Not a layout - but railway modelling

[Coopslner]

It looks really good. I look forward to seeing your results with the scenic water. You can get some good pre made reeds to go with it once it's set. I was thinking how would I glue them on as super glue 9/10 leaves a white residue behind.

Coops

[Dad-1]

My Deluxe Products Magic Water arrived today.
Right, will it work out O.K ? I certainly hope so as this 250 ml container cost me £15.50.
My initial fears are that it's not quite thin enough to flatten out over the area involved.
I've been having to tease it into the edges in places, where others the capillary action
is drawing it up into my grass.

Expensive or not you just Have to experiment and take a risk.

It's supposed to air-dry and this can take up to 48 Hrs, based on that I shouldn't be too
worried as it's only been down an hour. As it flows under the culvert the air-drying is of
concern, I suppose a fan may help if still not fully set within 48 Hrs.

I used some food colouring that didn't mix in as well as to the same companies two mix
resin that I used about 8 years ago. The green is rather weaker than I wanted due to
some congealing into lumps. They also seem to suggest that 3 mm is about the limit for
a single layer, about what I have at my deepest.





Geoff T.

[railwayjim]

Looks really good to me Geoff.

Jim.

[carnehan]

I concur. It looks top notch to me.

Paul

[Lee]

My Deluxe Products Magic Water arrived today.
Right, will it work out O.K ? I certainly hope so as this 250 ml container cost me £15.50.
My initial fears are that it's not quite thin enough to flatten out over the area involved.
I've been having to tease it into the edges in places, where others the capillary action
is drawing it up into my grass.

Expensive or not you just Have to experiment and take a risk.

It's supposed to air-dry and this can take up to 48 Hrs, based on that I shouldn't be too
worried as it's only been down an hour. As it flows under the culvert the air-drying is of
concern, I suppose a fan may help if still not fully set within 48 Hrs.

I used some food colouring that didn't mix in as well as to the same companies two mix
resin that I used about 8 years ago. The green is rather weaker than I wanted due to
some congealing into lumps. They also seem to suggest that 3 mm is about the limit for
a single layer, about what I have at my deepest.





Geoff T.

Looks fantastic to me Geoff, Yeah its an expensive scenic to use but works well i used Vallejo 200ml 26230 Transparent Water - Still Water same really, i tried many cheap options back in the day and never seemed to get it to work well.

Superb

[Dad-1]

Thanks for the comments Gentlemen,

Like any modelling medium it's going to take a few times before I really understand what it
can do. It's a water based product and I've sent an email to Deluxe asking if it will continue
to work if a 'little' water is added. Why ?
Well they say you can add colour from watercolour paints, but the fluid is in a screw-top dispensing
container like 500ml & 1 ltr Evostick PVA containers. It's rather thick and my feeling is that some
watercolour mixed with a small amount of water needs to be added, but not into the main container.
A separate mixing bowl, paint & water to get the right colour then add Aqua Magic ? My current green
is far too opaque for my artistic plan.
What I'm looking for is a read depth of water where you really look into it and intend adding another
layer when this first lot is dry. My green dye was food colouring, water based with a little IPA and this
seemed to congeal into some lumps. Not a disaster as it looks like weed, what I don't know is was this
caused by the food colouring formula, or being added to a fluid that was too thick to mix it in evenly ?

Anyway I've probably used about 1/4 so loads more to play with. I'm going to indulge myself with a couple
of pictures, one in the small farmyard scene giving the sort of green I fancy having. This will take a few
minutes before I can find and add the images.

Footpath scene Deluxe resin



Farm clear acetate sheet painted on the underside



I just love playing about and experimenting with my modelmaking.
Ahh yes Dave, the painted harbour water.



Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

As always Dave there are alternatives and to a large degree I'm a believer in doing
at low cost where possible, but I do like trying new materials.

Observations after 16 - 17 Hours.
It's dry, not completely hard, just a dampness of feel, but hardened well beyond
being able to texture the surface with a paint brush. That's much faster than the
advised drying period and this was left on a kitchen worktop (to keep level) in
ambient temperatures of around 20 C
It has developed a slight 'bloom' that I guess is from interaction with traces of my
run-off of PVA/Water mix that's used to add my grass. The grassing was done many
days ago and I'd wiped much of the run-off away with kitchen towel to stop it leaking
onto the worktop, the residue trace was as dry as you'll ever get. My question where
time will give the answer, is this permanent, or will it fade within the next couple of
days ? In fact it looks fine, a natural enough phenomenon, with a greenish tinge to the
white bloom. The green may be from grass dye collected by the run-off adhesive.

The slightly disappointing thing has been the failure to fully flatten out to the edge in
one place where I had tried to tease it when freshly applied. A similar lack of flattening
can be seen under the culvert, but I'll be the only person to ever note that !! A strange
thing is the surface is not mirror flat, but shows some of the ply grain ridging. This is
in fact better than being mirror flat.

Next steps - I want to mix up a somewhat thicker greeny-brown application where subject to
any reply from Deluxe I may try just a very small inclusion of water with the paint mix in
the hope that this will flow into the edge hollow.

I'll be adding reeds along the waters edge as you can see in the Class 33 picture. I do this
after the 'water' is dry because capillary action can draw the mixture up slightly in the
reed base ......
This is fun without needing a single piece of rolling stock !!

I may add a picture of the 'bloom' later, tried once indoors but it didn't work !!

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

O.K here are some photos taken outdoors, before it starts to rain !!







While out there my Tarp blew off - Can't fix until painted fully then to mould
around the radial aircraft engine showing a tease of a cylinder or two. One of
those little added interest items it's fun to add.



Yes Dave varnish works O.K, and that quay image is one of the few I can
easily access thanks to PB !!



Geoff T.

[railwayjim]

That looks super Geoff, I'd be more than
pleased with those results.

Jim.

[glencairn]

That looks super Geoff, I'd be more than
pleased with those results.

Jim.

I totally agree. Amazing.

Glencairn

[Bufferstop]

... picture is part of a 'budget layout' we put together at the Club: The scatter is sawdust died with fabric dye, the bridge is card/paper and the water PVA.

And well done Dave, the chosen "from a range of one" materials of choice, even into the sixties, and beyond for some of us tightwads.

[Dad-1]

A small update.
As I had suspected that bloom was interaction between my grass laying PVA/Water mix
residue. Now as we approach 48 Hrs the bloom has all but vanished and will probably fade
to nothing.
I will try another 2-3 mm layer later, off to the caravan for probably the last time this year.

I must get around to buying a fox to plant onto my animal path through the grass. Depending
on the angle from where the light comes it can be either obvious or invisible !

Geoff T.

[carnehan]

As usual Geoff, your posts are not only inspiring but educational too. It is always fascinating to follow your progress experimenting in different mediums.

Paul

[Dad-1]

This is one of these slow jobs.
Woodland scenics reeds, or whatever they named them.
You can't stick too closely together or you dislodge the small clump you've just put on.
So initially you have scattered clumps down the waters edge, then with luck tomorrow
I can continue the line.
Not easy to work with, but I have yet to find anything better.



The competition has been put back a week and I now have until 31st October.

Geoff T.

[Dad-1]

I bought this last evening at club.
I've decided that these figures need a more appropriate British
railways worker clothing colours. I just can't see how it could be
converted to DCC, it must be the smallest and most minimalistic
piece of '00' 4 mm traction ever made ?



Geoff T.