Night Fighter Nut
Master Sergeant
Here is a picture of the water base I made for my daughters ship. If this looks like what you are trying to do, I'll tell you how its done..
1/350 USS Princeton CVL-23 - Unofficial GB
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- Thread starter
- #103
Crimea_River
Marshal
Good stuff Brian. Would appreciate some instructions either posted here or PM'd.
Night Fighter Nut
Master Sergeant
Ok, this comes from the April 2016 edition of Fine Scale Modeler. The technique was developed by Chris Flodberg. I got a chance to do this and found it worked very well.
First you start with foam insulation. This is the pink stuff and is about 1" thick. Place the ship where you want it and draw around it. It looked like you already attached the hull. The outline should match the waterline of the ship. Once you have this outline drawn, cut along the line but not all the way through. This part needs to be in place for the next step. This is to protect the edges from damage.
Next, using a rotor tool, or drill with a broad wire cup brush, make eye-shaped gouges in the foam. These need to be running in the same direction and varying in size so they look like waves. Be careful to keep them relatively even in size or they could ruin the effect.
Once this is done, vacuum the foam, your work area, and your clothing to keep debris out of the paint. Also you can remove the center area where the ship will sit.
Materials for the next steps are :
Clear gloss acrylic medium, paper towel, artist's acrylic gesso, phthalo blue, black, and white acrylic paint, clear flat acylic, rayon balls, and liquitex high-gloss varnish.
I'll write more later.
First you start with foam insulation. This is the pink stuff and is about 1" thick. Place the ship where you want it and draw around it. It looked like you already attached the hull. The outline should match the waterline of the ship. Once you have this outline drawn, cut along the line but not all the way through. This part needs to be in place for the next step. This is to protect the edges from damage.
Next, using a rotor tool, or drill with a broad wire cup brush, make eye-shaped gouges in the foam. These need to be running in the same direction and varying in size so they look like waves. Be careful to keep them relatively even in size or they could ruin the effect.
Once this is done, vacuum the foam, your work area, and your clothing to keep debris out of the paint. Also you can remove the center area where the ship will sit.
Materials for the next steps are :
Clear gloss acrylic medium, paper towel, artist's acrylic gesso, phthalo blue, black, and white acrylic paint, clear flat acylic, rayon balls, and liquitex high-gloss varnish.
I'll write more later.
- Thread starter
- #105
Crimea_River
Marshal
Chris Flodberg, what a coincidence. Chris is the guy who's work I'd love to emulate. I saw some of his work at a local model show and follow him on FB.
Part of what steers me away from trying this is that some of the materials are things I never heard of and would have no idea where to get them.
Thanks Brian.
Part of what steers me away from trying this is that some of the materials are things I never heard of and would have no idea where to get them.
Thanks Brian.
Night Fighter Nut
Master Sergeant
Those materials would be found in an art store in the acrylic paints section except for the rayon balls. Those can be found at a medical supply store. If you still can't find it, use fiber fill used to stuff stuffed toy dolls or animals. This would be found at a fabic store.
Night Fighter Nut
Master Sergeant
I'll have more time to write Friday... I have that day off.
- Thread starter
- #108
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks Brian. I appreciate this.
Night Fighter Nut
Master Sergeant
You know, most people call me Bill 
- Thread starter
- #110
Crimea_River
Marshal
D'oh. I knew that. Sorry Ken!
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
That looks great George! 
Night Fighter Nut
Master Sergeant
Ok, let's finish up. With a regular paint brush, doesn't really matter how wide it is 1" - 4" will work fine, put down a generous layer of clear gloss acrylic medium over the foam sea minus the section where your ship will sit.
Then, while this is wet, lay a single layer/sheet of paper towel over the sculpted foam. He cautions not to tear the paper if possible. Carefully press the paper towel into the wet foam area. He likes to use his fingers for this part but a sponge or soft brush would work to. The idea is to work out any bubbles that would get trapped underneath.
