Adding water to model ships - using acrylic - reversable

[mobile1mobile1]

DETAILED BUILD INSTRUCTIONS and more pics are further below in Post #15

So I converted my model "Sovereign of the Seas / 1:78" to having a water surface.

I used acrylic glass (top water surface is Tap Plastics - Acrylic Lucerne 1/8th of inch), side is 1/4th inch clear acrylic and then using blue translucent foil on the insides of water surface and side pieces - all from Amazon, plus some water ripple modelling material to model wake. Some flat grey slate rocks for the bottom and some small fake green plants to cover the stand all from Amazon - a display case around it (or not) and you're regular model on a stand can look like this.

Happy to answer any questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 22 by mobile1mobile1
added better photos

[JKC27]

Wow...this looks fantastic!

Great job on this.  Sure makes me want to explore this as a possibility for my lake freighters.

[ah100m]

The crew better be doing frequent soundings!

[Mirabell61]

Smart idea Mobile 1,

for putting transp. blue foil to the casing sides below the waterline, good job, the illution of water in the casing is great

 

Nils

Edited November 22, 2023 by Mirabell61

[mobile1mobile1]

Thx everyone.. this link below is the transparent foil I used... it has a sticky back so super easy to apply and then some heat from a hairdryer bakes it in.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KGKIG7M?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

And then for the wake - the water ripples product from this set here is fantastic..
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LRK1Y86?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

[JKC27]

Also.....just curious how the ship is mounted to the base or acrylic?

[Cathead]

That looks beautiful! You must have cut the acrylic to fit around the hull; how did you determine the waterline shape/pattern to cut out?

[Capt. Kelso]

Impressive!

[jerome]

That makes a very unique display.

I like the simplicity of it too.

Very clever use of tinting film.

[No Idea]

That looks absolutely stunning - wow!!

[mobile1mobile1]

On 11/24/2023 at 7:53 AM, JKC27 said:

Also.....just curious how the ship is mounted to the base or acrylic?

The ship is on it's original stand like they all come with - then the acrylic water surface plate is just cut out with the profile of the water line... so it's just standing on it's original stand - the water surface acrylic plate has 1/4 inch vertical acrylic plates around that hold it up.. and all acrylic the sides plus top has the transparent blue foil. This setup makes it also completely reversable. The water ripple material easily hides the small distance between the ship and the top surface acrylic plate.

Then in order to hide the stand I just used small artificial aquarium plants to put around it which worked great - along with 0.5 to 3 inch sized flat grey gravel to hide the wood of the stand. Here is what that looks like
 

Edited November 26, 2023 by mobile1mobile1

[mobile1mobile1]

On 11/24/2023 at 12:32 PM, Cathead said:

That looks beautiful! You must have cut the acrylic to fit around the hull; how did you determine the waterline shape/pattern to cut out?

Yeah that was probably the hardest part. First I looked up some photos as to where the waterlines goes... then I took a cardboard in the exact size of the top water surface acrylic plate... and then I measured every inch the distance from the edge of the plate to where the inside cut would be... did that on both sides. So just measure the distance to the boat from the edge of the display, then cut out the inside of thee cardboard in that shape - then had TAP Plastics basically recreate the cardboard in acrylic. For a pretty sizable 44 inch by 13 inch, including labor to cut out the center part it cost about USD 80.. so super affordable.

 

Oh and most stands slide right in so you dont even have to cut it up in two pieces, as long as the hull width is larger than the stand you can just slide it in.

Now one thing to note, the 1/8th top surface acrylic - once the center is cut out - it is somewhat bendable and flexible - which is why I chose to have it rest on transparent acrylic box around it - which ended up looking better than some setup with poles to hold it up which I have seen done elsewhere.

[Cathead]

Great explanation, thanks!

[Jsk]

This is such a cool enhancement. Thanks for sharing your idea!

[mobile1mobile1]

On another forum someone asked me to write up a detailed build plan for this - so I added it here as well in case someone tries to make this happen.

Alright here are detailed steps/materials:

Cardboard:
Get a thick cardboard and cut it to the outside shape you want the water surface to cover.

Next research the waterline for the model ship you try to do.

Then on the cardboard make a mark every inch of the circumference.

