Using real water on a model railroad?

We will probably have some pond liner left over after we finish the pond, so i was wondering if we could possibly model the Susquehanna river and other features with water. We have a dehumidifier already, and it's doing a good job. I think the linerr is 45 mil rubber, and is easy to work with.

I think there was a story in Great Model Railroader a few years back about a layout that used real water. When he did this, he had to paint the bottom of the lake to give the allusion of depth.

Chris

i have been following this idea on another site and here are some issuses they raised with real water usage:
1) shorts, plus humidity is not good for scenery), and partly because water does not "scale" properly.
2) Beside the fact that real water looks out of scale there's another "scale" problem - namely the deposit that builds up when water evaporates repeatedly. These are the minerals and whatnot in the water, and leave a whitish film behind. I suppose distilled water wouldn't have this problem,
3) I also tried the real water with the algae problem being the biggest deterren


i do not know about real water and model ho or n scale trains


check this link out they have ideas and stuff listed in more details

http://www.the-gauge.com/thread14787-us ... water.html
hope the owners of this site do not mind the cross post to another train site

Years back (late 1950s?? early 1960s??) there was an article in Model Railroader about a train club in the Midwest that had a large quonset hut (no support beams!) which contained a fairly large layout (seems like they had a mix of O, HO, and N to give a feeling of depth).

They used real water and had a harbor which had live fish in it!

Anyone else remember this layout?

It's a bad idea. You can't scale down the physics of water to make it behave in an HO scale world the same way it behaves in the 1:1 world. Water plus electricity don't mix. It will grow moldy and stagnant if you dont keep it moving. You will create a humid environment where you want a dry one. It won't look the right color, no matter what you do.

Need I go on?

-otto-

Andy, might I suggest looking into using a product called aquatex glass. Its rough pattern will simulate the look of water and you would just need to paint or otherwise color the surface it is being put over. The only downside is that you can only use it in regular shapes or the cost will get out of hand. If you want a sample let me know via email. I can get you one free.

I have used real water before on my layout and with good planning it can work.

you have the humidifer already so thats good, one thing I would suggest you do is add the fake water first and let that cure. Make sure you double on your liner and make sure you have a return feed as well as a way to drain the water.

A friend of mines father also did the same thing and won a few awards a few yers back. It works if you do not rush it and plan properly.

Also check out those indoor fountains that cycle water, I used a pump from one for my layout. Also make sure you get the drops used that keeps the water from growing bacteria and algae

Thanks for the support, One of One Sixty. The dehumidifier pulls out a gallon of water from the air every couple days, and keeps the basement around 50%. We can get the pump no problem. Just go to Totalily water gardens in Spencer. They also have the 45mil liner. But did you mean use the fake stuff as well as the real water?

It's entirely *possible* to use real water on a model railroad... but not possible to scale down water's behavior as it falls and tumbles over obstacles and flows around objects. It will look like you have a 1:1 scale puddle and trickle on your 1:87 layout.

-otto-