Of Mice and Ma.K.----DONE!!!

[moramarth]

A few natural stones mixed in with the plaster castings. This adds weight, but if I'm careful about masking them during the painting and staining process, they add a nice detail.
I'm just not sure if I want to deal with another water featured diorama. The last one was hit or miss all the way through.

With the right sort of natural stones inserted, you could call your watercourse "Schist Creek"...

Cheers,

M

[tigrazor]

What about "Schism"?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE1pd-vsP9s

So much to learn from here.


Astonished regards.

[John Everett]

Sept 22, 2015 4:57:54 GMT -5 moramarth said:

With the right sort of natural stones inserted, you could call your watercourse "Schist Creek"...

Cheers,

M

I reserve the right to steal your idea. That's funny!

Ok.......Having a freaky Twilight Zone moment just now......Just for fun, I looked up "Schist Creek" to see if such a name even existed. No surprise, it does, up in Alaska.



But look at the name of the creek as it continues northbound......
Now look at the name I've stuck on the comunications tower. I put this decal in place about 4 hours ago. The selection of the name, "Spruce" was, I thought, completely random. It was taken from an old HO railroad sheet.








That's just damned, damned weird.

I was going to write something comical about the tower. But I think I'll just quietly log off and go to bed.












image url upload

[steveh]

Hi John

Lovely work so far, the canyon is looking really good and well painted too.
Your cars will be another reveal, when you have decided how you can improve the shape?
Another good looking bridge too, I have a drawer full of stirrers, we much collect dozens on every visit!
Creeping water seems to be a recurring issue, is there nothing out there that doesn't creep?
Or is it chemistry and fluid mechanics LOL

Another great scenario coming together

Nice one John

Steve H

[wbill76]

I suppose it all comes down to which direction you're travelling in regards to the creek geography! You should mount a paddle on the side of your comms tower as an inside joke.

[moramarth]

You should mount a paddle on the side of your comms tower as an inside joke.

Behind glass, in a red-painted case, with the words "Break Glass in Case of Emergency"?

Cheers,

M

[wing_nut]

Using meeces? (Remember Pixie and Dixie?) Now that's out of the box (the other kind) thinking.

[John Everett]

I've got the radio tower installed. But it still needs weathering and blending of colors.

This is a base tone. The bridge will be painted red on top of hairspray and then have about 50% removed. So most of these colors will come back through.

[Leon]

John,that is looking really great!

[k1w1]

Your bridge looks good. I do like the colours of the rock. Nice work.

[John Everett]

Thanks, gents.

In preparation for the water (still not sure I want to deal with another round of diorama water) I've sealed up either end of the riverbed with a 2" high sheet of plastic backed with posterboard and sealed with more caulking compound.

After speaking to Christina at Reynold's Advanced Materials I've decided to have a go with a product from Smooth-On called Tarbender.



Tarbender, as I learned via the Urban Dictionary, is part of a joke about bartenders. This makes sense because the material is meant to be used to cover bars and tabletops. It has a long pot-life and ample opportunity to break the air bubbles which form when the material is mixed.



Safety goggles are a must when playing around with this stuff!



A test on materials used in the diorama: Foam, acrylic caulk, acrylic paint and some scrap styrene samples.


On the left, is the clear material straight from the package. On the right is the epoxy with a little too much of the colorant added. I'll plan to have the sample much more translucent before any goes on the model.


The witch's brew of diorama materials and Tarbender epoxy. The resin on the right has had the bubbles removed via butane micro-torch. You can see the melting done by the torch to the foam. No surprise there. But something to be aware of during the big cast.


Plaster sample with Vallejo paint is considerably more resistant to heat, with only minor discoloration noted. This will also be good to know as much of the tarbender will be in direct contact with the rock castings and will require the application of flame.


Wish me luck. If this experiment looks favorable, I might attempt "The Big Pour" tomorrow.

[John Everett]

I was able to find some nice red-brown soil on a recent trip. The color is a good match for what I want to do in the canyon.


Before pouring the epoxy water I need to silt-up the bottom of the river bed. The best way to do this is to copy nature's own process. As the entire diorama is composed from water proof materials, I felt safe it giving the surface a right proper soaking.

The red soil was mixed with some brown tile grout, white glue and far too much water. The soupy/muddy mix is carefully dumped around those low spots where silt would naturally collect. This was then "pressure washed" with a pump spray bottle, the kind one might use with window cleaner. The surface dirt is blasted away and the extra flush of water tends to even out and distribute the silt.




The bridge is ready to secure and blend with the surroundings. but I want to wait until the water effect is complete.


Guess who was thiiiiiiissssss close to majoring in geology?


Thanks for stopping by!

John

[k1w1]

Your silt looks great - Real. I look forward to seeing how you go with your water as I have had problems whenever I have gone down that road. Do you know of the very talented French guy Jean Bernard Andre. He uses water a lot in his dioramas. He achieves amazing results with resin. He really is a master of water effects. If you have not seen his work google his website JBA Diorama and have a look. May give you a few ideas.

[kaytermarram]

John, what do you think about a good shave, hehe!?

OK, resin water sounds cool. And difficult! What about some fish or creatures in the place, some plants under water might look really interesting, even in a desert landscape. All in all a very good idea from the master of terrain modeling! Keep it going!

Frank

[John Everett]

Sept 29, 2015 6:38:53 GMT -5 k1w1 said:

...the very talented French guy Jean Bernard Andre....He achieves amazing results with resin. He really is a master of water effects.

