Author Topic: Dioramas and water-making  (Read 8612 times)

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Offline rabapla

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Transparant paint for windows or the Tamiya line of transparent stuff ?

transparent paint should be all right. tried to block the rear side by painting it plain black.
Problem is the ripple effect is generated by a square regular pattern on both sides which are staggered. Before painting one cannot see this even from 2 mm away!
If You paint the backside, just the waffel- pattern (armor term, sorry) stays.

but (semi-) transparent paint should work fine!
Sincerely

Ralf

Mr.Mox

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I use acryllic artist gel for water - I tint it with a acryllic green colour, when it dries up it turns transparent with a green hue - dependant on how much paint is added. It can be shaped a bit and would propably work fine on a sheet of 2 mm plexiglass ?

Cheers/jan

Offline rabapla

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as with Your method You'll build up the waves Yourself, no problem.
I just wanted to point out the problem with ripple- textured plexiglass...........
Sincerely

Ralf

Mr.Mox

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as with Your method You'll build up the waves Yourself, no problem.
I just wanted to point out the problem with ripple- textured plexiglass...........

I think it would work on ripple texture allso if applyed in a thin layer, it would help break up any uniformity and distributed the colors, besides it will seal the edges where the plexiglass meets the boat?

Cheers/Jan

Offline dougie47

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Re: Dioramas and water-making
« Reply #19 on: 14 Jan , 2009, 15:10 »
Hi guys,

The U 201 diorama by Andrea Miniatures (in 32nd scale) is fantastic. They released a book in different languages (including Spanish and English) showcasing the diorama -

http://www.andrea-miniatures.com/ENG/moreinfo/ap-006.htm

Cheers,

Dougie

Mr.Mox

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Damn!, hate when things like that happens, now i have to rip it apart and redo it  ;D :o

Damn!, again! Might just have to do that, the water is acting up and not doing as its supposed to..... dang!

Cheers/jan

Offline Greif

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Re: Dioramas and water-making
« Reply #21 on: 15 Jan , 2009, 01:31 »
This is a good discussion topic!

I am planning on displaying my next build in a pier/dockside diorama.  The model will be the MPM Type IIA, probably U-3 in a pre-war setting.

At this point I am considering my watermaking options, which as I see it are 3:

1)  Embed the model in plaster, paint the plaster various hues of green with a little grey/green thrown in, then put in about 1.5-2.0 cm's of acrylic gel for surface texture, sheen and depth. 
The advantages, IMHO, are the plaster is easy to paint, no heat or fumes to worry about, and it looks pretty convincing when done right.  The main disadvantages are:  I have never done it and plaster tends to shrink some if not mixed carefully.

2)  Same as above, except very firm styrofoam is used instead of plaster.
Advantages are no shrinking to worry about and styrofoam is easy to work.  The disadvantages are:  Getting the styrofoam to fit the hull exactly (plaster would probably have to be used to fill any gaps), and I am not sure how well the styrofoam takes paint.

3)  Cut the Hull lengthways to make it a waterline model, then use one of several techniques to simulate the water.  I think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages with this option.

I plan to do test shots on both options 1 and 2 to see how they turn out.

What do you guys think?

Ernest

Offline rabapla

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Re: Dioramas and water-making
« Reply #22 on: 15 Jan , 2009, 02:06 »

3)  Cut the Hull lengthways to make it a waterline model, then use one of several techniques to simulate the water.  I think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages with this option.


what disadvantages? ???
Sincerely

Ralf

Offline Greif

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Re: Dioramas and water-making
« Reply #23 on: 15 Jan , 2009, 02:23 »

3)  Cut the Hull lengthways to make it a waterline model, then use one of several techniques to simulate the water.  I think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages with this option.


what disadvantages? ???

Hi rabapla, I think cutting the hull lengthwise is a pretty big disadvantage as the model is not designed to have theat done.  I can imagine alot of thing that could go wrong when doing that.  Also, the interior would have to be structurally reinforced a great to prevent disforming.  Of course the advantage would be that the diorama base would not have to be as deep and less materials would be needed to simulate the water.

Ernest   

Offline rabapla

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Re: Dioramas and water-making
« Reply #24 on: 15 Jan , 2009, 02:35 »
did it to my first VII: no problems

(o.k., I used the resin yankee models pressure hull as reinforcement) ;)
Sincerely

Ralf

Mr.Mox

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Re: Dioramas and water-making
« Reply #25 on: 15 Jan , 2009, 03:51 »
Its not that hard, Only one hull side glued on, added some support pieces and made room for the inner hull, which is done seperately so i could paint the detailing in the turret.

 


Offline Greif

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Re: Dioramas and water-making
« Reply #26 on: 15 Jan , 2009, 07:15 »
Hmm....You guys are right about the cutting not being that hard or tricky.  I guess I just would feel pretty bad about cutting such a nice model up!  I know that probably does not make much sense because you won't be able to see the lower half of the hull anyway.  Guess I am strange that way.   :D

Thank you both for the input; I am now looking much harder at option #3 as a possibility.

Ernest

Mr.Mox

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Re: Dioramas and water-making
« Reply #27 on: 15 Jan , 2009, 07:29 »
Hmm....You guys are right about the cutting not being that hard or tricky.  I guess I just would feel pretty bad about cutting such a nice model up!  I know that probably does not make much sense because you won't be able to see the lower half of the hull anyway.  Guess I am strange that way.   :D

Thank you both for the input; I am now looking much harder at option #3 as a possibility.

Ernest

Oh, it does hurt a bit, helps when its a cheap kit like the XXIII  ;D - it helps when you plan to submerge it a bit, as it leaves more material and dont have to be so accurate.


Offline rabapla

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Re: Dioramas and water-making
« Reply #28 on: 15 Jan , 2009, 08:49 »
well, the busy part is the upper half of a boat, isn't it?

after having received quite some tower parts from RoG for my conversions and having all those Hecker and Goros sets here........... I even think about doing some conning towers alone (as on Hecker and Goros homepage.

Sincerely

Ralf

Offline Rokket

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Re: Dioramas and water-making
« Reply #29 on: 16 Jan , 2009, 22:57 »
You could always make a second dio with the lower hull half - a capsized boat! ;D
AMP - Accurate Model Parts - http://amp.rokket.biz