Now before the underlying layer dries, liberally put on more of the same medium you put onto the foam over the paper towel. Be careful not to brush or push too hard to avoid wrinkling the paper. He goes over it again with his fingers to push air bubbles from under the paper. What you want is a snug fit against the foam. No wrinkles... any wrinkles would spoil the realism of the waves. Set aside in a safe place, away from the cat and or pesky kids, and let dry.
When it is completely dry, trim the paper from the open space where your ship will sit and the outer edges of the base.
Next, apply several coats of artist's acrylic gesso on the surface. Gesso looks like white paint but kind of flows like a gell. Artists use it to make those fancy thick brush strokes and features you see on paintings. It would go under the paint on a painting, not on top.
Anyway, the trick with this stuff is to apply it with a brush going in line with the grooves. The brush marks should be going with the waves instead of against them. After more than twelve layers, you will notice that the texture of the paper towel disappear and the sea looks smooth. Let it dry and it is ready for paint. He states that he sands any debris out of the finish.
The base coat of paint he uses is a mixture of phthalo blue, black, and white acrylic paint. This would be artist paint in a tube. Mix it until it looks like the kind of ocean blue you want. I looked for phthalo blue with a green hue. The ideal color Chris Flodberg looks for he describes as denim.
Once this is on, look at your photo references of water around ships for where and how the foam is around the ship while it is moving. Guided by photos, he airbrushes dull, mint green to suggest subsurface churn created by the ship. I airbrushed this light, dull, mint green where the waves would be created from the bow cutting through the water, in the area where the resulting waves would be and in the prop wash area. All based on photos I had of the ship I was working on. The color Chris used is a mixture of white and turquoise with a tiny bit of black to dull the shade... when it looks good to you, let it dry. The nice thing about painting is if you don't like it, paint it over and start again.
Everything is then sealed with a clear flat acrylic to prevent subsequent layers from affecting the mint green.
Now for the fun part, the water effects. Chris used medical rayon balls (don't use cotton) and pulled the fibers apart between fingers to create webs. I couldn't get a hold of rayon balls so I used I used polyester fiberfill. This is the stuff used in stuffed animals or kid pillows. This thing is to pull it apart so that it is not in a clump. Clumps will come later in a way that you want them to be.
Carefully attach the fibers with Liquitex high-gloss varnish. This creates a watery clear, shiny finish. He describes the process like this, brush a little varnish onto the spot where you want to attach the fluff.
This would be like on the crest of a wave or somewhere the water surface would be bubbling like in the prop wash area. While it is wet, place the rayon web. Lightly applying more varnish over the strands causes the strands to bunch up and become coarser.
The result is very realistic as you can see from my earlier photos. Brushing on more varnish tamps the rayon onto the surface of the sea. I had to push my fibers down from time to time as the stuff dried. Then I would brush more on over the entire base. After several layers of the high-gloss varnish, you end up with what looks like real water.
Chris attached wooden blocks under his model so that the ship rode even at the waterline. Since the foam I used was only about 1/2" thick I just hot glued my ship into place and it sat right at the water line. You need to play around with your ship to get it to sit right in the water. Once you are satisfied with how it sits, glue or fasten it into place.
Next, patch the crack along the waterline with rayon and high-gloss varnish as described earlier. Here you would make the waves the bow creates pushing through the water and undulate the line along with water line. This would suggest motion through the water. When done. Let dry and sit back because not it is done.
Any questions? I think I may do a thread on how to do this later with lots of photos.
Then, while this is wet, lay a single layer/sheet of paper towel over the sculpted foam. He cautions not to tear the paper if possible. Carefully press the paper towel into the wet foam area. He likes to use his fingers for this part but a sponge or soft brush would work to. The idea is to work out any bubbles that would get trapped underneath.
Now before the underlying layer dries, liberally put on more of the same medium you put onto the foam over the paper towel. Be careful not to brush or push too hard to avoid wrinkling the paper. He goes over it again with his fingers to push air bubbles from under the paper. What you want is a snug fit against the foam. No wrinkles... any wrinkles would spoil the realism of the waves. Set aside in a safe place, away from the cat and or pesky kids, and let dry.
