Boggy Bits

[MojoBob]

 

Here's the first piece of bog terrain finished.

I originally intended to use a 5-minute epoxy and acetone mix for the water, but I can no longer find really cheap and nasty epoxy — I used to be able to get 40ml syringes for just a couple of bucks, but now the cheapest ones I could find are closer to ten. So, instead I used polyester casting resin, which costs about thirty bucks for a 250ml can.

There are down-sides to using the polyester:

• First, it stinks to high heaven while it's curing.
• Second, the disposable plastic cups I used for mixing are dissolved by it — I had to do a rapid transfer into another vessel before it ended up all over everything.
• Third, it's very, very clear, which would normally be a good thing, but for this purpose it could have done with being a bit more murky. I added some colouring, but not quite enough, so the water looks more lake-ish than boggy.
• Fourth, it's quite a bit thicker than water, so the meniscus is more pronounced, and it takes a bit of persuasion to flow into all the nooks and crannies. However, I was pretty much expecting that and I'm not heartbroken by it.

The vehicle in the picture is my 3d-printed 1/100 scale Burford-Kegresse machine-gun carrier.

[lowlylowlycook]

Well, nevertheless,  the results are excellent. 

[Glitterwolf]

Nice terrain!

[malefactus]

That really does look WONDERFULLY boggy. OUTSTANDING WORK!

For murky water I paint the colors I want it & then put a couple of layers of brush-on gloss finish.

[Chaoswolf]

On ‎1‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 11:25 PM, lowlylowlycook said:

Well, nevertheless,  the results are excellent. 

I agree; good work!

[MojoBob]

Figures are British WW1 staff officers from Peter Pig

 

This terrain piece is somewhat experimental, inasmuch as I wanted to try out using very cheap (and pretty terrible) 5-minute epoxy resin for the water effects. I wanted something to go at one end of my river pieces (here and here), so they don't necessarily have to go from edge to edge of the table. The water doesn't match those pieces though, so that may not be a goer — I'll just have to see how much the difference scrapes on my nerves when the pieces are actually in play.

The no-name epoxy I used was some I found on a clearance rack at a local hardware chain store, for about three bucks per 50ml syringe. At that price, I figured I wasn't risking much except my time if it didn't work. I mixed it along with about 5-10ml of acetone to thin it, and I added some sepia acrylic ink — far too much, as it turned out — to colour it.

The results are as you see, only partially successful. With the acetone and ink added, it took a lot longer to cure than it said on the label, but that was a good thing as it gave me more working time to nudge it into all the nooks and crannies. In very shallow areas, close up against the flocking, it has greyed out somewhat. I suspect that's because the PVA I used to seal the flock wasn't fully dry, and some of it has migrated into the epoxy. It's not a tragedy for this piece, because it just looks like muddy, swampy muck, but it would have been problematic if I'd needed clear water throughout.

Whether it was because of the additives or not I don't know, but when it cured, this epoxy developed a waxy bloom that had to be wiped off. I was a bit relieved when I found that it could be wiped off.

The epoxy has one advantage over the polyester casting resin I've used, and that is that it doesn't smell, but that's it's only advantage. It is much thicker, and really does need the addition of acetone to make it usable at all, and it creates a pronounced meniscus as it cures. It doesn't create the slight surface ripple that the polyester does, so it doesn't look as convincingly liquid.

 

One thing: it would have been better to have attached the dam across the river-mouth end so that it leaned out at a slight angle. That way, when I trimmed off the meniscus, it would leave a vertical edge, and the water surface would remain shiny and flat right up to the edge. I didn't do that, so when I trimmed the meniscus it left a scar across that edge.

[malefactus]

OUTSTANDING! The water gives the impression of depth. EXCELLENT EFFECT!

[Chaoswolf]

I agree, I think it looks pretty good as a mucky bob.