BunkerTheHusky
Well-Known Member
This past week was a mix of success, failure, happiness, frustration, and satisfaction. But why, you ask? Well, I decided that this week was the time to begin pouring the resin water...
My neighbor and friend, let's call him Mark, builds dioramas in his retirement, as well as being a skilled taxidermist. He has been a great guiding figure for me on this layout and definitely deserves to be in the credits reel. Because of this, when he offered his advice on pouring the resin water, I was all ears. I bought the exact product he recommended, and followed his instructions to the letter. He had just poured a pond for a hunting blind diorama, and it turned out incredible. Glassy smooth, hard, and with no bubbles. I hope by now you have that feeling of dread I was trying to portray in this buildup, because things did not go smoothly.
The resin I was instructed to buy says it can be poured to a depth of a half inch, and it cures in 18 to 24 hours depending on temperature. The higher the temp, the quicker it cures. Mark told me he had heated the resin to around 140 degrees using a water bath on the stove. I used a hot plate and pot of water on my work bench to do this same thing. When the thermometer read 140 degrees, I took the two parts and mixed 2oz of each, and as instructed, mixed the resin for 7 minutes. After that, I placed the cup of mixed resin into my vacuum pot and sucked out all remaining bubbles. Mark didn't do this step, but I had the equipment, so might as well.
After the resin was bubble free, I slowly poured the pond to a 1/2 inch depth, then using a small blow torch style lighter, I popped the small bubbles escaping from the scenery material. So far so good! Then, in a span of 30 seconds, things went very awry. In the deepest portion I poured, the resin began to smoke and a bunch of bubbles formed all at once. What I can only describe as a resinberg then raised about a millimeter up out of the still liquid surrounding resin. The bubbles that rapidly formed were instantly trapped in the now cured resin. This happened only about 30 minutes after mixing the two parts. Mind again, the product advertises an 18 to 24 hour cure time.
What Mark and I think happened was that the resin over heated. I inquired as to why he recommended I heated the resin beforehand if it's already an exothermic reaction, to which he replied that it's what he's always done and this has never happened to him before. I don't hold it against the guy, but dang it!
I'm not willing to rip it all out and redo it, so unfortunately I'm going to have to live with the bubbles. Luckily it happened in an area right after a water fall, so it can be explained away, plus once I add the ripple effects, it should help conceal them as well. From here on out I am not preheating the resin. I have since done my second pour, this time skipping that step, and guess what? It cured in 24 hours as advertised, and with a smooth glassy finish with no bubbles. Whatever. Live and learn.
But since that troublesome first pour, I decided to try and tackle the waterfall mentioned above. This project went SO MUCH BETTER. I began with some transparent PETG filament from my 3D printer, and I used the aforementioned lighter to heat it up. I then bent several strands to follow the water path I wanted while the material was flexible. After that, I used clear 5 minute epoxy resin to "glue" the stands together. I applied more layers to build up the material, and added some tiny clear glass beads provided by my wife for reflection and bubblage. I then added it to the layout with more 5 minute resin before I did the second resin pour. I still have to add some white paint for the 'white water' part of the white water rapids, but it already looks so darn good.
So yeah, a week of lows and highs, but overall I'm pleased with the results. I really love how much more alive the scene looks with the water poured!
Before I go, I'll leave you with one more picture, this time of my painted Bachmann Plasticsville Truss Bridge, which I feel wasn't given a proper reveal upthread as the white plaster background gave horrible contrast to the photos. Enjoy!
My neighbor and friend, let's call him Mark, builds dioramas in his retirement, as well as being a skilled taxidermist. He has been a great guiding figure for me on this layout and definitely deserves to be in the credits reel. Because of this, when he offered his advice on pouring the resin water, I was all ears. I bought the exact product he recommended, and followed his instructions to the letter. He had just poured a pond for a hunting blind diorama, and it turned out incredible. Glassy smooth, hard, and with no bubbles. I hope by now you have that feeling of dread I was trying to portray in this buildup, because things did not go smoothly.
The resin I was instructed to buy says it can be poured to a depth of a half inch, and it cures in 18 to 24 hours depending on temperature. The higher the temp, the quicker it cures. Mark told me he had heated the resin to around 140 degrees using a water bath on the stove. I used a hot plate and pot of water on my work bench to do this same thing. When the thermometer read 140 degrees, I took the two parts and mixed 2oz of each, and as instructed, mixed the resin for 7 minutes. After that, I placed the cup of mixed resin into my vacuum pot and sucked out all remaining bubbles. Mark didn't do this step, but I had the equipment, so might as well.
After the resin was bubble free, I slowly poured the pond to a 1/2 inch depth, then using a small blow torch style lighter, I popped the small bubbles escaping from the scenery material. So far so good! Then, in a span of 30 seconds, things went very awry. In the deepest portion I poured, the resin began to smoke and a bunch of bubbles formed all at once. What I can only describe as a resinberg then raised about a millimeter up out of the still liquid surrounding resin. The bubbles that rapidly formed were instantly trapped in the now cured resin. This happened only about 30 minutes after mixing the two parts. Mind again, the product advertises an 18 to 24 hour cure time.
What Mark and I think happened was that the resin over heated. I inquired as to why he recommended I heated the resin beforehand if it's already an exothermic reaction, to which he replied that it's what he's always done and this has never happened to him before. I don't hold it against the guy, but dang it!
I'm not willing to rip it all out and redo it, so unfortunately I'm going to have to live with the bubbles. Luckily it happened in an area right after a water fall, so it can be explained away, plus once I add the ripple effects, it should help conceal them as well. From here on out I am not preheating the resin. I have since done my second pour, this time skipping that step, and guess what? It cured in 24 hours as advertised, and with a smooth glassy finish with no bubbles. Whatever. Live and learn.
But since that troublesome first pour, I decided to try and tackle the waterfall mentioned above. This project went SO MUCH BETTER. I began with some transparent PETG filament from my 3D printer, and I used the aforementioned lighter to heat it up. I then bent several strands to follow the water path I wanted while the material was flexible. After that, I used clear 5 minute epoxy resin to "glue" the stands together. I applied more layers to build up the material, and added some tiny clear glass beads provided by my wife for reflection and bubblage. I then added it to the layout with more 5 minute resin before I did the second resin pour. I still have to add some white paint for the 'white water' part of the white water rapids, but it already looks so darn good.
So yeah, a week of lows and highs, but overall I'm pleased with the results. I really love how much more alive the scene looks with the water poured!
Before I go, I'll leave you with one more picture, this time of my painted Bachmann Plasticsville Truss Bridge, which I feel wasn't given a proper reveal upthread as the white plaster background gave horrible contrast to the photos. Enjoy!
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