When it is completely dry, trim the paper from the open space where your ship will sit and the outer edges of the base.
Next, apply several coats of artist's acrylic gesso on the surface. Gesso looks like white paint but kind of flows like a gell. Artists use it to make those fancy thick brush strokes and features you see on paintings. It would go under the paint on a painting, not on top.
Anyway, the trick with this stuff is to apply it with a brush going in line with the grooves. The brush marks should be going with the waves instead of against them. After more than twelve layers, you will notice that the texture of the paper towel disappear and the sea looks smooth. Let it dry and it is ready for paint. He states that he sands any debris out of the finish.
The base coat of paint he uses is a mixture of phthalo blue, black, and white acrylic paint. This would be artist paint in a tube. Mix it until it looks like the kind of ocean blue you want. I looked for phthalo blue with a green hue. The ideal color Chris Flodberg looks for he describes as denim.
Once this is on, look at your photo references of water around ships for where and how the foam is around the ship while it is moving. Guided by photos, he airbrushes dull, mint green to suggest subsurface churn created by the ship. I airbrushed this light, dull, mint green where the waves would be created from the bow cutting through the water, in the area where the resulting waves would be and in the prop wash area. All based on photos I had of the ship I was working on. The color Chris used is a mixture of white and turquoise with a tiny bit of black to dull the shade... when it looks good to you, let it dry. The nice thing about painting is if you don't like it, paint it over and start again.
Everything is then sealed with a clear flat acrylic to prevent subsequent layers from affecting the mint green.
Now for the fun part, the water effects. Chris used medical rayon balls (don't use cotton) and pulled the fibers apart between fingers to create webs. I couldn't get a hold of rayon balls so I used I used polyester fiberfill. This is the stuff used in stuffed animals or kid pillows. This thing is to pull it apart so that it is not in a clump. Clumps will come later in a way that you want them to be.
Carefully attach the fibers with Liquitex high-gloss varnish. This creates a watery clear, shiny finish. He describes the process like this, brush a little varnish onto the spot where you want to attach the fluff.
This would be like on the crest of a wave or somewhere the water surface would be bubbling like in the prop wash area. While it is wet, place the rayon web. Lightly applying more varnish over the strands causes the strands to bunch up and become coarser.
The result is very realistic as you can see from my earlier photos. Brushing on more varnish tamps the rayon onto the surface of the sea. I had to push my fibers down from time to time as the stuff dried. Then I would brush more on over the entire base. After several layers of the high-gloss varnish, you end up with what looks like real water.
Chris attached wooden blocks under his model so that the ship rode even at the waterline. Since the foam I used was only about 1/2" thick I just hot glued my ship into place and it sat right at the water line. You need to play around with your ship to get it to sit right in the water. Once you are satisfied with how it sits, glue or fasten it into place.
Next, patch the crack along the waterline with rayon and high-gloss varnish as described earlier. Here you would make the waves the bow creates pushing through the water and undulate the line along with water line. This would suggest motion through the water. When done. Let dry and sit back because not it is done.
Any questions? I think I may do a thread on how to do this later with lots of photos.
Last edited:
A4K
Brigadier General
Cheers for that info Bill, and great work Andy!
- Thread starter
- #115
Crimea_River
Marshal
Appreciate you spending the time describing the process Bill. I think I may need to try it now but will need to see if and where I can get the supplies.
Just for fun, here's one of Chris' masterpieces, currently gracing his FB page:
Just for fun, here's one of Chris' masterpieces, currently gracing his FB page:
That's real nice work....
Night Fighter Nut
Master Sergeant
Its a very cool process and since I now have all the materials, this is the process I will use on future ship builds. Its just awesome.
A4K
Brigadier General
Love that diorama Andy! It can't have been easy!
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Great info, makes me want to do a ship model now !
