Geren Mortensen's HO Modular Railroading Page   FCSME Home Geren's Home   Geren & Karl build a waterfall   For a long time now, the West end of the "Quincy" modules has been waiting for a creek and waterfall.  It's finally happened, and here are the photos showing how we did it. Clicking on one of the images will open a larger copy of the picture.                   Here's the area.  If you've every seen my modules at a public show, you know that the waterfall drops almost 12 inches to a creek bed, which flows out to the front of the module.                 Our first step was to vacuum out all the loose bits and pieces from the area of the falls.               The "water" for the falls is made of clear silicone tub caulk.  I used whatever was cheap at the local hardware emporium.  I bought the toothpaste-style tubes because they're easier to handle in a tight space.  To get the desired thickness, we applied several layers.                            We picked at each layer of caulk with a toothpick, constantly teasing the caulk throughout the process to achieve a frothy appearance.     While the caulk was still soft, I dry-brushed flat white into to make highlights and foamy areas.  Use a stiff brush for this step, as it helps to form the somewhat rough texture of the falls.               Here's the "finished" waterfall, waiting for the rest of the creek to be poured.  To pour the creek, we used a product used in floral arranging to represent water that Karl's wife found at Walmart.  It's a little less expensive than Envirotex, but appears to be nearly the same.  The important thing is to make sure that whatever you choose sets up clear, and doesn't smell like the "Castincraft" brand!     IMPORTANT:  Before you begin to pour the "water" into a creek or lake bed, be absolutely certain that it is well sealed.  The casting resin runs like water, and will find every little hole in the under-lying scenery.  Karl and I thought that we had found them all, but the resin found a couple more!     Here's the creek bed after the first pour.  It's better to pour in thin layers and let each setup before pouring the next.  Always start at the deepest point and let the resin flow up the banks to avoid having strange wetlands around your water.  I ended up doing three pours to fill the creek to the desired level. When you mix the resin, be sure to mix it exactly per the manufacturer's instructions.  Otherwise, you won't get the results you want.  And, once poured, it's a real pain to get rid of the stuff.  As an experiment, I tried doing all the pours while both the resin and the caulk were still soupy.  After the third pour, I used a toothpick to mix the bottom of the falls with the water in the pool.  This created the churning water effect I was after, as shown in this over all shot.  The next project on this module was a "forestation" job.  As shown here, there are over 150 trees.  Over the course of the following few hours, I added about 75 more!     This site and it contents Copyright © Geren W. Mortensen, Jr., 2000