Ever made water? I'm dreading it.

[The Rat]

Got a few projects on the go which would be much improved with a diorama featuring water, in fact one would be pretty well useless without it.

Scared crapless to try, cuz I figure you really only get one shot at it if you're putting an aircraft's hull into the stuff. Anyone know easy techniques? Any good on-line tutorials?

Sweat, sweat, sweat...

[philp]

Greg would be the one to ask on this site.  He had done several dio's with the stuff.

Woodland Scenics makes a product called E-Z Water which is supposed to be good.

Other ideas on this link.
http://www.terragenesis.co.uk/infopages/page10.html

Good luck.

[deathjester]

Try this for size: make a one inch high cardboard cut-out in the shape of your models hull, and tape this into the apropiate place on your dio.  Then you can pour on your filler / resin / whtever to make your 'water', and when it has set, remove your cardboard cut-out, and put your model in it's place.  Then, if there is a gap around the hull, you can just use a little filler, and paint over that white to simulate a wake.  I wouldn't try the above using your actual model though, as some fake water products, especially the resin ones, get hot enough to melt plastic while curing!!
  In any case, good luck!

[Spey_Phantom]

there are other (verry cheap) ways to make water 

first you take a bottom board (could be cardboard or wood); spray is in a bleu paint.
when the paint is dry, take out some (clear) plastic kitchen foil (every kitchen should have a roll of that stuff to cover up fruitbows or jars) and spread it on the board, wrinckle it up a bit and there you have your water.

you could also stray a little clear blue paint on it for a bit of realism.

a second idea is to use paper-mashé (newspapers+wallpaper glue mixed together, quite a sticky mess)
you could shape it into any kind of water you like and when its dry, you can overspray it with marine-blue paint and the sand off the tops a little 

there are 2 ways, although i never tried them 

[kitnut617]

I tried walking on water once, but making water is a bit above my capabilities 

[Ed S]

I tried walking on water once, but making water is a bit above my capabilities 

Have you tried drinking lots of beer.  That works for me.



Ed

[cthulhu77]

In the process of actually making a dvd about making diorama water...

What sort of look are you going for? (tropical still, fast atlantic, etc)

There are some really easy ways, and inexpensive, to create a water effect. One of my favourites involves toilet paper and future.

[nev]

Ratty, are you looking to make an ocean or a stream?  There are differents ways of doing them anyway.

[GTX]

In the process of actually making a dvd about making diorama water...

That would be really interesting - please keep us informed.

Regards,

Greg

[Mossie]

Hydrogen, oxygen, flame, stand back.  Brings back memories of a nutter Science teacher at school & a lesson gone wrong.....

Oh, you mean modelling!  There's a more in depth description of Nils technique on the IPMS Stockholm site:
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2002/11/stuff_eng_tech_sea_water.htm

[The Rat]

Thanks for the help chaps, I'll be studying all the advice. The one which absolutely must have water will be the Convair Tradewind in United Nations service, I want it with the nose raised and deploying men and equipment on a beach. The other will be a Supermarine Attacker converted to a flying boat fighter, and water would be a nice touch. I could take the easy way out and make some beaching gear, but moored to a buoy would be kind of cool.

To answer the inevitable question - yes, I know the side intakes on the Attacker will have a water ingestion problem. That's why they will probably have retractable covers, and during taxiing and take-off air will be taken in by a retractable scoop behind the canopy. Alternatively the present intakes could be filled in (weapons?) and new ones configured slightly behind and above where they are now, like on the Sea Dart.

Oh damn, gotta start carving yet another hull. 

[noxioux]

Here is the mega-low tech way to do it.  Simple tamiya flat white drybrushed over flat blue, with some future.  I think you could do this adding some blue-greens and it would look much better, but it does the trick in a pinch.

[The Rat]

Hmmm, not bad Nox! 

[noxioux]

Thanks.  If my old painting professor saw it, he'd cut my fingers off with hedge clippers.  It's crap under close inspection, especially compared to some of those resin techniques out there.  But it does okay on a quick glance.

[Joe C-P]

Make a base.

Carve out a space for the aircraft.

Paint the water part, shading from sand color to blue-green.

Coat with acrylic gel medium, multiple thin coats, building up small wavlets. It's water-soluble and just transparent enough.

If you want whitecaps, dry brush the tips of the highest waves with white.

JoeP