Crossing the Ouachita River

 Rock Island GP7 1201 is in charge of the SB local, #775 as it crosses over the rain swollen and muddy Ouachita River. 

 

The Ouachita gets poured

I got the river poured the other night, it's not exactly what I wanted but I think I'll take it.

When mixing the paint into the acrylic medium it was just like the bog, the Pouring medium is translucent and it's more or less a guess on how much paint to add to it.  In this case I used a bit too much Tamiya Flat Earth, or did I?

It turned out more of a solid brown than a translucent brown that I was hoping for but maybe that is a good thing?  It definitely took on a muddy look but not the bright orangish brown like I've seen in Google Map images.   

In the case of the bog, a few days after I poured it, it started to take on a lighter brown color.  After a month or so I noticed the light color receded and went back to the dark Coffee Brown that I originally wanted.  So we'll wait and see what happens after a few weeks?

One thing I am happy with is the surface texture.  It's not a smooth, glossy surface.  It's actually kind of wavy which adds to the reflection so it's not like a perfect mirror reflection.

In the meantime here is where the scene is at.  This is only one pour, about 1/16" to 1/8" thick.  If I recall the medium did shrink a bit, so a second pour might happen?

Note: I did edit out some of the clutter in the scene on the right side. 

I'm going to take a short break from this scene and give the pour some time to set up and cure.  In the meantime I'm going to clean up a few things.  

I need to get the wiring for the crossing at Ruston tidied up and then I want to work on getting a new toy installed.  Last weekend we went to the 25th anniversary open house at Spring Creek Model Trains where I picked up one of the new IIAB (Interlocking In a Box) from ISE (Iowa Scale Engineering).

Then I'll come back and add another pour if deemed necessary and start making trees and adding any details. 

River color adjustment, take two

I just couldn't get used to seeing the river with the Faux paint. A friend of mine told me that it looked like Shag Carpet and I just couldn't unsee that!!I started looking at all kinds of images of the Ouachita river in different locations and the more I looked, the more blind I became.

I don't think I liked the very muddy brownish orange water. Might be too stark for the scene?  Plus I don't think the surface would reflect an image very well due it being lighter.

So I decided to go back to a green tone, but I wanted it slightly muddy.  I opted to get more of the Tamiya earth and olive from Hobby Town today while we were out running errands.

This time I started with the earth and mixed a bunch of the olive to it and sprayed a coat, but it was too green, way too much yellow once it was on the river bed.

So I mixed more of the olive into the mix and sprayed another coat, still too greenish yellow.  Added more green and I think I got real close. Stepped away and came back in a few, but it still looked to green, more brownish, but still too green.

So I cleaned out the airbrush once more and sprayed a straight coat of olive, but sprayed it in a wide, random pattern, not a full coverage.  I think this looks better?

Painting the river, part 2

Before I got started on the next phase of the river, I decided that the Tamiya Olive Green was just a little too dark, it was very close to the foliage on the banks.  So I added some of the Tamiya Flat Earth brown to it.  It had the effect of not only lightening it up enough, it also gave it a brownish hue.

Once the river was repainted it was time to start painting the Faux pattern on the surface.  I followed Boomer's process, which was to use the "Golden" brand of gloss glazing liquid and add a bit of the Vallejo US Sand paint to it.  Mix it up thoroughly and using a damp sponge you dip it on the mix, wipe off the majority of it on a rag, kind of the way one "Dry Brushes" and then start padding or stippling the sponge on the surface of the river. 

My first thought was this was too light?  Even after letting it dry for a bit it just looked too light for what I was shooting for.  So I did some experimenting and decided to use the Tamiya Flat Earth, and then added a couple of drops of the Tamiya Olive Green.  This looked better to my eyes.

Once that layer dried, I got so wrapped up in choosing the next colors/shades that I forgot to take pictures, sorry.  The next color was more Flat Earth and a little less Olive Green.  This gave it a muddier look.  The last coat I used I mixed a bit more Olive Green than I had the first time so as to bring back a bit of green.  Here's how it turned out.

 

Not 100% certain I'm happy with the final color, but the more I look at it the better it gets.  I'm thinking once I apply the final coat of pure glazing, the glare might mute or distract from the overall color.  

From what I've seen of Boomer's final coat, it's not 100% gloss, as he mixes GAC500 (a high gloss acrylic) with some Semi-Gloss Gel which very slightly dulls the gloss.  If you look at the lower right corner of the last pic, right next to the fascia you can see a slight glare.

Now I need to add some driftwood and other debris to the river before I add the final clear coat.

Painting the river, part 1

My next project was to paint the riverbed.

I toyed with a lot of ideas and wasn't happy with any of the options I looked into. Then I remembered watching one of Boomer's videos and how he painted his.

