Hey all.....hopefully someone can help me here.....

I had read over on Model Warships.com, and easy way to make water using Acrylic Gel Medium. So naturally without talking to anyone on here, I went and bought a bottle of Golden Gel Mediums, its a Heavy Gel with a gloss finish....bought this based on the display pieces they had there....as to what the gel looks like with paint under it...and how it can be formed.

I am just wondering if anyone has used this or similar material to make water...and if you have any pointers as to how to best go about using it. Or any other materials you have used to make water with.

Any help is much appreciated!!

Thanks

Scott - I have not used that product specifically so I can't really give an opinion on it.
Here are two suggestions for you - do a Google Search for the problem and that will give you a list of web hits based on that product, may lead to something.
I do not know how much Warship Talk Keith Magee reads. I do know he has used a lot of different products. I believe he would be open to a PM if he doesn't catch this thread. Give him a day or so to resond here then PM him

Scott:
Although I can't really give an intelligent answer,due to the fact I never really modeled water.
While you were on the site you mentioned did you happen to clik on the how to link on the site. there are articles on how to make and paint the water.
Also another link you can try on the same site is build up reviews Some of the Modellers on there actually tell how they shaped, painted and mount the ship in the water.
Hope this helps and good luck with it

Why don't you experiment with a lttle bit of it. I'ld try painting the colors first them pouring the liquid on top...be most interested to hear how this turns out

Mom said the gel medium would work, but I would try it on a little deal before I went full scale Tsunami!

~Chip (:-)

Acrylic Gel Medium is easy to work with, and stays flexible and workable for some time. I'm going to assume you have a waterline model here. If you have a full hul, you will have to build up the display base with a suitable material first.

Place your model on the display base and draw line around the hull with a pencil. Set the model aside in a safe place. Draw on the surface of the board the basic look you are striving for, swells, wake, etc. Use a brush or pallet knife to apply the gel up to the line of your hull. There will be slight shrinkage as the medium dries, so do not go over the line. Once you are happy with your seascape, set it aside to dry in a dust free area. The thicker you apply the gel, the longer it will take to dry. It is better to apply several thin coats, building and sculpting as you go, than one thick coat. When the seascape is dry, take some phalo blue and phalo green artists acrlyics and paint thin, transluscent coats over the gel. It is ok to start with a board that has been painted a medium blue, and some folks paint the seascape directly on the display board before using the gel. Set aside to dry again.

For the final touch, place you model back in the space you left for it, and secure it to the board. You may have to use a sharp knife to trim back any gel that is in the way, don't worry, we're about to fix that. Once the model has dried in place, take a small brush and apply more gel to the seascape starting with where the hull meets the gel. You will ultimately get some medium on the hull. Not to worry, provided that you haven't gone up to the deck railings, a little bit of gel on the hull looks right. Keep a dish of water and some cotton swabs near by to clean any excess gel off the hull. Continue to cover the sea with gel medium in a relatively thin coat. Take a wide brush, and at a shallow angle, genly touch the surface of the sea with the flat of the brush. Lift quickly. You can use this technique to build your wakes. The idea here is to create some peaks and wavelets. Make sure you use a consistent direction. Once the whole works is dry, take some white artist acrylic, and dry brush the tops of the waves. You can apply heavier coats to higher, more violent waves, and to the wake. Again, several thin coats work better than one heavy coat. When you reach the point where you think that one more coat will be enough, you have reached the end (don't apply that last coat).

Hey thanks mike...that was exactly the direction I was looking for.....now to go try it out for real!!!!

Try on some scraps first. Just some plain seascapes without ships.

Try pouring a lot of elmer's glue. It will dry clear. Don't know if it works

Hi,
I was looing for similar answers a while back. I hope these links are useful to you -
http://www.steelnavy.com/Whitewater.htm
http://www.steelnavy.com/water.htm
http://www.steelnavy.com/WavePatterns.htm and of course -
https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/42

Plus I liked this modeled water -
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/dynamic/object_large.asp?name=noreastcon03_083.jpg