First, clear caulk is generally of the variety with silicone in it, and it really stinks, worse than anything else you,ve looked at. And when it gets on stuff it's darn near impossible to remove. The various gel mediums are much more forgiving.

Thanks for the pictures, those are great. I have some constructive criticism (I hope) of that dio so far.

It feels like the scale has been compressed too much. Certainly it needs to be. I did a quick www check because I certainly am no expert on this subject, but the landing Beach on Betio for instance was 30 to 50 yards wide. Which is 18 to 24 inches at your scale and actually pretty doable, or close enough to it. That could give you a chance to include a little bit of a feature like the slope to the water and the flatter part close to the trees.

There's a necessary middle part to your story, at least to me, which would be post embarkation but before attacking the defenders. The NCO's are going to be getting their guys together and checked out before they all go into the trees. If you chose to, that could be right at your tree line.

Could I also suggest that there's kind of two focuses here; the boat and the bunker. I would subliminate the bunker, kind of make the viewer find it. So that the visual sequence goes boat-beach and Marines-bunker.

One last thing and then I will shut up. You should include some evidence of the bigger picture. Of course what immediately comes to mind are casualties from previous waves, but that isn't necessary. But I think it would really bring that point home if you included a bunch of stuff rolling around on the surf that clearly didn't come from this boat.

Thank you for posting the WIP here, and please consider my observations as being friendly.

Bill

One thing you want to be really careful with when using caulking to make water, it has a delightful tendency to make cute little pointy-topped waves that look absolutely nothing like real waves. Even better are the strings of caulk at the top of the cute little points that fold over in a loop. giving you something that looks vaguely like a Hershey's kiss candy ...

And that's all I've got to say about that.

I’ve gotten a little further by staging the Marine assault troops. That’s not the LCVP I’ll be using which is why the boat is not populated yet. Next step is to complete the boat I will be using and add the water. After a lot of research, I’ve decided not to use resin (heat and fumes) but use Woodland Scenics Artificial Water (a water based product) instead. Again, after much research, I’ll be using transparent caulking and Liquitex Heavy Gloss Gel to create waves and surf. Thanks for your interest and constructive comments are always welcome.

Correct, I should have been clear on that point.

Those are great ideas. I assume "stipple" means to *** vertically with a coarse brush?

One thought on "sculpting" acrylic gloss gel - I usually use a paint brush since it give me better control over the shaping of the waves and wavelets. I use anything from a coarse bristle disposable paintbrush to a wide No. 5 camel hair to a smaller No. 2 sable hair, depending on the size of the waves. The gel washes out of the bristles easily enough, and you can wipe off the buildup on the inside of the gel container.

One thing I discovered for getting realistic "froth" in the surf line was to put down a thin layer of gel, let it get almost dry and then stipple it with the coarse disposable brush to give it a very rough surface, then put thinned Titanium White acrylic paint over that, stipple that, too, and you end up with a nice "rough" look to the water's edge.

Yes, you're correct.

I don't believe that Marines assaulted the beach from LCVPs at Tarawa.     The LCVPs got hung up on the reef and the initial wave marines were forced to wade across the reef under fire.   Later waves were transferred from LCVPs to LVTs at the reef-line.    The LVTs brought them

Good points. The boat will be fixed in place perpendicular to the beach. I'm going to glue the bottom leading edge to the beach. I hadn’t thought about the coxswain keeping forward thrust on the engine to hold it on the beach head and will indeed requite a wake with churned up sand. Do you have any diorama like this you could share a photo of with me?

Yes, this will not be volcanic Iwo. I'm thinking Saipan to Tarrawa. Both had crystal white sands.

Chuck

Here's some things to keep in mind as you try to create the water on a landing beach. First, to hold the boat on the beach and not have it swing sideways (broach) the cox'n would keep the propeller turning. Therefore there will be churned up white water aft of the stern. Depending on the beach gradiant this churned up water will also have sand churned up in it. The amount of surf on the beach will also have an effect on how much force is needed to keep the boat in position. That surf is not always at a right angle to the beach causing the boat to start to swing in the direction the surf is running. Not all beaches have pristine white sand. Iwo Jima, for instance had black volcanic sand.

Amphib

Oh, one more thing- I'm thinking of using Liquitex Gloss Heavy Gel, a popsicle for back spreading and white acrylic paint to create mild waves and surf. I found how to use this technique on-line. I also know how to make the water surface mildly choppy before the water dries.

Thanks again. If you would give me your email address, I'll send you some photos of my 1/35 armor dioramas you could cretique.

Thanks so much for your response. Yes, the diorama is in a side walled frame and yes, I know I have to pre-seal every part of the base that will come into contact with artificial water. The frame is a 1” high rectangle with the deepest part of the water line at ¾”. The deepest part of the ocean starts at the ¾” bottom of the frame and rises as it meets the beach at about ¼” and then from the beach to the top surface where the jungle begins.

Once  ocean area is sealed and ready for the artificial water, I going to fill it with tap water to the beach line, check the waterline around the LCVP, drain the tap water into a measuring cup and then measure how much water was required. That way I won’t come up short on artificial water. I bought an 8oz pack of EnvioTex Lite resin, but I’m just not comfortable with it plus it would require multiple layers of mixing and pouring of about 1/8” per layer to reduce the catalytic heat generated from deforming the LCVP.

