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Dioramas
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Ammo MIG Clear Water
edoardo
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Milano, Italy
Joined: November 30, 2007
KitMaker: 642 posts
Armorama: 234 posts
Posted: Friday, February 08, 2019 - 07:11 PM UTC
hallo friends,
I got myself a jar of Ammo (MIG) clear water acrilic medium to simulate water in dioramas.
It is the fery first time I am trying to use it and I am a little puzzled.
To experiment I added a poodlle in my vignette featuring a rusty Ford Model T.
For the first try I used a spatula to lay a ‘thin’ layer but still after many days some areas of it were still not cured in fact they were still white and not clear at all.
Stripped it and redid it using an old brush, better results but still I hoped for something better.
Third try was made by dilutind the acrilic medium (which, by the way, comes in a white paste like mayo) in water.
In this way it was really self levelling (while in the earlier tryies was not despite what is stated on the label) but still it does take ages to cure and, to my eye in some spots it is not really clear....
I’ ll post some pictures soon, but I wanted to ask you some advice if you have any experience with it....

thank you in advance
ciao
edo
Venko555
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Bulgaria
Joined: December 07, 2013
KitMaker: 908 posts
Armorama: 698 posts
Posted: Friday, February 08, 2019 - 08:59 PM UTC
Hi, Edoardo

I haven't tried AMMO acrylic water, but I had experience with AK Still water which shrinks and cracks no matter how I applied it. For small puddles maybe it's OK.
Now I'm using two part clear epoxy resin (in my case Pebeo/Gedeo crystal clear resin) and it's bullet proof. You can tint it with small amount of acrylic and it dries hard as rock and crystal clear for about 48 hours.
So I don't bother anymore with acrylic water except for making waves etc. over the resin.
Others may have better results with acrylic water,
My two cents
edoardo
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Milano, Italy
Joined: November 30, 2007
KitMaker: 642 posts
Armorama: 234 posts
Posted: Saturday, February 09, 2019 - 01:14 AM UTC
Thank you Venelin!
I too think that I made a mistake in purchasing it and indeed for waves should be ok....
I add some pics...







in this last image you can see what I poured yesterday night. It is a heavily diliuted paintbrush tipof 'clear water' diluted in 20 drops of real water. As you can see it is level, dut still not cured after 14 hours. I'll post some more when it will cure a bit.

thank you again

ciao
edo
chefchris
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North Carolina, United States
Joined: February 06, 2006
KitMaker: 1,544 posts
Armorama: 1,464 posts
Posted: Saturday, February 09, 2019 - 02:14 AM UTC
Great post! I would go with Venelins suggestion. He gets great results with it.
Have you considered any of the woodland scenics stuff? I have the water effects. As long as you shake it really good it's worked for me. It dries in about 24 hours no cracking.
Jager52
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United States
Joined: October 25, 2012
KitMaker: 9 posts
Armorama: 6 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - 04:42 AM UTC
I have had very good luck with Krycell water and snow products and customer service.
Check it out. They also have instructional videos.
https://www.precisioniceandsnow.com/water.html
Good Luck,
Jager
edoardo
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Milano, Italy
Joined: November 30, 2007
KitMaker: 642 posts
Armorama: 234 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - 05:56 PM UTC
hi guys!
thank you very much for the support and for your tips!
Following your suggestions I bought some 2 part epoxy resin. it is from a local manufacturer so i keep down the bill
it is called ‘crystal lux’ and it has to be mixed about 60-40. it arrived just yesterday, so i have not tested it yet.... i’ll give it a try over the weekend and i’ll let you know how it worked.
ciao
edo
ctkwok
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Alabama, United States
Joined: May 21, 2018
KitMaker: 197 posts
Armorama: 183 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - 06:03 PM UTC
I use acrylic mediums for shaping waves and they work great, from Liquitex / Golden brands. I assume Mig repackaged these and sold them as higher cost, but other than that they would dry clear and the time it takes depends heavily on the thickness. If you do still water the resin solution is best. Other than that, your application would probably become clear in a week or two, unless Mig's stuff isnt what I assumed them to be.
pod3105
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Waterford, Ireland
Joined: August 08, 2010
KitMaker: 466 posts
Armorama: 444 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - 07:26 PM UTC
You could also try just simple PVA applied in layers depending on the depth required. I've used it for small puddles of standing water. Ill try to dig out a picture.
Venko555
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Bulgaria
Joined: December 07, 2013
KitMaker: 908 posts
Armorama: 698 posts
Posted: Wednesday, February 20, 2019 - 07:56 PM UTC
I suppose those water effects are artistic gels, colored and higher priced
Look at those two guys videos, they made some tutorials with water:
Lukes Aps
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsmD5774MOQhjYBkXqu3Jdw
Luke Towan
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjRkUtHQ774mTg1vrQ6uA5A
edoardo
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Milano, Italy
Joined: November 30, 2007
KitMaker: 642 posts
Armorama: 234 posts
Posted: Thursday, February 21, 2019 - 05:55 PM UTC
thank you friends! i really appreciate your imput.

last night cleared the puddle of the Mig stuff so it is ready for the next try, i’ll made some pics to show you how it worked

ciao
edo
edoardo
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Milano, Italy
Joined: November 30, 2007
KitMaker: 642 posts
Armorama: 234 posts
Posted: Saturday, February 23, 2019 - 01:44 AM UTC
hi all!
this is the epoxy resin i am going to use



and this is the puddle I am going to fill...



made a first layer early this mornig and I can tell you yhat it is far better then the MIG clear water effect... we'll see when it is cured... til then, all the best!
ciao
edo
kefran
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Quebec, Canada
Joined: January 29, 2003
KitMaker: 87 posts
Armorama: 85 posts
Posted: Saturday, February 23, 2019 - 06:15 AM UTC
hello, the clear water effects by MIg is nothing else than acrylic heavy gel, this is used to build up the ripples at the surface, not to do the pouring you'll ba able to use it over your epoxy resin to create little waves etc.
Venko555
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Bulgaria
Joined: December 07, 2013
KitMaker: 908 posts
Armorama: 698 posts
Posted: Sunday, February 24, 2019 - 04:25 AM UTC
Yes, epoxy resin is the way to do water with pouring. I bought AK Water gel transparent recently and it has many bubbles in the pot, and when applying appearing even more. It's not useable even for waves, except maybe rough and fast water, and has nasty smell. Very disappointed, but I will open another topic testing various products for water and will share my thoughts.
Waiting for your results Edo, cheers
edoardo
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Milano, Italy
Joined: November 30, 2007
KitMaker: 642 posts
Armorama: 234 posts
Posted: Friday, March 01, 2019 - 09:55 PM UTC
hi friends!
Here I am to report how it tourned out, and I am happy to say that the result is ok, considering it is my first time with some water effect...
I enjoied the build so I think I'll experiment more... but here are some pics, I hope you'll like them























Venko555
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Bulgaria
Joined: December 07, 2013
KitMaker: 908 posts
Armorama: 698 posts
Posted: Saturday, March 02, 2019 - 12:23 AM UTC
Looks better with the resin
scubatwo
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Alabama, United States
Joined: January 07, 2017
KitMaker: 83 posts
Armorama: 73 posts
Posted: Saturday, March 02, 2019 - 01:16 PM UTC
Great build! Water turned out nice. Worn out old car kicks ass
cheyenne
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New Jersey, United States
Joined: January 05, 2005
KitMaker: 2,185 posts
Armorama: 1,813 posts
Posted: Saturday, March 02, 2019 - 10:54 PM UTC
Nice to see you solved your problem Edo , looks very good !!!
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