Good Luck,

MCB

[mikegr]

It depends what you want to represent. The epoxy materials referred above are a good option. Note that if you want to make waves you need extra materials like acrylic gel or even plaster, depends on reality factors like boat speed, weather and scale.

[amateur]

I thouoght I found a cheaper version of Camarata's book, lister for 67 euro's. Following the link ended up at an american sellerfor 125 dollars. Nice change rates.....

 

I have seen very convincing water doen by paper and arcrylic gel. As Mike says: everyting depends on scale, and situation to be depicted (heavy seas need other techniques that harbour scenes.)

 

Jan

[wefalck]

Here is a text I wrote some years ago on the topic: https://www.maritima-et-mechanika.org/maritime/tips/makingwaves.html, with links to examples.

 

Using epoxi-resins to imbed plastic models can be dangerous, as the curing reaction is exothermic and can melt down your model ... 

 

Personally, I tend to go down the plaster-road (traditional plaster-of-Paris or the modern acrylic-based repair plasters). You can shape it wet and carve it dry. When completely(!) dry, give it a good coat or two in sanding filler to close the pores and you are ready for painting. Wave crests and likes are build from acrylic gel to which one can add 'micro-balloons' for volume. Note that some areas the water may have a glossy appearance, while the surface in other areas is disturbed by gusts of wind. I give the whole surface a good and wet coating of glossy acrylic varnish. The disturbed areas are indicated by stippling on acrylic varnish with stiff bristle-brush. 

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

Thread wander alert!!

 

The master modeler, the late Gerald Wingrove, once set a waterline model of a Bengal Pilot Brig at anchor on a sea made from a block of Mahogany with thousands of tiny ripples sculpted with a gouge; the Mahogany then finished bright.  While not realistic it was an elegant setting for a beautiful model.

 

I personally find waterline models at anchor in calm water to be very attractive.

 

Roger

 

 

[wefalck]

As matter of fact, the miniaturis McCaffery describes in his book also, how he carves the seas from a block of wood. This requires, however, to have a big chunck of suitable wood - unless you really work in very small scale.

[el cid]

A guy with the handle “Sargentx” used to post on the other site and created a series of very helpful tutorials on color theory, atmosphere, seascapes, etc. I think he’s a professional artist and made some breathtaking models. His seascape series is here:

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=155661

HTH,

 

Keith

[mikegr]

6 hours ago, el cid said:

A guy with the handle “Sargentx” used to post on the other site and created a series of very helpful tutorials on color theory, atmosphere, seascapes, etc. I think he’s a professional artist and made some breathtaking models. His seascape series is here:

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=155661

HTH,

 

Keith

This is Chris Flodberg indeed a full time artist. Along with Katseas my favorite sea base builders in 1/700 and 1/350.

https://www.chrisflodberg.com/maritime.

There is also a concentration of methods by builder on this forum

http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=37923

 

[Louie da fly]

I found this one very interesting and inspirational - 

 

 

Steven