I’m thinking that Woodland Scenics ‘Realistic Water- 16 fl oz’, a water based product would be a lot less risky plus I have very bad lungs and the resin would aggravate them. The Woodland product readily mixes with acrylic paints for water depth layering as you suggested. I’ve put so much work and time into this that this artificial water business has me half scared.

Best regards,

Chuck Evans

1. The Higgins boat needs to be in shallow aqua water with its ramp dawn in about 6” of water. What if I painted the shallow sea floor starting with the outer edge a darker aqua color and lighter as I approached the beach surf line eventually leaving the last several feet clear (all 1/72 scale)?.

Yoru're still going to need some color in the water, from the surf if nothing else. Look at pictures and movies of beaches and ocean suft and waves - the surf zone is an active place, lots of different kinds of colors and types of wave action. But your basic premise is correct, grading the color from darker (deep) water to ligher (shallow) water.

2. Let that dry and seal everything the artificial water will come in contact with and then pour in the artificial water (I'm leaning towards Woodland Scenic 16oz Water Effects seeing it's water based and non-toxic. I have bad lungs) and let it set up. The deepest area of the water would be is about 1/4” to 3/8”.

You can try the Woodland Scenics stuff, but again, you'll have to "frame" the scene since it's a liquid, otherwise it'll run all over the place. You also have to be extremely careful to let it set up in a dust/grit free place - it's a frickin' magnet for any kind of airborne contaminant. You also have to be very careful to avoid bubbles as you pour the layers. As Ed said, with that kind of stuff, you get ONE shot to get it right.

3. I know how to create surface water effects plus gentle waves.

I am unclear on your approad here, are you planning to use acrylic gel medium on top of the Woodland Scenics water to get the gentle waves and water effects? I have not tried that approach and don't know if you can apply gel medium over the Woodland Scenics product without any compatability issues arising. I'd do a small test first, because, again, you get ONE shot at it if you use that stuff.

How do I post a photo on this site?

Thanks,

Chuck

How do I insert a photo on this site?

Thanks,

Chuck

Tell me what you think of this approach:

1. The Higgins boat needs to be in shallow aqua water with its ramp dawn in about 6” of water. What if I painted the shallow sea floor starting with the outer edge a darker aqua color and lighter as I approached the beach surf line eventually leaving the last several feet clear (all 1/72 scale)?.

2. Let that dry and seal everything the artificial water will come in contact with and then pour in the artificial water (I'm leaning towards Woodland Scenic 16oz Water Effects seeing it's water based and non-toxic. I have bad lungs) and let it set up. The deepest area of the water would be is about 1/4” to 3/8”.

3. I know how to create surface water effects plus gentle waves.

To me, this would be the lowest risk approach to having success the first time.

Please tell me what you think.

Best regards,

Chuck

.

Thank you for your responce. I had considered using Plastruct or Tamiya ocean surface plexiglass, but I didn't know how to creat depth in sany bottom aqua water clear water. I know how to create surf and mild waves using Liquitex Gloss Heavy Gel which I have. Please comment.

Chuck

Thank you for the advice. I have a full jar of Liquitex Glosss Heavy Gel. Is this what you're referring to? Also, once the gel set up, did you then paint the surface of the gel layer by layer?

You diorama look great!

You are pretty much right on about the hazards of Envirotex and other clear epoxy resins.   One shot to get it right.    Thick pours of the stuff also create at lot of exothermic heat (as in enough to warp plastic),  and the stuff subsides as it hardens, making your water do physically impossibe things such as crawling up the side of the boat.  Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.  Guilty on all counts.

Consider building a shadowbox of clear plexiglas (hardware shop item).  Sides will slope into the beach.  A top piece will overlay the sides and project up onto the beach,  just short of your finished waterline.  Cut a rectangular hole into which your LCVP fits (close fit is better).  Blend the plexiglas/boat side together with some Future floor polish.  Future can be tinted with food coloring.    Waves & chop can be done with some artists acrylic medium, tinted with acrylic greens & blues.   Blend everything together and up onto the beach using Future.    Future on your finely ground sand makes a nice wet-look.  

Mistakes are easier to clean.   Future cleans with ammonia.  If you painted your LCVP with acrylics that may mess them up too -- but you won't have to start from square-one.

Bob Santos did a similar method for this 26' MWB rescuing a downed flyer diorama as shown on SteelNavy

You get to see the underwater details you worked hard to put onto the LCVP.

But looking down you see the water surface and just a bit of depth

If you do go the Envirotex route,  pour in lifts of thicknesses not greater than 1/4 inch.  An eigth may be better.  I think Envirotex can be tinted with their proprietary coloring  - or experiment first with food coloring.  Pour short of your finished depth and finish with Future for gloss and to minimize the anti-gravity water crawl.

Well, for starters, you might want to consider a medium other than resin, for a couple of reasons. 1) youi're going to have to pour quite a few thin layers, because if you pour 1 thick layer the heat it generates as it cures will melt your beautiful Higgins boat, and 2) getting textures, as in breaking waves and surf, in the resin, is really hard (at least I found it so using the Woodland Scenics product).

I ended up using layers of acrylic gel medium and a careful paint job for my 1/72 beach diorama with an A6M2-N Rufe in the Aleutians, so I wasn't going for that turquoise blue that you're after ... but the principles are the same - careful, graduated paint job, multiple layers of gel, and the additional paint to highlight and for the froth on the beach. It turned out OK: