Yesterday, I wondered if it would be possible to cut Woodland Scenics "Deep pour" water at a baseboard joint instead of trying to pour identical depths of resin either side of the gap. Since I had a lump of leftover resin in the bottom of the mixing cup, I decided to have a go.
First point - this resin takes a couple of days to fully harden. If you touch the surface of the canal, it initially feels "soft" in the same way fresh paint feels soft. 48 hours later, it feels hard. The resin in the cup was the same, in fact when I peeled the plastic away, there was still unset material even after five days.
After another 24 hours, it was time for science. Logically, if I'm going to cut "water" at a baseboard joint, I'll use an Xacto saw for it's fine and straight cut. I tried the fine-tooth blade because the coarser toothed version for wood seemed wrong.
The resin cut very well. It's hard work but cuts cleanly enough - so it looks like this method is a goer for future layout work.
Out of curiosity, I tried polishing the off-cut, first with a sanding stick and then with some Brasso wadding. The results are impressive, even if they don't show up well in the photo. With work, and I only had a quick test, I think you could produce a nice, clear surface. I managed a little section even with minimal work.
Next time, I will make the canal in one piece, pour the water, then cut it on the joins when set. That will certainly be easier then trying to match the levels in the way I have done this time.
We all have some "engineering spirit" in us! Nice to see yours coming to the surface! Time for you to do an article in MRJ?
ReplyDeleteSomehow, I don't think MRJ would have the likes of me in there.
ReplyDeleteAll the more reason to try!
ReplyDeleteWhat I like about your modelling is it is aspirational, the "I can do that" or even "I'm sure I can do better than that", where as MRJ is often more like wandering around Tate Britain "Amazing, but I can't do that."
I hope you don't mind some questions:
ReplyDelete* Would this stuff work with "mould release" and paints, in the same way as more commonly used resins?
* How do the price and general "usability" (heating, expansion and stuff like that) compare with "standard" resin?
In case anyone's wondering why I'm asking this stuff, I wonder if it might work for doing "windows included" casts of stuff like carriage sides etc..
I'm guessing that it might be possible to use something like a clean whetstone - or a piece of fine abrasive paper stuck to a flat block of wood - to sand the backs of mouldings generated in this way.
Probably crazy thoughts (a lot of mine are right now - there is a reason, which I won't go into here). I'm just curious, really.
Huw - I'm not sure you'd need mould release if the mould is flexible enough. I peeled the hard plastic measuring cup away easily enough.
ReplyDeleteHeating wasn't an issue as far as I could tell. Price - well it is what it is. There is a clear version, but if I was buying specifically for windows, I'd probably go for the real thing, only using this if I had it for another job and wanted to use up some speare chemicals.
Phil,
ReplyDeleteFound your blog searching for information on cutting Woodland Scenics Deep Pour water. I'm building a diorama and I'd like to keep the boats removable from the lake. Contacted WS and they'd never considered how to do that and in fact encouraged me to report back with my results! Cheeky. Anyway, I'm thinking I will pour a thin layer over my painted lake bottom then use a motor tool to cut out the shape where the hull will go, hiding any gap with a wake effect. Thanks for your experiments and sharing your results!
Galen