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To plug any ends where rivers reach a fascia, I use an acetate sheet glued in place with bathroom silicone caulk. You can peel this off once the resin is set but if the worse comes to the worse, you can leave it in place and trim it back.
First up is the pond or river bed. I always paint these an earth colour and for a shallow water I add texture using Woodland Scenics' talus. You can easily paint this if the colour is wrong for your area. Start with the largest pieces of talus and then move through the sizes to the smallest. I sprinkle and arrange each size and when they are all in place, I glue using the same two dropper bottles of IPA mix and white glue mix as I used for the grout. Paint them when dry if you want and it can often help to add some green around the water edges.
Next up mix small batches of the resin. My favourite is Magic Water. It takes a while to set but is slightly rubbery, meaning it doesn't crack easily and you can trim it with a sharp knife on the meniscus against the acetate sheet.
The most important two tips are to measure accurately and to mix well. I weigh the resin, and mix, mix and mix again. Magic Water is a 1:2 mix so weighing is the easiest way to be accurate. I mix in disposable plastic cups and do about half a cup at a time. If it doesn't set, don't panic, pour another layer on top! I add a few drops of acrylic or enamel paint to add depth to my first few layers. My first base pour is the darkest and each subsequent layer is less pigmented until the top layer is almost clear. It is possible to do large areas with multiple pours so do count the number of drops of paint used for consistency across each batch.
When the resin is set I use an acrylic gloss medium to add waves. You can use palette knives or brushes to get different wave patterns. The gloss medium starts off white and dries clear but if you make the wave too thick, it may never go completely clear so it is best to build up in layers for really big waves.
Once this is all dried it is fairly robust but the water and white glue used on scenery can make the acrylic gloss medium turn white again. It will dry clear once again but to avoid this, I often pour the resin before doing the scenery and then add the waves when everything else is nearly completed.
I have tried pouring resin next to grass and I found it worked its way through the grass so I prefer to pour the resin first. Resin will also wick into the grout used for the ground too but is easy to cover up with a little more grout before you add the rest of the scenery.
Roads
I have tried so many methods for roads but my two favourites for tarmac roads are, first craft foam and second a textured spray paint. The foam is easily found as children's 2-3mm craft foam sheets that you can buy in places like Hobbycraft. The sheets are easy to cut and have a great scale texture. You can glue them with white glue and paint with acrylic paints. I often use foam core underneath for rigidity.
The foam fits around complex trackwork easily if you want to do tracks inset into roads. To cut these out, just press the foam into the trackwork, turn it over and you can see the imprint of the track to use as a cutting template.
If you are using a more rigid piece of card, foam core or wood for your road then try the Rust-o-leum Textured Spray Paint – Aged Iron for tarmac and Desert Bisque for concrete. It has a perfect tarmac texture even down to the colouring.
I find both these techniques are excellent but the trick is to put on all the details:
• tar crack repairs – use a thin black Sharpie in random crack patterns;
• patched tarmac – paint a section a different colour and outline with a thin black Sharpie;
• road lines and markings – Woodland Scenics do white and yellow pens that work well, or you can buy decals;
• gutters, drains and manhole covers – you can buy etched brass details for these in all scales;
• weathering from road usage - a restrained amount of black pastel can achieve this if applied using a large soft brush down the middle of the lanes;
• oil drips – black Sharpie or gloss black paint;
• pot holes – dig out a bit of foam and fill with a small amount of tile grout. There's no need to completely
fill the hole;
• puddles - use small drips of resin for water;
• grass or weeds in cracks – use static grass or ground
foam; and
• leaves along the edges – Woodland Scenics' earth
blend fine turf or chamomile tea leaves work well for this.
These details really bring a road to life. For photos of road surfaces, the following see page 4.
August 2018 - ROUNDHOUSE 17