Finally, the "Pictures at 11:00" or quick, Noah, get the boat...

Rath150

New Member
Morning,
Extrememly impressive. First pix of yours I have seen since I am a newbie.
For those of us that are new, do you have any links to your other threads. A lot could be learned!
Thanks for sharing.
Rath
 

shaygetz

Active Member
babydot94513 said:
What impresses me is the depiction of the water flowing past/around the concrete pilings. The ripple effect both upstream and downstream is something that demonstrably adds to the realism of the overall concept.

JD

Me, too:thumb: Kinda reminds me of Harper's Ferry and the Patapsico River near my childhood home. Wayne, that harbor shot reminds me of my current backyard during Hurricane Ivan with that high water line and ragin' chop...all it needs is a couple of half sunk sailboats listing hard to port and some crazy yutz tryin' desperately to tie one off...:thumb:

As usual, your work provokes me to great green gooey gobs of envy, well done.
 

UP SD40-2

Senior Member
Fantastic Work!!!

it looks FANTASTIC Wayne!!!:thumb: :thumb: :thumb: the water, and ALL the rest of the scenery is just slap AWESOME!!!:thumb: I WOULD NOT change anything:thumb:. GREAT PICS TOO!:D THANKS!:D -Deano

EDIT: though i TOTALLY AGREE with EVERYTHING i said:D...i just noticed, this is an old thread:eek:ops:. and here i thought you posted new pics Wayne:D :eek:ops: .
 

Nick R.

The Rock
First off I absolutely love the 2nd and 6th pictures. Very realistic looking/good angle photography.

As I've been procrastinating with working on scenery I can't really say anything except that it looks great! If there was any one thing that looks a little off its the shore (sand) from your balloon shots, it seems a little abrupt like it could use a little more of a transition (possibly water is low with a high water line mark kind of thing). Otherwise outstanding work!

I have to ask, how do you do your trees Wayne. They look every so realistic. I know this is about your water, but please do share;)
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Thanks for all of the kind remarks, folks. Dean, you're correct: this is an old thread. Even though I got a new camera last April, I haven't been able to view or retrieve any pictures from it until very recently. I just finished checking out 600 pictures at about 5:30 this morning, and will post some as I get time. Nick, I'm not sure I understand what you mean about the shore in the high shots: the edge of the creek, while perhaps a bit too straight, goes right to the trees in the 5th picture, along the same line as the bridge pier under the loco. I probably should add some underbrush right at the water's edge. My original plan was to "plant" some trees partially in the water, but I decided against making it too complicated on my first try. All of the bridge piers and abutments still need to be weathered, too.
The trees are natural twig armatures, with polyfibre stretched thinly over the ends of the branches. This is sprayed with cheap, unscented hairspray, in a manual pump bottle (better control than an aerosol, and no waste - just dump the stuff that the suction tube can't reach into the next bottle), then ground foam is sprinkled on. I use Woodland Scenics Medium, usually two or three different colours. I start with the darker colour first, then re-spray and apply the next lighter colour. The final colour is the lightest, and is used to give a bit of a "sunlight" highlight effect. If you apply each colour separately, and work over newspaper spread out in different areas, you can collect all of the stuff that doesn't stick, and re-use it again later. Keeping each colour separate allows you to put it back in its original container.
Rath, and any other interested parties, here's a link to a thread that contains a number of links to some of my older threads. I hope that you'll find them both interesting and informative.

[url=http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117894]An update, so as to not overwhelm this page...[/URL]

Wayne
 

steamhead

Active Member
What else can be said that's not already been said...? Gorgeous work..!!! Makes one want to jump in & take a swim...:thumb:

A question: did you seal the plaster/paint before applying the urethane??
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Thanks again to all. Gus, I used water-based urethane because I was concerned that the regular stuff would affect the latex paint. I made sure that the paint was fully dried (a few days) before applying the urethane. The first coat would've been the sealer, I guess, then the two subsequent coats provided the gloss finish. The instructions indicate that if re-coating takes place within 24 hours, then sanding is not required between coats. I certainly didn't want to sand: not only would it have been extra work, :D there was always the chance that sanding would've knocked off some of the ripple effect. The finish seems to be quite durable: I wipe it with a dry rag to remove dust, and I often place the camera right on it when taking photographs. I don't think my techniques would work using drywall compound, though, as it's quite a bit softer than the Durabond.

Wayne
 

Nick R.

The Rock
Wayne, thanks for the link. With regards to my comment about the shore line, I think underbrush would help. With regards to the high water line I was referring to the fact that quite often along rivers you'll see an area that's been eroded away by high water (leaves kind of a stony rocky look sometimes). It seemed to me that in photo 5 in the lower left that the shore line was a little pristine. Like I said though, who am I to comment when I haven't even started scenicing;)

The shore line looks awsome in the following pictures. Overall as previously stated, awsome work.
 