Next measure the horizontal distance in mm or whtever from the outside of the watersurface to the hull of the model ship - where the waterline is. Best is to use a box or something that is at the height of the waterline, then horizontally measure every inch with a ruler the distance from the outside to the hull.

Then take that distance and replicate it o the cardboard. Your goal is that you have on the cardboard a line of the hull.

Then next cut out the the hull from the cardboard - then lift up the model ship and slide in the cardboard from the bottom, that way you can verify the cardboard (which will be the watersurface) fits. It doesnt need to be super precise since you can use the water ripple material (see below) to fill in any smaller gaps).

Your goal is basically to have a cardboard that is exactly how you like the watersurface to be.

Once done you send or take the cardboard to Tapplastics (see below) and tell them to replicate that cardboard in Acrylic Lucerne 1/8th of inch.

Or you can cut out the acrylic yourself.. in that case call tapplastics they can tell you what to use or they can sell you the parts too. What you find on the internet about cutting acrylic is mostly wrong btw.

Doing the cardboard measurement seems to be the hardest part.


Top Water Surface Acrylic
I used acrylic glass (top water surface get it from Tap Plastics, the type acrilic is called: - Acrylic Lucerne 1/8th of inch thick),
from www.tapplastics.com
One thing to note here is 1/8th is somewhat thin, so when you get it it is quie bendable so make sure ont to break it. You could go 1/4th but that would mean that the cut surface on the side is larger... so you trade that for stability. I think 1/8th is probably better just handle it carefully once you get the cut piece back. Also one other thing ideally make the radiuses not too sharp. Tapplastics cant do too sharp angles or turns or super fine cuts.. however it doesnt make much of a difference since the areas where you would need those tend to be in the front and the back and that's the areas where you also have more rippled water wake - so you can just add more ripple effects there which camouflages it pretty well.

Side Acryilic:
Use 1/4th inch thick clear acrylic also from Tap Plastic.
from www.tapplastics.com

Transparent blue foil
Get it here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KGKIG7M?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
apply this to back of the watersurface facing the water floor/ground, as well as the side acrylic pieces (facing inside to the waterfloor as well.

Blue Acrylic Marker
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0929KVGDF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1The cuts of the acylic pieces will look white, despite having the blue foil on the large surfaces. Use this acrylic marker to paint all the white cut surfaces (my initial pics above did not have done this step yet, but I have since added this and it looks even better I have attached a pic below).

Wake on top of the water surface
Get the water ripples product from this set here
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LRK1Y86?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
then use a paint brush to apply it to the water surface. Looks hard but is super easy, the product is super easy to use.

Rocks for ocean floor:
1-3 inch rocks for larger ocean structures https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071YN2QH8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
1/4-1/2 inch rocks: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076ZZXKCQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Fake Aquarium Plants to cover stand
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C77QZVVK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
Outside display
www.grandpascabinets.com
Ron is awesome he will build a custom box to your specifications. The one thing to note there is when you measure the water surface or the size of the water box, keep in mind that the wooden frame that holds up the outside glass has a certain thickness to it, so make sure to dimension the water surface to account for that. In my model I forgot about that so you can see that the watersurface protrudes into the frame pieces so I had to cut them a little. So if you do a case keep that in mind so you get the right dimensions.

=============
Also i found the perfect matching furniture underneath that was just luck that it perfectly matched the case dimensions - I didnt think of that but it just worked like perfection. So if you want to go all out when you order the display case from Ron first look or find a sideboard furniture piece that would go under your display case then when you order the display case on top - match it to the dimensions of the sideboard underneath. I have attached what that looks like now. You can also see on this picture the cuts of the acrylic not being bright white anymore due to the blue acryilic paint applied to the outside cuts of the water surface.

FINALLY please post here your result if anyone does the same. And any questions just let me know. Don't think I forgot anything. To do all this I dont think its very hard to do.

[rwiederrich]

Fantastic effect.  It really gives *Life* to the display.

 

I did something similar to this with my Ferriera (aka) Cutty Sark.,.build.  Not as enclosed but effective nun the same.

 

Again...supper job!

 

Rob

Edited February 21 by rwiederrich

[Loracs]

Thank you for the picture and recipe.  This is a great way to display the ship.  Something I will strongly consider doing too ;_)

[mobile1mobile1]

Ok just updated this post with new much better photos in the first post! ;-)