Slightly OT - models in aquariums

I posted this same question months ago at rec.aquaria.freshwater.golfish. did not get good response, but you might try again in the regular freshwater group. There has to be some kind of coating that the model could be covered in to seal it completely. I think one suggestion was to go to a good! fish store and talk to the owners to see how rocks, wood, etc are sealed for tanks.

Craig

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (who me?) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

I put the Aurora/Monogram U-boat on the bottom of a 20 gallon goldfish tank when I was in my teens. It was sealed with Dullcote. Fish lived, looked cool.

I had no idea Dulcote had been around that long. ;)

Bill Banaszak, MFE

i have a dead spray can from 69-70. it's twice as big as the current and is marked 59 cents.

I know they had spray cans when I was a teenager. I don't know when Frank was an adolescent nor exactly when Dulcote first appeared. I think I used some on my first Hasegawa Phantom, and much too heavily, too. In retrospect it wasn't that big a loss as I used Testors #38 Grey for Gull Grey. I remember when it was a big deal to spend that much on a can of paint. When you only had a couple of dollars to spend, you weren't too sure you wanted to 'waste' any more on spray if you could get away with a brush job. I spent considerable time stripping those glorious paint jobs off some of my older car models over the years. :)

Bill Banaszak, MFE

Bill Banaszak wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@verizon.net:

It had to be after 69 but before 77. Parameters are when we moved to the house and I moved out as a rebelous teenager. Probably early 70s anyway.

Somewhat after my teenage years, then.

Bill Banaszak, MFE

i've spent considerable time stripping paint off your airplane models.

There's a lot of crap that's sold for use in aquariums that doesn't get any special treatment. If you put the kit together with regular glue or aquarium sealer, painted it with acrylics and let it air dry for a month I don't think you'd have a problem. You'd have to wire it to a piece of slate and bury that with gravel to get it to stay down. hth

The Keeper (of too much crap)

True enough. Years ago, I put an old Creature From The Black Lagoon model that was slapped together with excessive cement and painted with god knows what into an aquarium.

The fish didn't mind it at all.

I'm a very experienced aquarist (fresh and salt water). I've put several models underwater. Used a P-38 (Revell 1/48 - wanted a 1/32 but could not find) a Bradley IFV (Tamiya 1/35) and a StarTrek shuttle craft (AMT?) as octopus houses. Pretty cool seeing those tentacles poking out a hatch. Future octopus houses under consideration - a VW bug or microbus and a UH Huey chopper. Wasn't there a '70s muscle car called the Barracuda? :-) Any other suggestions? Lots of sci-fi opportunities!

Anyway, here's a couple of thoughts.

Don't worry about solvent-based adhesives - the bad stuff evaporates pretty quickly. As for crazy glue (cyano-whatever) how do the latest formulations hold up when submerged? Personally I would not use them for aquarium models. Don't 5 minute epoxies also fall apart if submerged for long periods? I don't know about jb weld. MarineTex is a boat epoxy and is definitely okay underwater.

Decals - obviously you want to coat them so they don't come off. Make sure what ever you use is waterproof (Duh) I can't offer much help here because I didn't decal my aquarium models.

Ballasting - I'd use either glass marbles or stainless steel nuts/bolts and silicone them in place. If you have any copper in a saltwater tank you will kill any crabs, anenomes, corals etc (invertebrates - without backbone) Stay away from galvanized items and aluminum, especially for saltwater.

Voids - this is a tomato/tomatoe thing. What you want to avoid is a pocket of stagnant water. You also want to be able to easily get all the air pockets out so the thing stays sunk.

The thing to avoid is a void that has only a couple of pinhole sized openings. As a rough rule, say 3/16 or 1/4" holes as a minimum. I prefer to open up big access holes and if a critter crawls into some crevice - so be it. A critter that knows it has some good hidey holes is a happy critter.

If you prefer, use your voids for ballast and then caulk it full of silicone. Hold in mind that the vinegar smelling silicones need to be exposed to humidity to cure. Maybe an epoxy would be better.

As sort of a feel good thing, I soak/submerge the model in a bucket of salt water for a couple of weeks, then completely rinse before putting it in the aquarium.

Models in ponds and aquariums can be fun/funny. I'm eyeballing that new 1/72 Revell U boat for my pond!

Jay

I forgot to mention that I haven't bothered to seal models. What happens if you coat something and the coating chips/flakes/wears off?

I just stay away from metallic paints. Silver color is okay, but something with metal particles/flakes/films - I haven't used. Most modeling paints should be okay.

If you are using a hardware store paint, I'd watch out for any anti-bacterial/fungicidal additives.

Jay

Black 1968 Olds 88 on its roof, MA tags, pregnant blonde in the backseat.

WmB

To reply, get the HECK out of there snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net

Com'on Bill, there was no real proof that she was pregnant!

-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger

Sorry. Artistic license. ;-)

WmB

To reply, get the HECK out of there snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net

Yup, I've got an old Penn Plax Creature that's about 4 inches tall. I doubt that anyone went to great lengths to clean the mold release off of it before they glued it together or painted it. Cheers,

The Keeper (of too much crap)

Ooooh! I like! It should be easy to find (on the internet of course) some pictures of the bridge...um there was a bridge right...but he just managed to miss it?

I could build a scale model of the bridge too!

Jay the Pig

You know, I just happened to remember one that I saw for aquariums. Remember the old Aurora "Black Falcon" pirate ship? Sombody either got a set of the molds or reverse engineered them to make a ship wreck of it. The ship had been reduced to two large pieces (sold seperately) and were suppossed to be placed in the bottom of a tank. I saw one about ten years ago that someone made into a moderate-sized diorama with both halves. I think that it was suppossed to be some kind of Robinson Crusoe-type scene.

-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger

Went through the railing, IIRC.

Mark Schynert