If you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch, while it's kind of long and rambling, like most of his are, it's chocked full of good info.

https://youtu.be/uSXTAMBIhOM?si=8GRIdlU9RouiebZ3

The first thing I did was to paint the river using Tamiya's XF-58 Olive Green.

It goes on kind of bright green, but darkens as it dries.  This is only the first coat.

Next I wanted to give a shallow water look near the sand bar so I watered down some tan colored craft paint so I could do as Boomer did and tried stain painting it on, but when it dried, I wasn't happy with it. It came out too blotchy because I think the pigments weren't as fine as good hobby paints are.

So I repainted that section with the Tamiya Olive and redid it using Tamiya XF-52 Flat Earth. 

I tried something a little different and painted it on full strength and did the same with the Tamiya XF-58 Olive, then I blended them together. This worked much better.

Most of this might be somewhat covered when I start faux painting the main river, but I know it'll be there. 

Floral foam river banks

After a little head scratching and some test fitting, I got the ceiling tile and beadboard foam removed and replaced it with the floral foam bricks.  I glued the bricks in with white glue on the bottoms and where they touch the remaining ceiling tile.

Once dry I'll start the carving process.  I extended the foam out past the abutments just a bit so that I have enough to work with as I slowly carve it back. Most of the bank will be beveled back without much detail as the biggest share of it I envision being covered completely by vegetation.

I also used lightweight spackling to fill in a seam and any irregularities on the plywood then got it sanded smooth. 

Target: The Ouachita River Bridges

I ran a couple of more sessions the last couple of weekends and I feel like things are running smooth enough with JMRI and trackwork that I think it's time to switch gears and start adding some more eye candy to the layout.  I'd like to get this done by this October for the OS Omaha weekend.

In December of 2016 I started reworking the straight track between Calion and El Dorado.  I'd always planned to have a river in this location.  The first thing I did was to reposition the main line to give it a nice little curve and then made plans for a bridge, well two bridges.

Today this is where it stands, and has been standing here since January 2, 2017.  It's been in this state of construction for 8 years now, I think it's stood the test of time.

The other day while staring at it, trying to figure out how to blend the river into the backdrop, the light bulb started to glow.  Instead of blending into the backdrop, why not put a bend in the river and make the shoreline sit against the backdrop?  Then I could hide the river with lots of trees.

After a bit I realized that I had seen this done before recently on a layout that I enjoy following.  The only thing different, that guy hid the bend in the river not only by trees, but with a large building, which I might be able to do as well?  If it does not hide the river completely, at least it'll serve as a distraction for the eyes. 

I'll cut out more foam and ceiling tile behind the truss bridge so the river bends to the right.  I can then go back and add more base along the backdrop.  The base is easy enough to cut out and reshape, but I think I'll use more of the dry floral foam blocks?  It's easy to cut and shape and unlike plaster or lightweight spackling, the foam makes it easy to insert trees into it. 

The river itself should be just about as easy to do, though I'm not sure if I'll pour a thin layer like the bog or if I'll just paint it and apply couple of layers of Gloss Mod Podge?  Here's what I'm shooting for the overall look.

A slow moving, muddy river.  The river banks will be easy, just cover them with heavy foliage and lots of trees...... right down to the banks.

  

The bog finale

I started the bog back in October 2024 and tonight I think I'm going to stick a fork in it (hopefully I won't drain it).  The final thing I added to it was some algae around the edges and a few lily pads. 

I wound up giving the bog a second pour using the Liquitex Pouring Medium, but this time I added a few more drops of Vallejo Burnt Umber to help offset some of the lighter areas.  For the most it worked.  But you will notice differences in colors from post to the next.  This is due mainly to lighting and camera/image editing.  In person it does have a slight orangish look like coffee, but it's hard to get that to show correctly with the camera.

The algae I'm happy with.  I took some fine ground foam of three different shades of greens and put a pinch in a very fine strainer and rubbed it till it fell through the strainer.  This gave me a much finer ground foam.  I used the pouring medium to glue the algae in place, it took a bit of practice to keep it from being overwhelming and to get the right colors.  While it's not perfect, I'm happy with the outcome.  As for the lily pads, I'm not 100% happy, but they'll work.

Also if you plan to go fishing or wading in the bog, do be mindful of the local gators!

If there is anything I need to add to the bog it will be around the cabin and the boat dock.  I need to build a small, old dock,  the one I got from Woodland Scenics: Family Fishing pack, just looks cheap.  I think I'll fabricate one that'll look much better?

The bog

For the last couple of months I have been working on the bog, this past weekend I finally got to the point where I felt I could finally make the first pour.

I finally settled on using the Liquitex Pouring Medium and I added 3 drops of Vallejo Burnt Umber to 2ozs of the pouring medium, just enough to give it a slight murkiness.  It took three 2oz cups to fill it all in.  Although I knew it would probably take a second pour, since this stuff reduces in thickness as it dries.

