Which to use - WS Realistic Water or WS E-Z Water?

Which of Woodland Scenics water products is the best to use for slow moving water? Or, is there a better product altogether? I know that there is a price difference - but not enough be the decision maker.

 

Famowood sold at HD.

http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=65164&highlight=Famowood

We have several threads on this very question. Please search the phrase you want. Please click on the above link for a head start.

 

You don't want EZ water...the one you heat up and melt.

The secret to making any of the water products turn out right is to keep the depth of each pour to 1/8 of a inch deep and allow each layer to dry to a cure.

My penny of a thought.

 

I use EnviroTex... very easy to use. It is sold at Home Depot and Michels craft store.

 

Neither. Use EnviroTex.

I had poor results with Realistic Water. Even a thin pour took days to cure and weeks later it started developing tiny bubbles. It is well known in the model railroading community as "Don Ho Syndrome". The lake bed had been sealed and painted so I don't know if the stuff reacted with the paint or what.

 

Same experience as Jim on "Realistic Water". I found EZ-Water hard to heat for long enough to be useful and I only tried it once.

I went back to (don't laugh) Elmer's Glue, which does dry clear if you do it right, in a pinch.

It was a very small body of water and I wouldn't recommend this as the usual practice, but it did work "good enough" for the Starter Layout.

 

The Right Way?

I reaccomplished a thread I did a long time ago about EnviroTex water. Perhaps others can add other types of water and techniques. Also, I would hesitate to say this is the "right or correct" way to do water and there are many different techniques on this.

 

This was done using WS water, the ready made stuff that comes in a bottle.



The bluish tint that shows up in it is because of the light required to take the picture. There isn't any blue in it anywhere, and the stuff dries clear.

I did have some problem with bubbles, and yes, the stuff does take FOREVER to dry. This was my first time ever using it, so maybe someone else has better info. Here's how I did it.

1. Prepare stream or lake bed. Make sure it is level, as this stuff is thin, it WILL sink to the lowest point.

2. Pour in as thin of a coat as possible. Let dry, and watch for bubbles while doing so. I popped the bubbles with a needle.

3. Once first coat is dry, pour in another thin coat and repeat step 2.


I don't know what you're building, but this is a waterfall. Save your money, and do NOT buy the WS waterfall kit(trust me, I tried it).



This was made with simple clear caulk(you have to buy the stuff that comes out of the tube clear, not the stuff that comes out white and eventually dries clear). Run a bunch of beads of the caulk on wax paper, let dry, pull them off, set them in place, and stick them together by rubbing wet caulk on them. Fill in the bottom of the caulked area with WS realistic water, and you're done.

Area around the stream/waterfall can be made to look wet with spray by brushing on a thin coat of the same water you used to pour the stream.

Hope this helps. There are far better modelers than I, let others chime in before you make your final decision.