Muddying the water...

[homechild]

Now, I know one or two of you will have done this so I’m looking for some tips.

How would you go about making muddy water (such as a muddy river or stream)?

I have the clear resin ordered but what I need to know is do you

• mix and pour the clear resin then paint over it
  
• put paint/ink/wash in the resin and mix it all up
  
• paint the “river bed” then pour over the clear resin
  

I’m guessing that the first one is wrong, why bother with clear resin if you’re just going to paint over it.

I was thinking about doing a combination of the other two. Doing a layer of resin/paint(or ink or wash) mix then, once it’s dry, put a thin layer of clear resin on top to give it that shine.

I’m not sure if the paint would cause problems with the drying though.

I want to create the illusion of depth too so maybe an ink/wash would be better than paint to mix with the resin.

Anyone got any advice?

[Ian M]

Well before we can give you any advice, we need to know what resin you have. Is it a two part acrylic casting resin? Is it Vallejo still water resin?

I have used the one from Vallejo myself and you can tint it very well with a drop of Model color. If you are going for deep water I suggest doing it over several pourings. Take portion and add ONE drop of the required colour. If its not enough colour, give it ONE more. It normally takes only a tiny amount of paint to colour it up. remember; its easier to add more than to take it out...!

Right, pour the bottom of the pool, all the deepest points. Then Add more clear resin to the coloured resin, this will reduce the colour density. Pour that on as the next layer after the first one has set enough to be firm but not dry. repeat this process of adding clear resin to the coloured resin for each pour. At the end the last pour will be almost clear un-tinted resin.

Two part resins can also be tinted but I believe you need special colours for them.

Ian M

[homechild]

Hey Ian.

It's a clear casting resin by Polylite with a hardener.

It's going to be fairly deep and fairly muddy looking as it's for a section of the Mekong River for my Vietnam diorama. It's probably going to be about 1 - 1.5 cm deep (but will hopefully look much deeper than that!).

Thanks for the info.

[Guest]

i have used that exact product on my "bridge over the river why" dio, i just painted the base of the river progressivly darker colours and then poured the resin on top, it still looks like very clear water over the mud. i did try mixing some acrylic revell paint into it as a test, this did not work and the paint just stayed in globules,i did not have any oil paints to try or enamels so i could not answer the question,but maybe spraying very thin muddy coats in between pours would work when it is properly dry. i had to leave it for a good 24-36 hours to dry hard,all though it feels touch dry in a few hours,trust me it is not and its annoying looking at fingerprints on the top of your river. ask me how i now, i had to do an extra pour on top to hide them.this is what it looks like striaght over the paint

i wanted to get muddy water around the feet of the soldiers as they were disturbing the mud but gave up as i could not figure out how to do it

[ATTACH]45620.vB[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]48700.IPB[/ATTACH]

[homechild]

Thanks Andrew, had a look at the other pics of your dio, looks great and a lot of great ideas in there.

I'll resist the temptation to poke at it whilst it's drying!

[homechild]

Well, I've ordered the smallest size they had so I can play around with that until I get it right.

I'll maybe take pics and post the results somewhere so others can see what happened.

Should be here in a few days so I should have something to do at the weekend.

[Guest]

Hi Drew!

Pardon for my late response, I will use this product also. The answers and options that they propose Ian and Andrew are very good and the best. Even I have not begun, but they are my better option. I am thinking if to give a bit of color or not. In my diorama the water block will be very different from your one, 10x10 cm, and I need enough transparency to be able to see the vehicle in his interior.

I propose you, if you wants, to share a thread together. This way the people will be able to see both differences: thinner line and with color, and other one in the shape of block and more transparent (fewer color). I have a thread opened in painting (water block), if you wants we share photos and comments there. If you prefer it is possible to open another thread...

Regards!! I want to see his results prompt!!

Polux

[spanner570]

Hi Drew, I've been away and have just read your thread, so the following might be too late!

The trouble is you can't have it both ways. By that I mean the water is either muddy with no depth to be seen, except at the very edges of the water (and then only minimal)......Or clear, even colour layered, it will still appear clear, giving the appearance of some depth, which I my opinion would not look quite right.

As 'muddy' is what you require, try this......

Cover the river bed with polyfilla or in my case grey tile adhesive. When dry, paint in the required shade of light brown, just one, as muddy rivers tend to be just one shade, two at the most. I use children's water colours. Any foliage, rocks, figures, will provide reflective contrast.

When this is dry get some clear silicone and spread a thin layer evenly over the river surface and when this tacky, get a wire brush or old tooth brush and gently stipple the surface, where required, usually towards the middle.This will give a nice gentle ripple and reflective finish to the surface, but doesn't give a hint of depth and still looks muddy. If you have rocks, gently swirl the 'water' down stream of them only!....not in front.

All the other suggestions are fine, but I have found this method is quick ( around two hours start to finish) dead easy, works a treat, costs next to now't and means you can save your expensive resin for future clear applications.

Cheers,

Ron

If too late now, it might be worth having a play at ready for the next muddy water!lol

Cheers,

Ron

[homechild]

Hey Ron, I guess what I actually meant by "depth" I really meant "looks like water" (as opposed to something that's been painted, if that makes any kind of sense).

I have some bits and pieces to put in the water (along with a boat and several Navy SEALs) which I was planning on putting on top of the second last layer (before the very thin clear top layer). I only ordered the resin yesterday so haven't started yet.

One problem I've found with using clear silicone is that, after weeks of drying time, it's still pretty tacky...maybe it's just the kind I'm using.

Polux, I'll work out how to do very small scale experiments with resin and paint/washes then see about posting them on your thread. Thanks!