Nazgul

Active Member
Wayne
the water is fantastic!...the coloration, texture, and white water effects all combine with your scenery, trains and structures to make a scene so believable.....you just want to grab a boat or hop the train..and go!
Outstanding work!:thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:
 
Thanks so much to everyone for the compliments and by extension, letting me off the hook for having to redo the water scenes.
As most of you are aware, the river beds were plywood, well supported by 1" x 4" framing. After spraying the plywood with some "wet" water, I applied a thin coat of patching plaster with a drywall knife. I use a product called Durabond 90, a very strong product that hardens in about 90 minutes. It will harden even when mixed to a very soupy consistency and seems to bond well to most surfaces. After it has set, but not fully hardened, it can be cut or scraped to knock down irregularities. Once hardened, it is very hard and not easy to work. The two riverbeds shown have less than 1/8" of plaster over the plywood, while the inlet/harbour area is over an inch thick. The waves here were done by dabbing the wet plaster with a piece of sponge, then the drywall knife was used to raise the small breakers. The "rapids" in Chippawa Creek were also done with the drywall knife, as were the swells by all of the bridge abutments. The shallow and/or muddy areas were painted with the same colour that I use for all of the terrain on the layout, with the "deeper" areas done with a very dark grey/green that I also use for background trees. When the paint dried, everything got three coats of water-based high gloss urethane. One word of advice: pour and finish the water scenes before planting trees nearby.

Wayne

Doc,
For the waves in the harbor did you use the sponge on the plaster or the clear media used to represent water? I understand the bay is set in the back of your layout but I would like to see detail close-up photos of the waves since they look so real in the one you've posted here. Thanks for sharing the work you've done. BTW: Did you use urethane that I would get from a home improvement store for the water or was it some special urethane I should be looking for? Have you had models with urethane water for a long time. I wonder how urethane holds it color, shrinkage, and clarity after a long time.
Thanks for the posting,
Dave
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
The inlet area had been sceniced previously using the patching plaster over screen, mainly just to close-in the area alongside the tracks. When I decided that an inlet might look good, I mixed up a batch of Durabond 90, sprayed the surface of the old plaster with water so that it wouldn't draw water out of the new batch, then dumped it in and levelled it with a drywall knife. When the surface was reasonably smooth and level, I lightly dabbed at it with a damp sponge, which lifted some small crests on the still-wet plaster. Then, near the shore, I touched various areas with a moist (but not dripping) drywall knife: this lifted larger crests, and by pushing slightly away from the shoreline while lifting, then pulling a bit towards the shore, it was possible to create curling or breaking waves. The plaster has to be fairly stiff, so that it will hold the shape until setting occurs - you have to keep right on top of this, as setting starts very near to the end of the 90 minutes, and occurs fairly rapidly. Once setting begins, you can't make any more waves - if you don't like what you've done, use a scraper or putty knife to remove it all before it hardens.
Once the plaster sets, you can still knock off any parts that look too high or out-of-place, then leave it for a day or two, depending on the thickness, to fully harden. Once hardened, apply the interior latex house paint in the colour you choose. My colours were both from scenery work: the brown is my basic "dirt" colour, while the green is used on background trees. If you use more than one colour, apply them "wet" so that you can blend them somewhat where the colours meet. Once the paint has dried to the touch, you can use a smaller brush to apply white highlights to rapids or waves, using either latex house paint or a water-based modelling paint, such as PollyScale. Let all of the paint dry completely, at least a full day, before coating with urethane. I used Varathane Interior Gloss Diamond Wood Finish, water-based to avoid any reactions with the previously applied paint, and to keep the odour down, too.;) You can by it at any hardware store or home improvement centre. Apply it with a brush, and try to not let it pool, as applications that are too thick may dry "cloudy". Follow the instructions on the can, particularily concerning re-coating - if you wait too long to apply the second and third coats, you'll need to sand the surface, and it's very difficult to sand "water". :p;):-D:-D The urethane is a clear finish, although it appears milky when you're applying it, and it says on the can that it's "non-yellowing". The water effects have been in place over two years now, and appear to be the same as when these pictures were first posted. The urethane is a tough, scratch-resistant surface, so it's easy to dust the "water" once in a while with a soft cloth. Because the Durabond is so strong, high points on the surface, like waves or rapids, don't easily break off when dusting, and the tough surface provides a stable and durable surface for times when you want to place your camera right on the water to get a better angle for a photo.
As for shrinkage, there is none: the Durabond 90 is very stable and the colour and finish are merely coats of paint, so there's nothing to shrink or crack. "Creep" up the shoreline is minimal, too, unlike many cast products.
I think this method should be do-able by anyone: all of the water scenes in this thread were done at the same time, and were my first attempt.

Here are a couple of overhead views of that inlet of Lake Erie:
100_58482.JPG


210620061061.jpg


Wayne
 

Jim Krause

Active Member
Looks good to me, Wayne. Maybe I'm not as critical as you are. The only way to prevent "looking at the same old water" in your photo's would be to use real water and we know that isn't practical. I think you have done an excellent job with a viable alternative to real water.
 

cntown

New Member
Another amazing piece of modeling from you ,the pictures are excellent. I really enjoy your work and from all your pictures of your layout it would be worth paying admission to see.Have you every had an open house?
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Another amazing piece of modeling from you ,the pictures are excellent. I really enjoy your work and from all your pictures of your layout it would be worth paying admission to see.Have you every had an open house?

Thank you. :smile: I wanted to be on a layout tour that happens every November in this area, but "upper management" turned thumbs down on that idea, and is indeed cool to any visits from "strangers". :rolleyes: A couple Gaugers have been here, although not specifically for a tour, and fellow-Gauger cn nutbar is a friend of over 30 years who comes here fairly often for trains 'n' talk. About the closest to a tour that I can offer everyone else is this:

[url=http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117254]Layout (room) tour...[/URL]

Wayne
 
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