I like his work very much and even follow his facebook page. But I've never seen him provide a step-by-step for his ocean water shaping, coloring, and painting. I've seen clues here and there as he posts his builds. But never a full breakdown of his process.


@ Frank: Yes, I might try to put in a fish or two after the first layer is poured. I hadn't considered water plants. But yes, it seems a good idea. Trapping air bubbles as the resin surrounds the plants might be a problem???...

[kaytermarram]

To avoid the bubbles maybe cast in more layers as usual? Or do not need plants very difficil and "complicated", more the easier stuff! I have not done so till now, but I think, the possibilities are endless!

Mantis did a Fish Set in 1:35. And maybe there is some vegetaion near the water, as seen in similar landscapes in Africa. OK, my fantasy runs wild, but ever thought of some small animals around, some kind of reptiles or similar?

Frank

[wbill76]

I'd say you captured the silting and rock layering effects very convincingly. The Tarbender experiment should be interesting, hope it works out as intended.

[Leon]

Nice work on the silting John! Very realistic looking.

[John Everett]

OK. Here we go............God, I hope this works.

The tests went well and I'm going forward with adding water. There's no way to do this in baby steps. You just have to pour and hope for the best.

Layer one, of about 3 or 4.

Dark brown colorant added to about 200cc material. Subsequent layers will be lighter shades.

Well sealed with foil tape





Where there is water, there is life!
(Where there is epoxy, there is a pain in the a$$.)

Airbrushed "moss, algae and snot" along this level. The green will be covered in following layers and visible, I hope, from the final surface layer.



Edit:
Feeling better about this stuff with the second layer added.

Against my better instincts, I'm adding real plant materials. At least these are true water plants. They were taken from a Phoenix canal about a year ago. Genuine water plants have a slightly different form than do terrestrials.




third layer in the morning......The ripples....eventually....somehow.

[k1w1]

Sept 29, 2015 9:38:01 GMT -5 John Everett said:

Sept 29, 2015 6:38:53 GMT -5 k1w1 said:

...the very talented French guy Jean Bernard Andre....He achieves amazing results with resin. He really is a master of water effects.

I like his work very much and even follow his facebook page. But I've never seen him provide a step-by-step for his ocean water shaping, coloring, and painting. I've seen clues here and there as he posts his builds. But never a full breakdown of his process.

I like his work very much also. As for a step by step on  his water and waves and colour. He covers all this pretty well in his article in the Weathering Magazine in the recent issue titled Water. This magazine is produced by Mig Ammo. Should be able to find it easily at Hobby shops or online.

So far your project looks like it is going well. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

[John Everett]

Sept 30, 2015 8:00:52 GMT -5 k1w1 said:

...He covers all this pretty well in his article in the Weathering Magazine in the recent issue titled Water. This magazine is produced by Mig Ammo. Should be able to find it easily at Hobby shops or online.

So far your project looks like it is going well. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Thanks for the heads up on that. I'll give it a search.

Third and final layer done.

It's better than I had feared. In fact, I'm almost happy with it.




The ripples and little random waves will be added with a top layer of gloss acrylic medium. There are loads on YouTube videos on how to do this. I just need to learn how to get the effect convincing for water moving downstream.

The scary part is finished now that the epoxy is set.

Still not sure if those styrene "dams" at each end will want to come lose??? I can work with it if they don't. But it would be fun to be able to look through the water.

Thanks for following along and offering support!

John

[Leon]

Awesome job on the water John! It looks great.

[tigrazor]

Copy that. Awesome!

[kaytermarram]

Well well done, you master of Terrain! The water comes out great and looks very natural. I have the idea to add metal junk, garbage etc. in a similar scene and must have it come out as great as yours. Amazing!

Frank

[dupes]

Whoah. This looks great! I'm assuming that the mouse-vehicle is destined for this dio?

[John Everett]

Sept 30, 2015 14:44:30 GMT -5 dupes said:

Whoah. This looks great! I'm assuming that the mouse-vehicle is destined for this dio?

Correct. I'll have two "mousecars" when finished. The design of the first will influence the second.

The final layer of resin has set and I'm very happy to say that the plastic sheet "dams" came away with no trouble. The water is dark enough however that there's not much to see. But a nice clean edge will make building the trim walls easier.




I need to learn how to get a realistic look with waves and ripples using gloss acrylic medium. I'm planning to use that for the final top to the epoxy. But for calm water this stuff is the best I've used thus far so long as you follow the directions carefully. It does do that stupid little "skateboard ramp" along the edges, just like any other resin water. My hope is that the gloss medium will be tall enough and wobbly enough to hide the "skateboard ramp" effect at the edges.

[coro69]

looking already forward to see your final touches on the water surface... water for now looks great!

[wbill76]

Experiment paid off! It's got just enough top-down transparency to be very convincing. Once you add the little ripples, it should look the part of a flowing stream just right.

[remarc777]

Hi there John,

You did a mighty fine job there pouring that water ! The first two times I added dams, they didn't seal that well and a lot came through.... This time I'm going for a see through window.

There's a lot you did that inspires me to use it with my own dio. At the moment I'm working on the dio with a lot of oils, but using the airbrush is a great idea (and faster too ...).

Love the tower, love that bridge, almost old school weathering with a lot of shades....... you keep me at the tip of my chair!

Thanks for sharing!

greetings, Richard.

[k1w1]

Your water looks great John. Looking forward to seeing you tackle the waves.