Clear resin alternative for rivers and other water effects.

[The-closet-gamer]

Come the new year I'm going to try and get some terrain modelling done for multi scale modular boards for different environments. Desert, city ( drop zone commander ) forest and the like. I'm planning on using insulation boards so i can have deep rivers with steep/shallow banks. For the actual rivers, I want them to be clear but with a tint of colour to them. Now back in the late 90s myself and staffers form GW made a few demo boards for the South Yorkshire stores. The water effects consisted of several different mediums form PVA for very shallow rivers to the stuff from woodland scenics, think it was called EZ water and a few others. The problem was they all looked s**t. They had shrinkage, air bubbles, uneven/rough surfaces. All but one was perfect. The one that was poured with clear resin save for a few air bubbles ( that the fish, honest ).

Now before anyone says that water shouldn't be super flat we textured the surfaces with acrylic medium to get a wave effect. It's used by artists  to seal paintings I think or I could be wrong.

Because I want to have some transparency to my rivers how do I go about producing the effect. I could use clear resin but the cost. It's not because I can't afford it, I just don't want to spend close to a couple of a hundred quid on the project. So I need an alternative. Any thoughts

P.S. Should I preorder Mass Effect 4 at £70. I want it but is it going to be worth it. Three crappy endings and what was the war assets all about.   

[FramFramson]

I've tried self-levelling acrylic clear gel (it was what I had on hand), but also having issues with bubbles which I can't seem to resolve. I thought I could solve it with several coats of gloss varnish to fill holes and while that give me a slight improvement, it also created new bubbles, which I can't understand, because the gloss is the same one I use on figures and it's been completely fine when I do that.

[tin shed gamer]

How thick an application are you doing? I only do 2-3mm at a time and warm it from underneath with a hair dryer.This normally removes bubbles before it sets.

[The-closet-gamer]

The rivers will be as deep as an inch or maybe deeper and up to a cm or so in the shallow. The areas for crossings will just cover the surface. I want them deep in places so I am have half sunk boat and submerged shopping trolleys and the like.

[FramFramson]

How thick an application are you doing? I only do 2-3mm at a time and warm it from underneath with a hair dryer.This normally removes bubbles before it sets.

My Gel application was maybe 3mm at most and the gloss varnish was of negligible thickness.

I don't have a hair drier... damn, that might work a bit.

[The-closet-gamer]

My Gel application was maybe 3mm at most and the gloss varnish was of negligible thickness.

I don't have a hair drier... damn, that might work a bit.

Have you tried pouring the medium down a lollipop stick. It's what we did for the GW  boards especially with the EZ water. You just heat it up in a pan and pour, be careful it's hot.

[tin shed gamer]

Fram old boy,get a hair dryer ! its the one peice of kit I wouldn't be without I'd choose it over my air brush any day 

[FramFramson]

Have you tried pouring the medium down a lollipop stick. It's what we did for the GW  boards especially with the EZ water. You just heat it up in a pan and pour, be careful it's hot.

I'm not sure if that will work with the acrylic gel since it's different than EZ water? Maybe? Has anyone done it with acrylic gel?

[The-closet-gamer]

Fram old boy,get a hair dryer ! its the one peice of kit I wouldn't be without I'd choose it over my air brush any day 

What what what!!! My iwata Kustom is my most prised possession. Screw the hair dryer and I've got long hair.

[snitcythedog]

Envirotex lite.  Best stuff for water effects.  Follow the linkey.  http://www.hirstarts.com/tips17/tips17.html#water  The material is for making resin covered table and counter tops.  Works a treat for water effects, can be tinted with inks and acrylics.  The how to covers pouring and creating wave effects on the water.  Her is an example that I did for an aquaduct.  
 
I have tried a half dozen other methods but none and I mean none worked even half as well as Envirotex lite.  It is available in the UK so you should be able to order it from the internets.  Amazon has it for 16 quid for 16 oz.  You can get bigger containers but you should not need to.  The smaller containers will help you keep the layers thin enough.  Just remember to pour shallow layers and build up the depth.  Around 1/4 inch or less depth at a time works a treat.  Do not pour thicker into a foam riverbed becasue the heat generated from the resin curing will damage the foam.  
Nice thing is that once cured you can place a model on it and it will not damage the surface.  It is rock hard.  My only gripe is that you have to do the vegetation on the riverbed after the resin has set becasue the veg typically tries to absorb the resin as it is curing. 
Hope that helps.  
Snitchy sends.

[snitcythedog]

Dough!! Doublepost!!
Snitchy sends.

[The-closet-gamer]

Envirotex, I've heard of it  but never thought about using it. Would you think it could work for waterfalls ?
P.S. Nice work once again on the gypsy caravan and thanks for the heads up on the lantern.

[SotF]

For a rather cheap alternative for it, Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue is something that I've been using for a while for smoother water options (Meaning that while ripples work, waves are a bit difficult and there's a few other options there that can go over it). It's not quite as good with non-level details unless you are very careful, but you can bypass that my using a trash brush to coat the things beforehand and it layers extremely well over just paint.

It tends to be about 97 cents a bottle at walmart.

[snitcythedog]

Envirotex, I've heard of it  but never thought about using it. Would you think it could work for waterfalls ?
P.S. Nice work once again on the gypsy caravan and thanks for the heads up on the lantern.

It only works for flat bodies of water.  For the falls you have a couple of options.  First is the woodland scenic rout.  For me it is not very workable since the http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/C1212/page/1 water effects remains flexible and I like my terrain to be rock hard.  My suggestion would be to use clear sheets of plastic.  Either clear styrene, blister pack (if it is a short fall), soda bottle or some other clear plastic to guide the falling water.  Then build up the water with two part epoxy resin using this method.  http://abarothsworld.com/Tricks/monsters%20&%20minis.htm  Look at the toots for the transparent water elemental or the slime slug.  It is an adaptation of this technique.http://www.hirstarts.com/tips15/tips15.html#pools  A waterfall is simply on a larger scale and will use more resin.  The premiss is sound and the effect will work.  Thanks for the comps on the Vardo. 
Snitchy sends.

[AndrewBeasley]

In my book the ONLY solution (sorry) for water is Magic Water.

I've tried most stuff on the market and though the Envirotex / resin mixes are great for flat surfaces they could not do very good ripples or falls.

Have a look at http://www.unrealdetails.com for more details.

Also have a hunt through the videos from Terranscapes https://www.youtube.com/user/Terranscapes he is currently building some water boards and has previously gone through a series of water materials in depth.