The Stream

I began work on the stream by painting the stream bed and banks with diluted Stone Gray from the Woodland Scenics Earth Colors Kit.

Note: Woodland Scenics does not have anything specifically made for making Z scale layouts, but many layout supplies Do not have a scale.

After the paint dried I removed the foam sheet from the briefcase and covered the "ends" of the stream with a short piece of strapping tape. Then I painted on a layer of Scenic Glue and completely filled the stream, overflowing onto the banks, with a mixture of about three-fourths medium gray and one-fourth fine gray talus (little rocks) from Woodland Scenics.

I let this set overnight to dry, then poured out the excess talus, leaving a dry stream bed and banks covered with "boulders" of various sizes.

Woodland Scenics opens their web site with a beautiful picture of a stream - much like I hoped mine would eventually look.  So I bought some of their Realistic Water. I'm not sure how this is going to work out.

The directions say to pour a thin layer, about one-eighth inch thick. I did that just before bedtime and sat there for the next half to three-quarters of an hour puncturing bubbles that formed in the "water." I thought I'd got them all and went to bed. The next morning there were still bubbles there, mostly fine ones, so I went off to work.

When I got home the water was still tacky, so I left it overnight. The next morning the water had shrunken so much that it was just a thin layer over the talus. The picture to the right is a portion of the stream with a second layer of Realistic Water about 8 hours after pouring. This eventually shrank down so that it also just covered the talus.

I e-mailed Woodland Scenics's Customer Service. The reply from Kelley McDaniel suggested that the bubbles maybe coming from not having sealed the stream bed. Painting the stream bed with white acrylic paint prior to the Stone Gray should provide an adequate seal.

I wasn't sure if adding a third layer would leave sufficient room beneath the bridges, so I just left it as is for the time being and decided to go on with the landscaping.