Water in N gauge layout

Varnish or clear casting resin. Put stream like items down first - stones, plants which come through the surface, paint the bottom. Then add the resin/varnish. If using the varnish method, don't be tempted to do more than the thinnest layer at a time, or you'll be waiting months for it to dry (been there, done that :-) ).

Paint the rock bed first then multi coats of clear varnish is the simplest and cleanest way. Sealing and adding Casting resin or pouring in varnish looks good but can leak all over the floor

And getting the resin in without bubbles in N might be challenging, unless resin has improved a lot in recent times...

Guy

I actually saw a recumbent tandem yesterday, a new one on me that. Keith Make friends in the hobby. Visit Garratt photos for the big steam lovers.

Two or three wheel? Most recumbent tandems are three-wheel (e.g. the Trice X2 or Greenspeed) but there are some Hase Pino two-wheels around where the captain sits in the rear position inna wedgie stylee and the stoker reclines in comfort on the front. It's just occurred to me that this is a bit like the pilot & observer positions on a Tiger Moth

- perhaps they should be wearing Biggles type flying helmets :-)

Guy

I'm pretty certain it was two, I think I would have noticed if it had a pair of wheels at the front.

Didn't pick up on that much detail as I was driving and it passed me in the opposite direction. Cheers Keith

Make friends in the hobby. Visit Garratt photos for the big steam lovers.

Check out Woodland Scenics E Z Water, advertised as "easy to model - heat and pour".

And if you do please post a crit either here or on the associated website

Regards

Mike

Actually, the EZ water has been discontinued. Among other reasons, the heat necessary to make it flow was not compatible with foamboard based layouts!

WS now has a new set of products called "Realistic Water". There's a clear material for the water itself, and a white material to do foamy water. I've not used them yet myself, but the promo photos look pretty good. The old stuff (EZ Water) had a very yellow tint to it.

Thanks, Joe, I haven't seen the new stuff. I just did a Google search on Woodland Scenics Instant Water.

Both are still available here in the US, and regularly used. A club member tried the "Realistic Water" and came to the conclusion that it shrunk when it set - not very good!

We've used the EZ-Water on Foam quite successfully. You need to line the foam with something (spackle in my case), but you'll need to do that with any water solution anyway. Bubbles not a big problem if your lining is sealed properly. Yes some tiny bubbles might appear on the surface, but these can be easily annealed out with a heat gun (or a gas soldering iron with a "torch" end).

After saying all that, yes, heat and models have to be used with care. As well as foam and plastic, wood will singe - one of our modules has a blacked out boat pier - some redneck fishing+beer incident I reckon! :-)

I don't think there's a perfect solution for water yet. Another popular solution over here is "EnviroTex". It is a 24-hr 2-part Epoxy intended for finishing table tops, etc. So the effect is like that of using a gazillion layers of varnish, but quicker and easier to apply.

I poured a test piece and it looked good, a few mm thick but there's a notable miniscus. I'm intending to use it for a canal.

Richard

Richard Marsden Winwaed Software Technology

Hi everyone, I've been a lurker on here for a while. I have a large range of N scale canal boats for sale suitable for periods from 1920's to the present day feel free to email me or visit my website at

I hope I have not upset anyone with this post it just seemed like the right time to make myself known.

Andy Matthews

Thanks for the suggestion. I have one of the Langley narrow boats (I'm an N scale modeller) under construction. Kit building has been very slow over the past 18 months, so it has been sitting in the paint shop for ages! Touched up the decals lastnight, and it should be ready for the tarpaulin to be fitted.

This is only a 2ft NTrak module, so there's only 2ft length of canal - one narrow boat will be plenty for me!

Cheers,

Richard (M)

Richard Marsden Winwaed Software Technology