Has anyone used plexiglass for water modeling?

Yes

That's how I create waterfalls. I cut varying width strips of plastic; cut wavy on the edges; then with a heat-gun and gloves I bend the strips in an elongated s-shape to confirm to the drop height.

Next I place the strips in the falls area, over-lapping them. Then I apply silver tinsel with Modge-Podge as a glue over the strips. I use a large brush to apply the MP. Next I lightly color the MP and tinsel with light blue and white paint.

The effect is a sparkling waterfall that changes reflection as you view it from multiple angles. I am doing one now; so Ill post some photos.

Paul, there are a number of threads and relatively recent posts about using rippled or flat glass. dennis Brennan is definitely one of the resident experts (among others) on this technique and if he doesn't chime in here you can look up the posts.

jerrman

Hi, I haven't found anything useful on the search feature under "plexiglass"; maybe it's under a different title...also tried "water" and that wasn't helpful either.

Here's one recent thread:

https://ogrforum.com/d...956#4245430039668956

Paul,

You mentioned a drop down river to allow access to inner part of your layout.  Are you making some sort of lift out section or access hatch?  Rippled shower door glass discussed in other thread would add weight to a lift out section and could cause a hazard if the section was ever dropped and the glass broke.  Is this why you were thinking rippled plexiglass or plastic?

Joe

Joe, my drop-down will be on hinges, and access will be thru the middle of the layout which is bisected by the river and both sides of the layout will be connected by bridges. At this point in planning, the river will be fixed under the bridges necessitating a duck-under to get to the middle part, which will likely be the drop-down portion. The layout is island shape so I don't anticipate getting into the middle very often.

The links were helpful although I couldn't find any specific building hints. I'll start going through my back issues of CTT as I recall Dennis B. wrote some past layout building articles. Thanks.

This is reverse painted plexiglas on a lake

This a textured metal panel that might work for what you are doing. 

 http://www.citadelap.com/products/glazeguard-250-wr/

Let me know if you want more info. 

Mark, that is interesting. I couldn't tell from the link what you used. Any more information is helpful. Thanks.

Check out this post.

https://ogrforum.com/d...411#5371679457453411

I have not been able to find any supplier of plexiglass with a rippled design the resembles water. Does anyone have a source?

I'd hit the building supply stores . Somebodys bound to make it as every shower door in America has it and not all are made of glass.

David

Go to a glass shop!

Find a company that fabricates plastic. They make point of sale items like brochure holders, boxes, etc.

I bought mine at a glass shop.  They had leftover pieces at clearance prices and I found several good pieces dirt cheap.  I used the rippled plexiglas and put it over a stream bed and a lake bottom.  I painted the bottom in varying shades of tan, green and blue and put logs, weeds, rocks, etc, down there. The effect is great, better looking than resin. Very 3 dimensional.  Plexiglas is hard to cut though, I used a special blade in my sabre saw and still had to use some cooling water while cutting to keep it from fusing back together.

John

I use the shower door glass and, though it is a bit expensive, is the best looking water I have seen.

Eliot

After seeing first hand a small scrap section I ordered a rippled plexiglass - kind of like shower glass door or patio table pattern that I think will work on my drop-down river section (it'll have to be screwed or clamped down beyond the river banks). That section is made of good quality birch plywood, and I want to paint it before applying the plexiglass. Anyone have tips on types and color paints to use? I am not very artistic so please include details on what brand/type paints and how to do this. Thanks.

Paul

usually blues blue-greens dark greens; but don't believe me, first look and observe actual streams or from photos. Match those colors.