Hi,

I'm starting a project of a big beach-based battle. I've been looking around the internet for ideas and tools how to model water, but I'm wondering if any of you guys have any experience and could recommend any materials. I don't mean still water, that's easy, done it before, I mean how do I model waves?

Also, this gets trickier, since I want my models to be part of the display, and I want to be able to take them off to use in games, so I'm gonna be cutting circles for the bases to fit. Therefore I'm gonna need to model the water on top of a polystyrene board, while models are in it (or something like that!).

Help!

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I've made running water once, alltough it was a river, not a beach. I sused tin foil and then just painted it.

For water with waves I use "busch model water". It's a one-compound watereffect and applies and looks like PVA when straight out of the bottle, but clears out while drying.
I believe NOCH has the same kinda stuff. Not sure about others, but I guess all the one-compound water-effects will be suitable for creating waves.
You'll have to apply it over several days though, you'll need to let it clear out before a next layer, otherwise you'll risk too thick coats won't clear out completely.

You can of course also combine other products and put up the waves afterwards with the one-compound stuff...

Goodluck!

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I've used EZ Water, Realistic Water and Water Effects from Woodland Scenics and they are not hard to use to create ponds, lakes or rivers.

EZ Water are some hard clear little balls that you have to heat up and pour. Looks good and its almost instantaneous results, but its too much of a pain to use, really. Realistic Water looks just as good, and its way easier to use. You just pour it in... and wait for it to cure. It will take a few hours, specially if you do thick coats.
Water Effects is a white gel that cures clear. You can use to create ripples, foam, waterfalls, etc. Probably the same Bart was talking about, but from Woodland Scenics.
Here's a video on how to use both...


Now, full ocean waves I'm not sure if you can pull it off with just the Water Effects, really. It might be possible, but I really don't know... seems tricky. Never tried anything like it.

A quick youtube search gave me this, using Scalerama materials. I think it looks pretty sweet.

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Admitting right away that I've never done any water effects:
If you're wanting larger waves, I think I'd go with the Transparent Water Elemental this guy shows you.

As to keeping your minis removable, the only idea I have is keeping it so that they aren't significantly further in the water than the depth of the base. Maybe, if you're really careful, you can make a removable water effect for each mini you want to use?

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Modelling large areas of water is best done using a two-part epoxy resin, something like this: http://www.glasscoat.com.au/

Modelling waves is a bit trickier. I've done beaches with small ripples as waves, using Woodland Scenic's "Water Effects" but big "surfing" waves are something I've never tried before.

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Wouldn't you have to use something as a frame or core to the wave, and apply your water effects on top? e.g. a shaped piece of foam.

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hmmm waves ( thinking to myself) .... I think there would be a good chance that clear silicone could be used effectively to make waves. add a blob or thick line and then lift it up and curl it over with the side of a cocktail stick as it starts to dry. any small mistakes can be trimmed with scissors after drying... just a thought

The image above was done with clear silicone - i know it is more splashes than waves but I think the same principal would apply to making waves just the technique of lifting the silicone up and over in lines rather than pushing and poking it into place.

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I've been working on a beach board and for the waves I followed GW's example in the back of the ORB which is basically just to use polyfilla. Here's how mine turned out:



Maybe not as realistic as some options, but I'm happy with the appearance and it wasn't too hard.

If you want to see more (less fuzzy) pictures, I just posted a couple here: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=22835

Good luck with your project!

Thanks a lot everyone. I'll post some pictures in a while once I've done some terrain and base modelling.

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