I know that there are dozens of ways to do water features and I've seen a bunch of them on YouTube. But, what works for small features can get ridiculously expensive for large ones. Specifically, our train club (the Sebring Model Railroad Club) is building a new harbor feature in HO scale. The most recent change was to make the water four feet smaller and the land next to the harbor four feet larger. But that means that the harbor is still roughly ten feet long and three to four feet wide. That's a LOT of pour-able epoxy or any off-the-shelf product and that's going to get expensive fast. In an effort to whittle down our options from the dozens on YouTube... What methods do you all use that would be affordable if you were doing close to thirty square feet of "water"?
I'm not sure a pourable solution would work too well even if you could afford it. The larger the body of water, the more likely it has ripples/waves on it's surface. Nor is harbor water typically very transparent either, so an opaque, textured surface would be more realistic anyway.
The cheapest way I've seen yet... Don't know why I watch some of these as my layout will probably be water-less minus a small log pond at the sawmill it I get that far, Sumner
I have not seen these before. I think the one using Toilet Paper would be the easier way to do it. Thanks guys.
Perhaps not the cheapest, but not outrageous and definitely easy is to use rippled plexiglass shower door material and spray paint. Good results are readily obtainable. If it's a large area, be sure to brace well underneath.
We're looking at that option. My concern is that the sheets available are only 2 ft. by 6 ft. which would leave multiple seams in our harbor. I thought that another method would eliminate the need for obvious seams. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
I wonder about using PVA to hide the seam, maybe at least partly with a ship's wake. Using all PVA for a surface that size sounds like a lot of worK. Just curious- is this going to be a great lakes port? Room for something like Sylvan's Welland canal sized freighter? Or a different concept? Sounds interesting to have that kind of space to work with.
It isn't specifically a Great Lakes port, but yes, that's the idea. "In layout" it's a very large inland lake. There will be two tugs, two car floats, and a few other things. I'll try to take a couple pictures on Sunday when I go out. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
I have neglected to take pictures on my adt couple trips to the club, but I found a couple from last year that should give you the idea of how large an area we're working on. If you look carefully, you can see the area that is an inch or so lower than the rest. That is the "water" part of the port. As I previously noted, there will be several spurs serving car floats and docks. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
https://www.trainboard.com/highball...e-future-of-model-railroading-scenery.148638/ Or go THIS route!
Have you chosen one of the methods shown earlier? Most are interesting but time consuming. But they do add some interest in the layouts.
Wow, that's impressive. But you won't find a television screening enough for what we're doing. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
Not yet. The track work needs to be finished next so we have a little time to decide. I'm hoping to make a couple test pieces for our members to look at during next month's club meeting. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
for water falls you can use that stuff out of stuffed toys (cant remember what its called but its like cotton) you take it and pull it like hair till youget what ya want then spray it with hair pray or water glue something in that mannor.....................i learned it from a member some where
