What To Do...

[Mr.MoreTanks]

So I'm making a board with some pink extremley high density insulation foam, on this board there are some rivers. I plan to fill these with resin, but i'm fairly sure this will eat the insulation board. So what should I do to prevent the resin from eating it? Anyone know of any good like paints or coats to lay down on it? Thanks!

Also is it better to mix the paint in with the resin before it dries? or just pain the resin? and how would you make frozen sheets of ice that would cover pieces of a river or canal, I dont want the whole thing frozen over, but some parts of it would be nice.

I will post pics of the table when I am done.

[Grailkeeper]

If you want something much simpler and safer than resin, try polyfilla for a raging rapids type wave effect,

[Ironfaith]

woodland scenics water effects...

?

[SotonShades]

having just built an aircraft (real glider, capable of supporting a man, not a model) from blue polystyrene and glued together with resin, I think you should be ok. However make sure you do a test piece first to make sure...

Bare in mind that if you don't spread the resin in thin layers it is going to get exceedingly hot as it cures and you risk warping the foam or possibly causing it to spontaneously combust.

Rather than mixing the pain in with the resin, its usually better to have a thin layer of resin (to give the wet look) over a paint layer as this usually looks more natural when done right than a block of resin replacing the water over a riverbed.

as for the ice, I'd advize getting some thin acryllic sheet; either clear or frosted if you can find it, either way you'd be lookinf for a thickness of under 1mm. If you can only find clear, stipple what will become the underside white, leaving a few thinner patches of paint, and then stipple a mix of white and something like iceblue under that. You'll have the clear accryllic on the top, with the ice going from white to blue as you go deeper, much like real ice. you may want to add a little dusting of white over the top of the acryllic (on the opposite side to the rest of the paint) to help frost up the ice a bit more.

[sicarius2424]

well i got a set that came with a plaster covered cloth that i had to dip in water and place it on the area that i wanted to cover with news paper or paper towel under neath then smooth out the ripples in the plaster cloth before it dired that worked really nicely but i wasn't useing resin i was using something else that i just poured on top and let it dry for 24 hours

the set is from wood land senics i believe

and for the ice you could just use thin flat pieces of faom then color them an icey color that should work

[Crotch Lictor]

I like the clear acrylic sheet for ice idea. One thing you could try with that if you want a frosted look it to just cut some pieces from any blister or plastic packaging and spray it with a Matte sealer. That should give it a frosted look and be easy to do. As stated earlier, paint the terrain underneath, then place the acrylic on top. The matte sealer would also help protect the acrylic/plastic from getting scratched.

[Mr.MoreTanks]

Thanks for all the help guys, I'll post some pictures when I'm done! :D

[Cow]

Bare in mind that if you don't spread the resin in thin layers it is going to get exceedingly hot as it cures and you risk warping the foam or possibly causing it to spontaneously combust.

Thats only because of the type of resin you were using to do the glass fibre (I built the glider with shades, so i know this)

I have built river systems in a few boards now. As long as you PVA the high density polystyrene you will be fine mate to put most water effects on to it. Ive personally used the GW water effect, but thats because i was making a modular board and the river sections had to be open ended so if i poured resin in, it would of just flowed out the ends, probs not the best thing to have happen.

I would recomend PVAing all polystyrene before use wht ever u do, as it strenghtens it, and if u add some sand into the pva will give u a nice texture for your board, and means you can paint the river bed before you add the water effect.

But would agree that plastic sheets of water effect is the easiest way to go, i just personally perfer resin, or gw water effect as you can make the water deep, and then can put objects into the water to make it look like it has sunk or is floating. And i think looks more realistic

But good luck what ever route you decide to go