Well, I'm finally getting rather satisfied with the water effects! This is what the water of the Stockholm archipelago would look like on a regular summer's day...



Quite a few details remain to be completed (painting and trimming the figures and the clothes, some minor detail painting etc). Since this is my contribution to the Air over the Sea Campaign , I hope to get everything done this week.

Some more pictures:





For those of you that have not seen the previous posts, this is the Marivox Saab S 17BS in 1/72. It's my first diorama (and my 7th model in all), portraying a couple of enlisted mechanics that go for a swim during the summer of '45.

All comments are welcome!

Cheers!!! :-) :-)

Great looking model and awesome water effects . What did you use to get the water effects and how did you make the splash effect look so realistic??

Hi P.B.,

Summer? Why not have it winter and say the mechanics are joining The Polar Bear Club!? :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) (I just slay myself! {Someone should })

Couldn't resist the puns!

Great looking water. Tell us how you did it?

Nitpicks: drill out or darken the exhaust pipe. Mooring lines? I couldn't tell if the nav lights are painted.

When shooting pix, try to have a backdrop. Those background scenes outside your window detract from the shot, and add kilobytes to your image size.

When I process my pix, I copy them straight into Window's PAINT, and using the solid rectangle, black out the margins. I used to not crop, now I do--looks nicer. Anyway, that reduces my unedited pix from an average of 450kbs to less than 100kbs ! And it doesn't take much blocking, either! Remember, gallery space is finite--I ran out awhile ago.

Very nice - all the hard work is paying off.

Very nice, the water effects look great, and I like the coloring too.

Great Job Polar Bear, i have been following this one since the start and i have to agree with you ..the results you have here with the water effects is awesome. Makes me wanna go take a swim...
For your first diorama..very awesome job...Can't wait to see how this comes out in the end...
Mary (++)

Looks like those guys are having fun on their break. Great job

En riktig skönhet
keep up the good work

Tom! Glad you liked the model! The water effects has been made mainly with Woodland Scenics "Realistic Water". I have experimented with some different materials to make the waves, and I plan to submit an article later (once it is all done).

The "Splash" is made with Humbrol's ClearFix, which is an extremely gooey (is that a word?) and clear substance. The following pictures shows splash #1 (since the waterlevel rose, I had to make a new one...)



Pretty cool, eh!!

and the technique I used

fig a)


fig b)

(surface tension is key!). Please note that this needs to dry for a couple of hours!




Fred! Thanks for your comments and for the very useful advice regarding the photos. I want to capture the natural daylight, but I'll try to do it with a neutral bakground in the future!

With regard to your nitpicks; I'm happy to say that I have thought of them all!
- The exhaust pipe has already been drilled out .Yesterday, I borrowed a Dremel from a friend and drilled out openings for the machine guns, the air intake and the exhaust pipe - Loads of fun!!! However, it must be easier to do at an earlier stage!! :-) The reason the exhaust opening looks so bright is that the white plastic is showing. This will be corrected! Also, the nav lights will be painted, and mooring lines added.




Mary! That's the best compliment that I can get! Thanks!!

Too bad it's 1/72...

:-) :-) :-)

Your hard work has certainly paid off Polar Bear since your last post. The effects are very impressive and the color of the water comes off well.