The Ship Model Forum

Guys

I'm looking for a little clarification regarding a cotton wool bow wave. I watched Chris Flodberg video when creating the bow wave but was a little unclear if the entire piece of cotton needs to be covered by glue to seal it.

Can someone point me in the right direction? Would spraying the cotton with clear coat seal it?


Cheers

Marty

You can spray it but it will still look like cotton and not watery. What Chris does is touch it with good medium all around. I have used regular silicon for the same thing with very good results. Take your time, if you don't like it rip it out and start again

Thanks Nikos for the reply, can you explain your method with the silicone?

Do you soak the cotton in transparent silicone then mould it into shape using tweezers?

I've just completed my silicone sea on MDF and I'm looking to start building the wash now.

Thanks for your help

Marty

oh no the other way around.
If you saw the Chris's video, he roughly shapes a piece of cotton in his fingers. Brushes some kind of glue, be it gloss medium for instance, on the sea surface and places the cotton right next to the bow. More finger manipulation as needed until you re happy with the shape. Then with a small brush dipped in gloss medium lightly touch the cotton all around, it will give it a "wet" look once dry.

I do the same thing with silicone. The advantage is that you dont have to wait for it to dry, you see your final result immediately. Use a toothpick or a dentist spatula and lightly touch the cotton. Especially at the bottom where the cotton meets the water to unify them. I takes a bit of practice and be prepared to toss the first few tries until you re happy with it.

After the silicone has dried you can still roughly manipulate the final form of the wave.

What type of silicon are you referring to? I'm only familiar with tube silicon used for caulking and sealing.

that's it, just regular silicon

Nikos

Ive just been looking at your fletcher build! SUPERB!!!!!!

I see what you mean with the silicone, all is clear now!

Thanks for your help.

Marty

cheers mate. It's not difficult, take it slow

How do you apply tube silicon? Just squeeze it out onto the base and spread it with a brush or spatula? What are it's advantages over acrylic gel? Doesn't it have any toxic fumes?

Check out this link, its how I learnt the method

Cheers

Marty

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IFOpc8Q6a7M

One thing I'm not clear on...do you apply the silicon and leave a shaped void for the model to fit into? Or spread out the silicon evenly and press the model directly into it before it has cured? Or does it matter at all?