heres a link to what I’m talking about.
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/tam/tam89673.htm

Any one ever use or see one of these before? I’m wondering how well they look for 1/700 dios and what you need to do to get the ship attached to I?
I’ll be starting a very special Dio here in a few months and am thinking this might be the safe way to go and not risking messing up the water (never made water before) but I’m not sure.

Hi Jacob!
No, never used this product, my friend, but it does look interesting...being that it is made of clear styrene (like any other clear parts in a model kit) you could use regular model cement to attach the ships to the base.
But, I do see a problem with creating a wake for your ship(s), but if you use a product that's completely clear to do this, you may be able to take advantage of the reverse painting process of the water (painting the base underneath so the color shows up through).
I don't know mate, this would be fun to try and just might turn out to be a show-stopping effect!
We have a great feature here by Mike Taylor that may help you out, Jacob, right HERE.
And if you can hang tough for a short time, I know that Rui is planning on publishing a step-by-step tutorial on how to make a water base (his camera has been down, and he was waiting for repairs).
~Gunny

Plastruct has some Similar stuff available as well

Thanks.

For painting it my idea is to spray the bottom of it with Transparent paint and possibly have this sit on a few sheets of glass to low some light under it.

The only thing I’m really worried about on this now is getting a ship to sit flat of it. I assume the shape of the hull would need to be cut out of the base for the ship to fit in but that would probably leave a small gap.
I wonder if clear cock could be used to fill the gap?

May have to give it a try.

Hey Jake!
Clear silicone might work, as it can be used to make amazing water effects, but usually you have to paint it to match your water color...honestly, that's what I would try, mate!
~Gunny

I think you could glue your ship straight onto the suraface of this thing, as I don't think it has a 3-D ripple/wave effect moulded into the surface. I think it's more like stained or frosted glass, where the effect is below the surface or on one side only. Logically I don't think the upper surface would be rippled as it would be too much work to cut out the ship's shape perfectly.

Hopefully someone who's used this can confirm my impression.

Hey Jake, I've used clear silicone and I also use a techique that uses white paintable silicone and it works great.



Gator

Dave I never thought of that. You may be right.

I’ll order on of these and try it with a practice ship and see how it turns out. If I don’t like it I’ll try making my own with the silicon.

It looks a lot like the plastic panels for drop cielings - they can be found at most large hardware stores -lLowes ,Menards etc-

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=18425-1638-CC25/1405005&lpage=none