Hi everyone,
Currently planning a diorama base for my 1/700 Scharnhorst and was wondering about resin thickness. I have not made a base this larger or ever worked with a waterline style ship. How thick do y’all recommend making the water and do y’all got any recommendations or tips for doing this?
Thanks in advance,
Upscale
Sorry, I didn’t see this one.
Is the model currently waterline? If not, can you make it that way?.
There are lots of great videos online about ways to do it.
Generally the approach is to start with your base board and paint it a color that looks like deep water (dark blue or black) or shallow water (light green gray or light blue.
Make a thick piece of cardboard that is traced from the footprint of the ship.
Postion it where you want it and thumbtack it down.
At this point I really prefer to work from a photo, if available. Waves and wakes are funny things, and vary a lot.
Get some acrylic gel medium at Michaels. It comes in several thicknesses, gloss or matte. I start with the thick stuff and paint it on, shaping waves and general surface texture if appropriate.
Then you can add more paint if you want, like whitecaps or wake foam. Put on a little more, it can be the thinner stuff.
Last, pop out the cardboard and lay your little ship in. stick it down by running a little medium around the place where hull meets water.
Resin is lousy stuff in any quantity You layer it down 1/8" at a time and really have to work at not getting bubbles. It gets hot as it cures and can warp the model, and it shrinks a little making it look like it’s climbing the hull. Expensive too.
Using gel medium over paint is very easy and successful.
Stay clear of silicone sealant as well.
I hope that is helpful.
P.S. don’t worry noone responded. " Dioramas" don’t get much viewing unless you are modeling a nuclear powered, channeled and chopped, gun turret equipped armored car to haul gold!
Bill
I’ll second Bill regarding artist’s acrylic gel. I use it for ocean bases, too. I use a plastic butter knife to apply the gel. I sanded the serrations off it. It’s useful to spackle the gel onto the base and then to shape the waves.
I don’t paint the base before applying the gel, though. I just paint the gel once it’s set.
I’ve been using three colors in various mixes: ultramarine blue and thalo green, for the water, and titanium white for waves. They’re water-based acrylics in tubes from Grumbacher’s Academy series, but any brand’ll do. I like using the tube acrylics, because I can use them right out of the tube for water bases, or thin them as necessary. These are gloss colors, too, so I don’t need to apply an additional gloss coat.
That sounds like something one of Dr Zaius’ minons from the Ape National Assemby would say [:)]
The followers of Bakster are Legion, Legion, I say [dons a bowler and a lead-lined purple velvet coat] [:)]
Resin is only really helpful if there “things” to see under the layer.
Capitol ship anchorages tend to be about 100’ or more deep–around 1.71" deep at 1/700.
Which would be deep enough to be able to tell there was no hull under the waterline ship.
So, at least for my 2¢, treat the base, as our wise GMorrison suggests as an opaques surface in a suitable “seawater” color paint. Then, finish with a clear get coat-like Gel Medium.
A light hand is wanted, though–waves 0.1" tall (a bit more than 2.5mm) are 6’ to scale–which is a pretty serious “blow” in an anchorage.
I’ve used just gloss over “sea color” to give that “transparent at the top” effect; I’ve also mixed the colors in, too. Both seem to “work” at 1/700.
There’s another strategy out there, which is to use aluminum foil to create the rillpled sea, then paint the “sea color” atop that. I’ve seen that produce spectacular results–and the price is hard to beat.
OP?
This is how I do it.
Good tips! I have a 1/72 seaplane that will go on a sea base, do the techniques suggested above apply for larger scales?
YES!
What we did at the museum was to paint the base.Then overlay it with the Colored resin. The little harbor is darker toward the center lighter as you get to the Beach( used to be the entrance for our Seaplanes from their base. ). Near the bridge piers and in the middle it is almost a Mixture of Black and Green.
Yes.
Sea and float planes want to be on very calm water as a rule. probably no more than about an 1/8"(4mm) of waves. So, you might want a foam base to “sink” the floats into, then layer up gel medium to do the water.
Now, sea nad float planes are often moored near the shore, so “seeing” the bottom is a potential benefit in a diorama–so this is a case that can argue for resin. But, that will laso involve a lot of prep work, laying out the bottom, setting up piers/docks an the like before pouring the resin.
Note, you want to “open” pour resin, using temporary forms on the not-shoreward edges, so that the resin does not “radius” up a frame.
Good to know, thanks!
Another idea is to use a piece of a plastic shower door that’s opaque and has a wave texture.
Aha!
I have seeen that and done it as well. Still requires some painting to get close to reality.
You can get similar translucent sheets at some home centers.
Fiddliy bit is getting a waterline ship (or a float/sea plane for that matter) to “sit” right on the texture.
As our estimable Tanker points out, painting can be cruicial. I like painting from underneath the translucent material, and adding bits of more matte medium and pain to the top in random spots, to give a “thickness” to the water.
Tricky part is that, once you start building up wakes and the ike, you are enough “above” the textured surface to nearly need to texture it all (this can be a pain).
An interesting and informative thread. I’ve only ever done one ocean scene before and that was with plaster back in the 8o’s. I was pleased with the result, but don’t know how it would stand up today.
There are plastic panels used for those hanging ceiling light fixtures. I have used those- bought a whole sheet and still have a lot left for for more ships.
For 600 or 700th scale I sometimes paint the base and them put down a couple of coats by brush of polyurethane varnish. I try to align brush strokes to simulate wave fronts. On two more coats I build up along waves with a small brush. Works fine- in that scale you do not need a whole lot of depth for a reasonable sea state. I then do bow and stern wakes with acrylic gel medium.
Well, the OP is nowhere to be seen or heard of.
Not even a thank you.
That’s irritating.
Bill
And somehow I must missed this too. Must have been busy with what GM said. Lol.
Capn, that is a hoot. Thanks! I think I will print and frame that, then hang it over my Bullion bench.
It is unfortunate the OP has not come back but then it was near a month before their post was noticed. I normally try to bump new posts like this so that it doesnt get lost in the Bullion banter. But I never saw it. Of course it doesn’t help when I still dont get emails when people respond.
It is I unfortunate.
Upscale, here is an article from ship modeler and FSM contributor Chris Flodberg, on his technique for sculpting sea bases. You might find this useful: