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Epoxy sea

Posted: January 25th, 2017, 8:10 pm
by Ghostrider
Hello! I mainly model aircraft and dioramas (although there are a sprinkling of ship kits in my to build stash) I'm planning a build which is going to involve a lot of "water" I've read somewhere that poundland 2 part epoxy resin is quite good but I've never used "water" in any of my models and thought the clever thing was to ask you guys!

So firstly, I know this stuff sets quick so the won't be time to mess about. So how do I work out how much I will need for a given volume.

Second, how do I texture the surface to model waves, wakes ripples etc

Third, in a 1/600 scale ship for example obviously use resin for texture then paint for colour but do you build and paint the ship and then mount it and add the water or do you model the base leaving a gap to slot the finished ship into.

Fourth
When pouring the resin, how do I stop it spilling over the edges, whilst not sticking to any boarders.

I'm building a diorama where so soldiers will be both above and below the water. I'm going to add some couloring to the water using some paint to murk it up a bit but so I can see below the waterline the diorama will basically have a base plate, some land sceneary and the water part effectively like a cross section. So how do I build up a big puddle of "water" without it all just spilling off the side, but not accidentally glue whatever I use as a dam not getting stuck as the resin dries?

Cheers
Mark

Re: Epoxy sea

Posted: January 25th, 2017, 9:01 pm
by iggie
Not sure about a lot of the questions you have Mark, but using thin acrylic clear sheet around the perimeter of your diorama will keep the resin in, and then you can paint it black or any colour you fancy to match the cross section of your sea/beach/land topography and leave the sea section clear.....

Re: Epoxy sea

Posted: January 25th, 2017, 11:02 pm
by fredk
I'd not use the two-pack epoxy. Even at £-land prices its going to be expensive. The stuff I've got from them goes semi-hard in 3 to 5 minutes, fully curing in a few hours
You can't add colourant to that resin; it reacts with it and prevents it from hardening; I've tried various colourants even a special one for resins.
I would use clear silicon sealant; one or two tubes will do your job. It sets a bit slower and can be painted under or over and acrylic paint can be messed in to it a bit.

Re: Epoxy sea

Posted: January 25th, 2017, 11:10 pm
by 59North
I know nothing about modelling water, but was thinking of getting this http://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/amm4509.htm;
Perhaps it is something you're interested in.

Re: Epoxy sea

Posted: February 8th, 2017, 11:28 pm
by Marek
Mark,

I have only used it once, but it was fairly successful (on a coffee table)

First question: You can force ripples by covering the surface with rippled material, I have seen that done at the local club meeting. Still, anything beyond what you can sculpt into this surface must be added later using gel media etc. Gels are available readily f.e. liquitex or vallejo

What I have done in the past for waterline models was: draw the outline of the ship's hull on the base, paint the base as a roughly color of the sea as seen from some distance up, put liquitex media on it (multiple layers sometimes, to sculpt some heavier waves), then cut out gel from inside outline, put the ready ship in and blend it with surrounding media. I am not a professional shipmodeller by any stretch but somehow it worked.

Re: Epoxy sea

Posted: February 9th, 2017, 3:24 pm
by MarkyM607
Finding this interesting. I need to model a submerged ship's hull so am still deciding how to do that much water. Pretty much all but the turret rings are under water and the model is about two inches high (hull). Should I try the clear silicon mentioned earlier?.

Re: Epoxy sea

Posted: February 11th, 2017, 5:56 pm
by Chuck E
59North wrote:I know nothing about modelling water, but was thinking of getting this http://store.spruebrothers.com/product_p/amm4509.htm;
Perhaps it is something you're interested in.
Now that looks very useful.

Re: Epoxy sea

Posted: March 7th, 2017, 3:49 am
by Marek
This magazine is indeed quite useful and brings some techniques not seen on youtube.