Ah!..  I konw that!...   It's looks like green cellophane over a grimy gray piece of insul board.  

And who ever said the world was not square ...

Marc 

The water beyond the ore boat is actually an aisle 99% of the time:

However, when I want to shoot photos, I put the layout in Photo Mode - i.e., setup props and backdrops to hide some of the background ugliness of my trainroom (garage).  I did that for the view in the header scene - made the 'river' wider.  Here are some pics from the early days of my layout construction:

First, the 'water' itself is nothing but green celophane that I purchased from my friendly neighborhood Michaels store.  Most of it hangs over the edge when I'm running trains. 

Lighweight angle brackets are temporarily attached to the benchwork...

...to support a pair of 2ft by 8ft slabs of Dow Board extruded foam, which I painted the color of silt (dirty gray):

Then I spread the celophane out over the Dow Board, 'randomize' the wrinkles and - wah-lah! - I've got a full-width river for the photo session:

The full-view finished image will be appearing in the January issue of MRH - no sense in posting it here now and spoiling the surprise, ya think?

Josh,

That link is from 2 years ago before I revised my layout, it's totally out-of-date.  I'll put in some newer ones shortly...

Thats awesome.. that green cellophane is the best looking port seawater I have seen.. and in the image I had absolutely NO idea that was what it was!

Kudos!

Chris

Thank you Chris!

...........................

Sure wish I could remember how I came up with the idea - just got lucky I guess.

Well I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.  So simple and yet it looks great in the photo's!

Great idea for water, but let's not allow ourselves to get swept away without raving about that beautiful SHIP. That is one great model, Josh. Nice weathering job too.

Introducing myself here; (ahem) Hi, I'm Pete. I like scenery and structures best (along with trains, rain and spaghetti) and my wife and I make model trees. This new magazine looks like a lot of fun, doesn't it? Thanks, Joe and Patty.

You mention that this is great for a photoshoot, which it does look perfect by the way, but could you see using this cellophane on a permanent basis on a layout? Or is it just best suited for photography only?

thanks

Mike

Mike,

I'd say, judging from the few pictures he posted in the thread, that it would be an almost perfect simulation.  Add  some type of air circulation under the cellophane and it would be killer.

Marc