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I want to do a pseudo-diorama using the Merwyrm from forge world, and I want to make it a water scene. I've done plenty of water effects with bases and such, but I need help doing a deep water scene. I know that using resin is the best way to do it, but I want it to be at lease an inch or two deep and I know that can be tricky and there are many things that can go wrong, I would hate to mess up a hundred dollar model, so I was wondering if anyone has any links to tutorials about making deep water with resin. I've tried searching youtube and coolminiornot.com, but searching "resin" or "water" doesn't really come up with useable tutorials.

I'm looking to do something like this:

Interested to see where this will go got some clear resin myself that I was going to do something similar with but it's still in the planning stage

One of the trickiest parts of a clear resin pour (apparently - I've never tried it, myself, but I've done a bit of reading) is avoiding bubbles. Luckily, for you, that isn't a strict necessity in your intended use - or even particularly desirable. If you're starved for information, try looking at crafts outside of modeling. Clear resin is used pretty extensively in jewelry and floral arrangement (fake water for fake flowers). You can likely find tutorials that are applicable, even if they don't align perfectly with your goal, as well as product reviews and general usage suggestions.

Really not much to it.

You need your figure. Painted and done.

You need your base. Painted, flocked and otherwise done.

You need your resin. Envirotex being a popular, easy to source clear...but when I was young and poor, I even used clear 15 minute epoxy.

You need your "mold box". Not really a mold box...rather something to keep the resin in place. Clear packing tape is pretty common, I tend to make mine out of waxed styrene card though.

The easier of the two is the second. For that, you mount your figure to the base. After it is mounted, I will give everything that is going to be underwater a couple of coats of polyurethane varnish (gloss). This ensures that no air bubbles leak up from the sand or other areas. I build a small box around tge bottom with styrene that is super smooth and has been waxed with paste wax. Any defect or joints will show on this...so take your time to make it clean.

Once that is done mix up some resin. I use small tripours for this. They are cheap and graduated so mixing the 50/50 mix is nice and easy. Once it is mixed, degas (vacuum or heat gun) and pour into the box. A fair amount of heat can be created...and the thicker you go, the more heat it creates. 1/8 inch pours are pretty safe. Thicker than that though and things start to get touchy. I have had 1/2 inch pours create enough heat to soften styrene and cause the miniature to fall over.

Repeat the pour process till it is as deep as you want. You usually will want to pour the next layer before the first has fully cured. 4-6 hours for most water resins.

For the first, the general process is the same...but you need a way to suspend the figure. I usually will do one or more pours to build up some thickness below. When I get to the level I want the deepest part of the figure at, Ill hang the figure from a clamp thing I have and pour the resin. After the resin has set up for 45 minutes or so, I position the miniature and let it finish the full 4-6 hour cure.

Follow that with more pours till your desired depth is reached.

For surface effects, waves and other things, you can use a clear epoxy or wait for the resin to get close to set and use a tooth pick to poke into it. When you pull the tooth pick out it creats little puckers and pulls that look like the splasheson the first picture. You sort of need to play around to learn how cured it needs to be to still be soft enough, yet firm enough to avoid falling back down.

Other tricks involve using hypodermic needles to create bubbles where you want them (scuba divers for example). You can insert the needle into setting resin and inject small bubbles. You can also use bits of brass tubing to press rings into the surface of the water like you might find at a dripping pipe or dropped stone.

Bullet splashes are generally handled afterwards using a drill bit and acrylic paste. You can drill into the hardened epoxy on the path of the bullet and wiggle it out a bit. Force acylic paste that has a bit of white added to it down the hole and create a splash at the surface.

Big waves are normally sculpted from clear epoxy after the resin water has set, though you can also do a lot by tipping the mold box on an angle for a couple pours.

Now that that is all done, strip the mold box and take a look. Everything should be clean and smooth. The wax should provide a glassy looking surface. If you have any joints or other proplems, you can scrape those with a blade, sand and polish them back to smooth.

Thank you for that thorough explanation. What would I use to polish the resin? I've seen before where the different layers will be visible in the resin once it is complete and that, more than anything, is what I am worried about. Is that something common that can occurs or is there more of a specific reason that happens, like waiting too long before the next pour?

 urion wrote:
Thank you for that thorough explanation. What would I use to polish the resin? I've seen before where the different layers will be visible in the resin once it is complete and that, more than anything, is what I am worried about. Is that something common that can occurs or is there more of a specific reason that happens, like waiting too long before the next pour?

Wet sand it with varied grit of sandpaper. Start with 200 grit, then finish with about 2000 grit. Get some nice gloss varnish and then put a thin coat on the entire surface you just wet sanded and you should be good.

A.

Here are a couple links that should help you a great deal. They have quite a bit of detail and cover many of the pitfalls of doing a project like this. Just remember, do a complete test model that you don't care about first!

http://www.akaranseth.com/blog/tutorials/how-to-make-water-effect-using-resin.htm

http://www.reapermini.com/thecraft/49

Awesome! Thanks so much. The first tutorial is one that I was looking for but couldn't find, I saw it last year and couldn't remember who did it or the mini used. With all this info, I should be good.