I had to coax it around the edges, weeds and trees, but it flowed in nice and smooth.  Another bonus of this stuff, as Boomer mentioned, it does not creep.  Having said that, as I said, when it dries it reduces in thickness so it does have the appearance of creeping up the banks and trees.  Hopefully the second pour will not shrink as much or be as noticeable.  If it does, I do have a backup plan.

The first image was taken within minutes of making the original pour, it does have a milky appearance, but it starts to dry fairly quickly and begins to clear up as well.

The following three images were taken a couple of days later, it still took another couple of days to fully cure.

I still have some minor details to add to the water and surrounding areas, but so far so good, I'm happy with it so far.  Time will tell.

  

Water pour tests

When I first contemplated building my bog, I wondered what I should use for the water?

When I watched the video by Grant Eastman when he made his bog on  his N scale SAR layout, he used Woodland Scenics Realistic Water with good results.  So I thought why not?  It's easier than a 2 part epoxy.  In fact I had used it on my Whitewater Creek  about a year ago and had good results with it.  

However, not long ago there was a modeler on TrainBoard who used it on his river and it was a complete fail!  After pouring, two things happened.  At some point he sat a small glass jar on it and it actually left an impression of the jar on the surface.  The next thing he noticed  there were large bubbles forming in his river.

After doing some research, he found out why?

The realistic water does NOT dry solidly and you are not suppose to pour it over non-acrylic paint or PVA glues like Elmer's.  I did notice that in my Whitewater Creek a few months later, there were some tiny bubbles forming around the reeds that I glued in place using Mod Podge.  But they are not as bad as what he encountered.  His were LARGE.

So now I had two things to think about before pouring the water in the bog.  

1) What should I use for the water?

2) What should I use to glue my dead trees to the bog floor?

Well for the water, I remembered watching Boomer when he made his river scene and a drainage ditch.  Both turned out very nice.  He uses a lot of artist supplies for his modeling.  For his river, he used a mix of Golden soft gel semi-gloss mixed GAC 500 (it's very glossy when dried).  The soft gel was thick so it would hold its shape for ripples, but he mixed GAC 500 to thin it just a bit, then spread it out and used a sponge with a dabbing motion to create the ripples.  Another thing about GAC 500, it doesn't creep like most resins tend to do.

For the drainage ditch, he used straight GAC 500 pouring it with several thin layers of no more than 1/4".

Great!  This sounds like a winner, I'll give it a try.

Now for gluing the trees to the bog?  Not using the WS realistic water, I didn't have to worry about the bubbles.  But keeping this in mind, I still didn't want to use a PVA glue, what about acrylic caulking?  I tried it but it took too long to dry?

Someone told me to use CA with an accelerant.  That would work, but I didn't want to get anything sprayed on the painted bog floor that might react? 

Then a friend told me to try some UV Resin glue, it's fast, strong and dries quickly with a shot of UV light.  It also dries completely clear.  I've used this stuff to add LEDs for my loco heads lights and it works awesome.  So with this info and material on hand it was time to do a test.

I grabbed a small plastic lid, glued some sticks and a couple of weed tufts to the bottom with the UV Resin, it was fast and clear!  While it's not a permanent glue, it would hold stuff in place until the GAC 500 was poured and dried.

I poured it to about 1/8" and it did self level, but I had to coax into the weeds and up to the trees, no big deal.  Then I let it dry.  It went down solid white and started to turn clear once it started drying the next day.

After three days, it was still slightly milky in some areas.  It's been 6 days now and it's still showing some milkiness.  But the good news is, the UV Resin is not releasing any bubbles.  It also didn't creep, although it looks like it did because it shrunk thinner.

Wondering how long GAC 500 takes to fully cure, I asked Boomer a question via his YT channel and he replied it could take a bit and that maybe I should try Liquitex gloss pouring  medium.  He said it was much more forgiving.  OK, I'll give it a shot.  I went to Amazon and ordered a bottle of it.

Last night I repeated the same experiment with another shallow plastic lid, glued the trees and weed tufts down with UV Resin and poured some of Liquitex gloss pouring medium as I had with the GAC 500.

First thing I noticed was it was not 100% white in color but actually semi translucent.  It was a bit thicker, but not much (and found out you can thin it a bit if needed).  It did not creep, and I had to coax it into the weeds and around the trees.  I walked away.

Tonight I took a peek and it was dry and 98% clear, with only a very small amount around the edges and in some of the weeds where it was thicker.  Cool!  The other thing I noticed is that it did shrink just like the GAC 500.  But with no ill effects that I could see, it just got thinner.  

So I grabbed the Liquitex and made another pour over top, filling it to the rim again and walked away for the night.  We'll see how it turns out tomorrow...