Ancient German River Fleet

[Beano Boy]

While i was writing my welcome ,you posted an update of sorts showing how it all goes together. Amazing Stuff! It is always good to join in and enjoy an interchange of encouragement by way of typing comments too. Well done.
"Yip you have arrived."___ "Howdy,and I second that." BB

[Ochoin]

Keep those photos coming.

donald

[sberry]

Excellent! Great paintjob and fantastic work on the landscape!

[vellek]

I'm not into hyperbole but this is the best diorama I've ever seen in my life. Ever.

And welcome to the forum!

[Dad's Army]

And yes, because these are seperate elements it will be possible to show some of it on Figz 2016.

Cool mail us at info@figz.nl
And we will get you a place there!!!

[Kekso]

I agree with others, it is fantastic. Welcome to the forum.

[Bluefalchion]

It's hard for my brain to process your brilliant diorama. Where are those ancient Germans rowing off to? Are those skulls on poles a form of ancient emails?

[dutchboyinohio]

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant !! And just out of curiosity... are you the same mr. Cryns that made an incredible indian army, compleet with very colorfull war elephants, tigers etc ??

(i think i saw it somewhere on the hat site)

I knew I had seen that name somewhere before, and now I remember (thanks dykio)!!

Anyway, that's a fantastic looking dio and an awesome setting for wargames. Thanks for showing the set up.

I looked up the Tar Bender you used to make the water. Interesting stuff, hadn't heard of it. Is it difficult to use? I'm still learning how to make water look more like, well, water

Welcome to the forum!
DBIO

[Cryns]

I looked up the Tar Bender you used to make the water. Interesting stuff, hadn't heard of it. Is it difficult to use? I'm still learning how to make water look more like, well, water

Dear Dutchboyinohio,

There is much to tell about using Tar Bender, or about the many other materials for making miniature water scenery. Before I start writing about my experience with it (it is poisonous, chemical stuff, must be used outside, wearing protecting cloth, gloves and safety-glasses, it takes many different layers and days to finish, it shrinks so the river-elements bend and had to be re-heated in my wife's oven to flatten it out again, you have to use a creme-brulee-flame to remove all the air-bubbles appearing in the liquid after molding it) you should tell me what you need it for.

If you want to make a small pool or brook with little depth, I recommend a one-component material, like Woodland realistic scenic liquid water, available for scale-train landscapes and wargame elements. There is also a version of hard solid balls that have to be melted, but thats the most difficult one since it cloths and hardens before it has flattened out over the area you want it to cover.

If you want to make a river, lake or sea deeper than a few millimeters and covering a vast area, you can think of using a two component chemical like Tar Bender.

My problem was that I was making very thin movable water elements, without a steady table under it (like a modeltrainlandscape) or a vast wooden base (like a diorama). And all of them hat to fit on both sides to all the other elements sides to make the largest variety of different river patterns possible.

Well, let me know what your plan is and I will try to give you some good advice or at least share my experience. It was a lot of try- and error with different failures and mis-casts before my river was finished.

[panzerman]

Super realistic nature scene. Fantastic figure conversions. Truly a slice of history come to life. Bravo!!!!!
Bill.

[DickerThomas]

Wonderful !!

[sberry]

There is much to tell about using Tar Bender, or about the many other materials for making miniature water scenery. Before I start writing about my experience with it (it is poisonous, chemical stuff, must be used outside, wearing protecting cloth, gloves and safety-glasses, it takes many different layers and days to finish, it shrinks so the river-elements bend and had to be re-heated in my wife's oven to flatten it out again, you have to use a creme-brulee-flame to remove all the air-bubbles appearing in the liquid after molding it) you should tell me what you need it for.

Hi,
a few remarks on the water issue, since I’m interested in this topic, too:
I had to google for this Tarbender stuff and I have learned it’s an epoxy resin, surely quite nasty and toxic. If you are prepared to deal with chemistry, you cold also try crystal-clear polyester resin, also toxic and with a terrible smell, but perhaps somewhat easier to work with and faster. Some notes & pics here.

The alternative, which I have tried recently, is to use a slab of acrylic glass, onto which you can model the water surface with materials like Woodland Scenic Water or Vallejo Still Water. I think this method might also have been ideal for creating the separate pieces of your river fleet project, as you can get nice and straight edges just by using a saw. I borrowed the idea from Wolfgang Meyer and his team; some pics here.

[Cryns]

Mr. Sberry,

I am very surprised to read your reply to my topic, since your Late Roman Pontoon diorama is one of my favorites and was even a source of inspiration for my own segmented river parts after I saw your pictures on Hat's ETS site a few years ago. Not only your artificial water is excellent but everything in this dio is of high quality. Like for example your choice of color for the weathered wooden pontoons and bridge-elements. Well done.

Interesting to read you had some troubles too by the modelling of water.
There is in fact some funny contradiction in your reviews:

Here you recommend it:

you cold also try crystal-clear polyester resin, also toxic and with a terrible smell, but perhaps somewhat easier to work with and faster. Some notes & pics here.

But by reading your notes you discourage all of us:

In particular, this was my first and certainly my last experiment with polyester resin for creating water surfaces: a really nasty stuff that appears deceptively simple to apply, but that turned out to be a real troublemaker.

So, shall we try polyester resin or shall we not?

[sberry]

So, shall we try polyester resin or shall we not?

I admit my last statement wasn’t as clear as it could have been. So let’s try to resolve to contradiction: In principle, I still like the idea that you simply create hollow areas in the diorama where you want a water surface, then you pour some transparent stuff into those areas – finished.
But, as always, the devil is in the details. I will not use that polyester resin any more, because it is too difficult to work with, at least in my opinion. I mentioned it only because I had the impression that Tarbender is even more difficult. For instance, I had done the water body in a single layer, while you mentioned that you had to pour several thin layers during several days. And I also had no trouble with bubbles that had to be removed. So if you are in principle willing to work with liquid resins in the future, you could give it a try.
But my favorite is definitely the acrylic glass method, which I can recommend without restrictions!
Best regards,
Stephan

[Luke05]

I like your diorama