Hello All. I'm not happy with my little pond and am contemplating making it smaller and either pasting shrubs to part of it or simply removing it entirely. I am a little hesitant about gluing things to the top of it because I recall reading somewhere that the cement leaches into the material and the remaining pond will be affected. Has anyone tried to glue landscape material to the water? Also, as a last resort, is it easily removed? Will it peel off or is it difficult to remove? Thanks Cam
Cam, I, and others, may be able to help you if you can post a photo of the pond. Cheers, Jim CCRR/Socalz44
At this stage, just asking if anyone has ripped out the Realistic Water product? My pond is only about 2 inches by 6 inches but was interested to know it it will be tedious or if I would be better just turning into a dry swamp with vegetation on top.
It depends what material you've poured it into. If the material is air tight, you might be able to just peel it away. If not, you'll rip up something unintentionally. WS water is supposed to work as a surface effect, so if this were me, I'd prep the surface of your current pond so that glue will stick. Paint the surface with the colors you want the surface of the pond to be. Then glue all the plant life and details you intend to it. Once everything is good, finish up with a very thin pour of the WS water. The water will then seep around the vegetation at the edges, making it appear their roots are underwater, and the surface will look just as it should.
If you glued scenery material on top with something like Woodland Scenics Cement, it would work fine and not bleed into the remaining pond.
I wish I had a photo of the pond but in my opinion it just lacks that natural look. Too artificial. (I will try to post a photo in the next few days.) And, I'm not happy with the way the Realistic water hugs the shore in that it has a ripple or bumpy affect as it hits the landscape material along the shore line. I heard the Magic Water has a better result, especially around objects. Can anyone prove or disprove this?
I think you water looks good. If you don't like the edges you could always add some greenery to hide the areas you don't like. Ed
First of all, I think it's a beautiful pond. I see only three problems: 1. Division of colors. I have never seen a pond that had two sharply different colors like this. 2. Water crawling up onto the land. This is a feature of every product I have tried. 3. Glass-like surface. I would do two things (if it were my pond): 1. Use RTV silicone and a soft, Oral B toothbrush to gently coat the pond with a thin, textured layer. It will look like there is a bit of a breeze. Because the result is flat and a little dense, it obscures little problems with the "water" product. It also allows you to do the next step without it looking funny. 2. Add plenty of vegetation around the pond's edges--on top of the "water." I rarely see a pond without thick vegetation at its edges. The exceptions are ponds that are heavily used by humans or cattle. The others have sedges, willows, cattails, and you name it crowding the edges. This step will get rid of both the division of colors and the water crawling up the edges. But like I said, I think it's great. I also think it's a perfect place for a pond, and I might do something like it myself. Don't dig it out! I especially like the colors, and the way the water extends out rather than just being a self-contained, round pond.
Cam, Since you mentioned Woodland Scenics and I'm a heavy user of their products here is another way. Use ground foams to make the bottom of your ponds, lakes, river beds. I've long given up trying to paint my way to a decent looking pond bottom. I use a darker green/brown in the middle and lighter shades of green as I work out from the middle. Foams are easy to blend, thus eliminating 'lines' between paint colors. I then use WS Realistic water. I takes about 3 pours. It will run up the sides, NO problem. Simply use a brown ground foam for the shore when finished. Ponds always have a shore so this is the chance to add a shore and cover up the water creeps. Simple, and realistic. Best part using ground foams is that the color leaches out a bit and gives the Realistic Water a slight color. Again realistic. Don't forget to dump stuff into your ponds. Logs are nice after the first pour, gives them a floating look. Check this pond. Cheers, Jim CCRR/Socalz44
Now theres a pretty sweet pond, I love the look the foam gives it. Like there are plants growing in it. The fisherman/hiker and trail are a nice touch too. OP, I would plant vegetation to the edge of your underwater green color and call it good personally. Its location looks more like a neglected drainage ditch between the rails than a true pond anyhow. Algea growing in with the plants and a brown muddy bottom. :shade:
I think it looks good, and all I would do is add more of the grass tuffs all around the edges to hide the 'creeping' water line. Really good job though!
Here's some tuffs I added right to the top of the water, and then added some longer strands with a cat tail top. As you can see, rocks over the edges help too.
I've never had particularly good luck with the WS water of any type they make, but Jim, your work might convince me to give it another try!
Umtrr-author, I use WS Realistic Water for two main reasons. When dry it doesn't set up with a flat glass-like finish. There is a hint of ripple in the pouring. The other is no mixing. I love to build layouts and do scenery especially. I don't enjoy some of the behind the scenes work like, mixing water formulas, spline track bed, and over kill wiring of track more than necessary. So, I will use WS foam for under my track, a simple water solution, and put wires from the power pack on each end of the layout and enjoy my trains running on a finished layout. Cheers, Jim CCRR/Socalz44 Check my photos at: http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/6936
I have never used WS water, but whenever I have done water I have used Envirotex with great success! I have heard of people using WS water with great success as well and I might try it for my waterfront scene on my layout. But like anything else, when trying something new, I always test and experiment with it a bit before trying it on the layout.
Cwwrman, Your right, there are many ways to do most things in our hobby. None of them are wrong or right. It is up to the individual to set their own priorities. And, yes, one should always test out new techniques before applying to ones layout. Cheers, Jim CCRR/Socalz44
Tried pouring Realistic Water on to a piece of wood and let it dry. Forget about peeling it off or coming off easily. It is very difficult to remove.
Well. I've taken the leap. Thanks for the comments but I just don't like the linear look. I've decided it would be too difficult to remove and start over so I have taken a suggestion from another forum and applied Hob-E-Tac to the areas I wish to modify and applied ground cover foam. I have also added a few drops of Scenic Cement to a few areas of the foam to see what happens. I will let everyone know how it turns out and post a few pics if Ok. If not... scraper and chisel time!
