Making water areas 0f 6 feet

[hotrainlover]

With all the experience here on the board....

I finally am to the stage of pouring my "Water" for the harbor scene.  I have approximately a 6 foot section that need s to be covered with water.....
I have bridges and piers,that I will need to pour around.  Do any of these products make it Impossible to re-use the bridges (if I want to "save" then for a future redo)?

What has everyone used for a Large area for water?  I (think) have 3 choices: Realistic Water, Ez water, and Magic Water....

What are the pros and cons, from others that have used these products?  (I ask here, since Bachmann DOES NOT offer and water in their scenery choices.)

[Jim Banner]

My long time favourite is Envirotex, a two part mix and pour finish.

http://www.best-price.com/search/landing/query/envirotex/s/google/cv/319919/adid/633896/koid/5830348627/

Lately I have been using a Circa 1850 product, Nu-Lustre-55, which is very similar to work with.  It costs a bit more than Envirotex but is easier to buy locally.

http://www.swingpaints.com/1555can.htm

I was turned off heat and pour imitation water by one disastrous attempt to use it.  After heating it to the specified temperature, it would not pour.  Reheating it to a bit higher temperature to make it pour turned it brown.  That might work for acid mine waste, but the mix and pour materials have worked for many solutions, from clear water to an oil spill.  I am sure you will get many opinions.  This one is just mine.

If you want to be able to reuse item partially submerged in plastic, try a spray on mould release.  It will not prevent mechanical retention (think of the plastic water going through a laced girder - it does not need to stick but it will still hold the girder firmly in place.)  But a mould release should prevent adhesion.  By all means try it out before doing your final pour.

Jim

[CNE Runner]

I have used Magic Water with success in the past and will probably use it again in the ferry slip on Monks' Island. Having said that, I have never had a water feature any where near 6'. I can only imagine how many 'pours' one would need to fill such an area. You are going to make one vendor very happy indeed.

Ray

[Jim Banner]

The longest pour I've ever been involved in was a river about a foot wide and 20 feet long.  Our Envirotex expert did it in 3 pours, two of 6 feet and one of 8 feet.  At the joints, he put in a temporary dam and poured up to it.  Once the Envirotex was set, he removed the dam and rasped off the raised lip at the end of the pour.  The next pour blended beautifully.

Before pouring the Envirotex, he poured a soupy mixture of plaster of Paris which leveled the river and greatly reduced the amount of plastic needed.  Once the plaster was painted and the plastic set, it was impossible to guess the thickness of the plastic.  It looked much deeper toward the middle of the river where our expert had painted the plaster darker, but in reality, it was less than 1/8" everywhere.

Another thing I learned was to keep the Envirotex cool while mixing and pouring it.  Our expert did this by mixing in a large, shallow pan set in an ice bath.  I forgot this advice some years later when I was impregnating some historic pilings, about 250 years old and rotten, to make it possible to polish them and measure the growth rings.  I mixed up about a pint of epoxy in a one litre can and set it inside a vacuum chamber which I used to remove all the air bubbles.  Next thing I knew, the chamber was full of smoke and smoke was pouring out of the vacuum pump.  It seems the epoxy had "flash set,"  getting hotter and hotter at is set and the hotter it got, the quicker it was setting, making it hotter
still.   

Jim

[mabloodhound]

For an area that large, there are other options.   These links show how Troels Kirk does his water using just a paint and varnish. 
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=23577&whichpage=94
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28072&whichpage=87
There's a lot of reading there so you have to look around.   Troels already has two volumes on the forum (200 pages) so look in both.   He also has a Facebook page and a Blog