Completed Verdun 1916

[NigelR]

Thanks Steve and Terry. I've been mulling the situation and I think there is one last thing I can try. It may not work, but I will give it a go and report back.

 

[1969]

Hope you manage to recover this one Nigel.
Cheers
Steve

 

[eppi]

Hi Nigel,
sorry for the unexpected end (if it's the end) of this beautiful scene ...

About the rings I have nothing but a thought, since I never tried:
the resin tends to form a kind of round fillet against any edge it encounters;
maybe if one makes the concentric rings with fishing wire (in decreasing size) and then covers them with a very slight layer of resin the result might be similar to the rings on water ...?
I guess one must find the way to fix in shape the rings on the surface of dried resin without visible traces on the final result, but this might be a minor problem ...

 

[Ferris]

Ouch Nigel. Sorry to hear the project gave you such strong resistance! That sucks bigtime.

Would it be possible to salvage the figures and have another go?

Could it be a last resort action to pour one last one or two millimeter thick layer with heavy colouring in a mud colour, hiding everything below, and leaving it without ripples?

And if that doesn’t work you could take the Elon Musk view: an exploding rocket means many lessons learnt for the next test launch... We live and learn.

Adrian

 

[NigelR]

Could it be a last resort action to pour one last one or two millimeter thick layer with heavy colouring in a mud colour, hiding everything below, and leaving it without ripples?

That's the plan. I realised the last layer of resin was only lightly coloured, so the cloudy gel is very visible through it. If I put a thin layer of heavily coloured resin that might work. There won't be any illusion of depth but everyone seemed to be ok with that (my previous cockup....)..

I feel I have to do ripples, because the problem is one of the French figures now has his foot in the water. The nitpicker in me says there's no way he can be completely motionless and not cause ripples.....

So I now have pretty much every product available on the market and will be practising lots of different approaches to see if I can pull it off. I also ordered the AK Dioramas FAQ book specialising in water, snow and ice effects because I can there are some examples of ripples in that.

 

[Briggsy]

Good fighting spirit Nigel, to give in is to miss some of the lessons, well that's what I was once told, bloody crackpot philosophers. I'm glad you're cracking on with this still because it really is worth saving, mind you so is your sanity.

Cheers Simon

 

[Andrew Belsey]

It disappointing for you that you can't see far into the puddle, but it still has some depth and is still a great model, so don't despair. Looking forward to the final pour!
Andy

 

[Nap]

Hi Nigel

Like those in the hell of trench warfare...keep fighting , the figures are so well painted ....

Watching with fingers crossed with the final pour

Nap

 

[MalcC]

I have everything crossed for you, this is such an amazing piece in every way.

Malc

 

[NigelR]

OK, I could be back from the brink.......

Here's what I was dealing with. I had poured the resin and then applied some acrylic gel to make ripples over the top of it. The ripples were a disaster (should have practised first!), so I let them dry and then poured some more resin over the top to cover them up. Two big problems: first, the resin was not coloured enough to cover the ripples and second (and even worse), the resin reacted with the acrylic gel to create the horrible effect you see here:

This was the point before Xmas where I was ready to give up. However, thanks to some encouragement from everyone on here, I decided to persevere. I started practising the ripples on test pieces and am getting confident I can pull the effect off. So I poured a heavily coloured layer of resin over the mess above and this has covered it up. So I now have this:

This looks OK and although the water has gone a bit deeper than I intended, I think it works.

I also made the tint for the resin slightly lighter so that it tones better with the mud colours of the groundwork, and I think this looks better than my previous version.

I am going to do ripples on top of this when it has dried, but I am still practising and will carry on practising until I am sure of my technique. Fingers crossed, the next post should be in the "Completed" section.......

 

[Ferris]

Seems like it’s going to end well Nigel! This is looking great and if you managed the ripples before, you’ll manage them this time as well.

If I may have a suggestion: Since the water surface area is a bit bigger than you planned, perhaps you can break it up a bit by adding some floating leaves, concentrating on the water edge. This is very easy to do by pressing them in a little bit of the stuff you are using for waves. A floating branch can be done by sanding it down flat, halfway and glueing it in the same manner. I did this a while ago to hide some air bubbles.
I’ll try and post a pic of what I mean.

Cheers
Adrian

 

[Ferris]

Oh, and if I may, I’d suggest to leave out the ripples around the german. Think it will enhance his state of deadness.

 

[NigelR]

Seems like it’s going to end well Nigel! This is looking great and if you managed the ripples before, you’ll manage them this time as well.
If I may have a suggestion: Since the water surface area is a bit bigger than you planned, perhaps you can break it up a bit by adding some floating leaves, concentrating on the water edge. This is very easy to do by pressing them in a little bit of the stuff you are using for waves. A floating branch can be done by sanding it down flat, halfway and glueing it in the same manner. I did this a while ago to hide some air bubbles.

Thanks Adrian, fingers crossed I will get there.

That's a great suggestion by the way. I'm aware of the technique, I hadn't thought of using it but it is an excellent idea. It will also help blend the groundwork with the water and help hide the shiny edge the resin creates.

 

[NigelR]

Oh, and if I may, I’d suggest to leave out the ripples around the german. Think it will enhance his state of deadness.

Yes, I realised that was not a good move. Another thing I screwed up.....

 

[MalcC]

You didn't screw up for one, a breeze could 've caused the ripples around the deceased figure.
The ripples look very effective, looking forward to seeing the next step.

Malc

 

[Briggsy]

Too much the perfectionist, the first ripples were good, well apart from on the dead guy, but hey ho these things happen. The gel reaction was unfortunate but folks dying in pools and all that carnage, gas and stuff there's bound to be some scum on the surface. All that said I admire your spirit to carry this forward to a satisfactory conclusion, more credit to you sir!

Cheers Simon

 

[Merryweather]

I was looking at our local stream the other day and I'd say you've got it bang on there Nigel.
My suggestion for making the ripples(which is utterly theoretical...)is to use pieces of tubing of different sizes. I'll try it one day myself, I'm sure,if I ever get around to it!
Keep the faith,it looks brilliant

 

[David Spencer]

It looks great from here. The mud snd stagnant water are nicely done. Horizon blue looks right. Stick with it!

 

[eppi]

Cheers Nigel and happy new year!
Any trouble is a good chance in work-clothes. Your scene is already pretty good, with or without ripples, and I think it will be better, with the hints of Adrian.

 

[NigelR]

Thanks for more positive comments everyone. Tomorrow is the big day - I have been practising hard, have honed my technique and decided what product to use. I also have some debris ready to add as Adrian suggested. So tomorrow I plan to go rippling again.......