Tony F goes dumpster diving and makes some water features from scrap materials.
I spotted a couple of commercially made ponds on a table at a recent club meeting, and was struck by the sudden desire (one of Terry Pratchett’s raw inspiration particles maybe ?) to make something similar of my own.
A while ago I came across some scrap pieces of clear acrylic in the skip near my workshop. They were reasonably large bits with the protective film still in place – I assume they were just leftovers from someone else’s job. They’ve been languishing in my shed for the best part of ten years waiting for the right project, and this was finally the right time.
I started by drawing out a couple of random curved shapes on one piece of the acrylic with a Sharpie, and cut them out with a coping saw (which was harder than it should have been – I probably needed a finer-toothed blade). I tidied up the edges and removed any burrs with some sandpaper, taking care not to touch the main surface.
The next stage was to spray the side without the film on. The plan was to use a two-tone effect to give the water depth. Wanting a stagnant, algae-choked look to the water, I started with a very light coat of Citadel Death Guard Green – this was deliberately patchy and light enough to see through when I held it up to the light. In the photo below you can still see the pattern on the protective film through the paint. I then followed it with a much more solid coat of Army Painter Angel Green which would hopefully represent the murkier depths of the ponds. Once this was dry I covered the painted side in clear sticky-back plastic – this would be the side that touched the table and I wanted to protect it from scratches which would be almost impossible to repair.
Turning them over and removing the protective film, I was pleasantly surprised to see the effect – certainly as good as I’d hoped for. I then coated the edges of the ponds with a mixture of brown emulsion paint, sand and PVA glue. When dry this was dry brushed with a couple of lighter shades. The final stage was to decorate the ground texture with lots of different grass tufts, bushes and flock, representing some heavily overgrown banks.
So there we have it – for not much more than an hour’s work (excluding drying time) and a few pence worth of materials (probably the most expensive bits were the various grass tufts), all of which I already had, two small ponds which would work for anything from 15mm scale upwards – the figure in the final photo is a Diehard Miniatures 32mm elite bounty hunter.
I’m tempted to use the same technique to make some river sections, maybe with brown paints for the water instead of green. Ideally I’d paint the edges of the water in a paler colour then spray the centre of the water in the darker tone. This would need a bit more control than that offered by spray cans, so I’d have to break out the airbrush. Watch this space to see if I actually get round to this project…
