Well, I have begun working on the liftout section of my new layout. Funny, I don't even have the sub-roadbed (foam) for the rest of the layout, but wanted to work on something, so I started the liftout. It's going to be 44 inches long and 9 inches wide. It will include crossing the Illinois River. The bridge is 2 Kato Truss Bridges, 18+ inches, which is about 250' in N-scale. The abutments are Woodland Scenic Retaining walls, cut down to size. Two retaining walls form a middle support in the middle of the river. I used spackling compound to cover the plywood base, and now am about to "create" the rest of the river. My plans: Using black, sienna, and dark brown acrylics, paint the riverbed. Use aquarium rocks along the river bank to simulate the rocks that prevent erosion on the shoreline. Fine sand will be used around the center abutments to simulate sandbar. Modpodge, a thick high gloss craft item will be used for "water." Any body got any better ideas? I'd be glad to hear them. I've only got the spackle down now. No pictures are available at this time. Jeff Augsburg & Concord R.R. (a fictional shortline in Central Illinois) http://www.pegnsean.net/~revnjeff
Sounds interesting Jeff. I was looking at some of that podge the other day and wondered how it will do for water. Now I will wait to see you pictures. A very interesting project you have going there.
Don't use the aquarium rocks. They're covered with gloss varnish, and I'm pretty sure the prototype isn't glossy. Better to find another source. I tried dullcote, but it takes a LOT of dullcote to do a riverbed. Make sure you color your riverbed to get the right colors before you use the modgepodge. Check out the article on modeling water on the Trains.com web page. Click on Model Trains, then page down and look for the link to Scenery on the left side of the page. The articles are "Water, Water Everywhere" and "Lily pads, cattails and pond scum" What kind of river are you modeling? [ 12. August 2002, 03:27: Message edited by: ten87 ]
Please can you tell me more about this item? Don't believe I've heard of it previously. Any hints about it's availibility? Price? Use? (Do's and don'ts?) Could you post "in progress" photos to show how you do this? I'm about to do a small river. Am looking for any new ideas. BoxcabE50
This scenery is to represent the Augsburg and Concord RR crossing the Illinois River. That means it's a relatively deep river, with the bottom mostly a greenish black. As we move closer to the shoreline, it gets shallower, being more brown and sand colored. For the rocks, most of the riverbanks around here seem to have a sheen on the rocks. Anyway, much the rocks are going to be underwater, so the sheen shouldn't be an issue. The lable on the "Modpodge Gloss" says the following: This waterbase sealer, glue and finish for all surfaces. It's made by a company called "Plaid" out of Georgia. I purchased an 8 oz bottle for $4.39, My river bisects a 9 inch wide area. The whole surface area of the river will be only 162 sq inches. (Sorry, don't have a metric conversion handy for you boys across the pond) I don't have pictures of some of the earlier activities (no film) but I will try to get some of the last stages. Jeff Augsburg & Concord R.R. (a fictional shortline in Central Illinois) http://www.pegnsean.net/~revnjeff
Are you going to put in a movable section (even a dummy one) in that bridge, as the Illinois River is a navigable one? Sounds an interesting project, look forward to seeing some pics when you get some done... All the best The unlikely Central Illinois Railfan
Martyn, The bridge across the river is fixed. They sit about 30' above the waterlevel, but since I won't be modeling any barge traffic, it will be passable. I might have a boat with a fisherman in it to add to the scene. (That is, if I can find a figurine to fit) Jeff Augsburg & Concord R.R. (a fictional shortline in Central Illinois) http://www.pegnsean.net/~revnjeff
Modpodge, there is a product I haven't heard of in years. It has been around a long time. My sister used to take pictures and glue them to pine boards and paint that stuff on it like a varnish. The stuff used to hold brush marks as it dried, which may come in useful for small waves on the water. Cool idea Jeff. Greg Elems
I used Modge Podge as a gluing medium for the photo backdrops I purchased from Faller. The reason I used it is that you can fiddle with it for a slightly longer period than or usual backing glues. There was a really good article on water, I think in RMC recently, but Modge Podge wasn't one of the products talked about. I don't know why but one of those little voices inside says it won't work very well. If it did and since Modge Podge has been around for a donkey's age, I think we would have heard about it, in articles or on the net. Modge Podge can be bought and home depot, Michael's, arts and crafts stores, etc. There is flat and glossy finish.
If you're going for a thin layer of gloss on top of your painted bottom, you may want to consider Woodland Scenics new pourable water. Make sure the riverbed is sealed and the "water" can't run out, and pour the WS water onto the bed. It will spread out and level itself and (if it's not too thick) will "dry" in a day or two. If it's too thick it can take months to get really clear (voice of experience). When "dry" it is a flexible, very clear coating, very smooth on top, but not real "hard" -- if you lean on it with a finger, you can get embossed fingerprints which can be rubbed out. More experience -- if you make a mistake, you can peel the whole river up and re-do. One thing I will recommend, whatever you use -- seal the bottom (including whatever rocks, branches, etc. you use) with a clear gloss paint (like Krylon Gloss). I didn't on one project, and little bubbles appeared at the bottom around the "rocks" -- they don't look too bad, but it wasn't what I intended. I heard about the paint after that.... If you need rapids, WS Water Effects is a good option -- it takes even longer to dry if it's thick, and it does level a bit on horizontal surfaces, but it can model moving water quite well [it's real neat characteristic is that it can be shaped on a cookie sheet and dried, then peeled off and placed vertically on the layout -- making quite neat waterfalls, probably not what you need for your river tho']
Revnjeff....Take a look in layout pics posted by the colonel on the N scale board on Sept. 12th. My friend Rick posted some pictures that I took of one of my CNR Mikados running freight down the Fraser River Canyon. If you like look of the water, send me an email and I'll tell you how I did it. It took about 15 minutes, is cheap to make, uses no paint or poured plastic and the entire river can be removed later in minutes, in one piece if you want to change it. More difficult however if their are piers in the middle of the river. I came up with this as a quick way to put water down on a diarama without having to pour plastic. If you are interested, I could send you a sample of what I used. This system is so cheap and easy, that I will use it on all my shallow flat rivers, ponds, lakes and slews. When you look at the river, the light refracts as it passes through the material and makes the river look about 4 ft deep and you can change the depth effect by putting sand or rocks on the bottom in the middle of the river. I will be experimenting further with this system to see what effects can be developed. The shoreline is added after the river has been dropped into place in one piece. Gary Lewis
