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I want to make some water for a river on a base. I have basic hobby supplies, but I don't have any Water Effects. Help!

Watered down PVA glue mixed with blue. Let dry, then do another layer with lighter blue, and repeat until sort of happy.

You should use still water, pefect for water effects (used it for my brazen claws check it out in the posts i made for it )

Envirotex Lite is my go to product for making water on bases.

 Zach wrote:
Watered down PVA glue mixed with blue. Let dry, then do another layer with lighter blue, and repeat until sort of happy.

Don't use PVA for this. Over time, PVA glue goes cloudy and shrinks, which will either warp whatever you've based it on or pull away from the edges.

Use a brush-on gloss sealer for this method instead.

 insaniak wrote:

 Zach wrote:
Watered down PVA glue mixed with blue. Let dry, then do another layer with lighter blue, and repeat until sort of happy.

Don't use PVA for this. Over time, PVA glue goes cloudy and shrinks, which will either warp whatever you've based it on or pull away from the edges.

Use a brush-on gloss sealer for this method instead.

Im not saying its ideal, but the OP made it sound like he only had the barest of materials.

I may have misread it, either he was saying how to make water without using water effects, or he was saying that he needed water effect recommendations.

Hot glue?

Suck it up and get something appropriate. Nothing worse than borking a job 'cos you cut a corner you shouldn't have.

Woodland Scenics Water Effects gel is great and in a convenient nozzle bottle, but you can also use art store gloss gel for the same purpose.

winterdyne wrote:
Suck it up and get something appropriate. Nothing worse than borking a job 'cos you cut a corner you shouldn't have.

Woodland Scenics Water Effects gel is great and in a convenient nozzle bottle, but you can also use art store gloss gel for the same purpose.

This. Woodland Scenics stuff is readily available at any hobby stuff and isn't terrible expensive. Get the right tools for the job and save yourself hours of frustration.

 Zach wrote:


Im not saying its ideal, but the OP made it sound like he only had the barest of materials. .

Yup... and if he doesn't have gloss sealer, or any actual water effects stuff, he would be better off just using blue paint by itself rather than using PVA for it.

Can you get some gloss varnish, Matthew?

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
Can you get some gloss varnish, Matthew?

Yep, I have tons of that. Can it work as stand alone water?

Thanks for the responses everyone. I've been thinking of glazing hot glue with a blue shade and then adding tons of varnish

If you are not looking to do a thick layer of water, using GW glass varnish can do the trick. paint the spot blue, put a few layers of varnish, paint certain spots blue (to make the water look like it has depth), more layers of v, then a lighter blue, repeat this until you have about 20 layers of varnish. its time consuming but if you really don't want to use water effects you can do this.

Water effects look much better though.

just buy water effects. doesnt cost much