Reflective quality of soft gel

Check out the reflective quality of the almost dry first coat of soft gel – pretty darn impressive!

That looks nice.

That looks nice.

Excellent effect and a great

Excellent effect and a great tip!

Two Liter Bottle Stream

Hi RRFanIowa,

I've had good results producing a curved stream using clear 2 liter bottles.  Just cut a piece from the area between the neck and side of the bottle, glue in place and brush on clear gel to get the "flow".

Cool!

Very cool!  Will have to try that.

Joe

Gotta try this...

Great tip and great results!

Final look…

…here's how the final mini-scene turned out. 

Excellent

This is a vry easy way to go, I will make a try soon

I have used a similar effect for my layout in N scale

I glue a very thin piece of clear acetate cut in form from the pipe to the water surface.

The piece of acetate is brushed with clear 2 parts epoxy, tinted in a mud color.

When dry, yes the water flow out of the pipe !

Note to self

“Note to self”

No swimming on rrfanIowa’s layout!  

‘Joe

Erosion

It looks great but the lack of erosion is throwing me off. There should be some visual differences along the shore line where the water drains. Either some rocks would be washed away, or there should be some discolorization of the rocks. 

  @Kevin

That's a good point on discoloration on the underlying rocks, Kevin. I went in and added some. 

Thanks for the input!

who makes the soft gel?  

who makes the soft gel?

Not Realistic

Your methods and techniques are fantastic, but the hydraulics of the flow are not very realistic.  For the water to reach that far out from the culvert, you might need a fire hose.  Considering the amount of flow and the almost horizontal look of the culvert, the flow needs more of a vertical drop right out of the culvert.

LG

Could there not be

Hi Scott, LG, Michael, all

Could there not be a 4" or 6" pipe doing a "full bore runner" into the drain further upstream of the drain outlet?? 

In the steel industry I've seen some seriously large pipes dump into drains that were almost the same diameter as the drain itself. 

Could a fan of stain from almost directly under the end of the pipe to the shore give the impression that varying amounts of "stuff" travel down the drain from time to time. And now more "stuff" is heading down the pipe than the more usual "dribble of stuff" that would drop almost directly under the end of the pipe. The width of the fan of stain across the shore would be greater than the splash in the water because of splatter when the stream hits the ground.  

PS - a "full bore runner" is what happens when the plug in the bottom of a ladle of liquid steel totally fails... Fire hoses don't hold a candle to that type of flow or to the splash effects when the hot stuff lands on anything.

I had the same thought

I had the same thought, that the arc was too great, but the modelling was so good and so far beyond what I can do I didn't want to say anything.

I believe that even if a smaller pipe with water flowing through it at high speed was emptying out into the larger culvert, the water would very quickly slow down due to the culvert's larger size and lack of pressure and the water would soon would within six or a dozen feet be moving along at a rate strictly determined by the slope of the pipe.

The only way you'd get that kind of arc is if there's a cliff just out of view and the big pipe turned nearly vertical in a smooth curve.

Not Realistic

Unfortunately LG is right, the amount of flow (volume) you have would require a high velocity in order to spill that far from the end of the pipe. 12" from the end of the pipe is more like what will be and look right.

Also, good sized riprap stone is needed around the base of the pipe to prevent the water from creating a scour hole. Place the stone around the area the flow from the pipe meets the ground or shallow water. The area of stone should extend out into the water in the direction of the flow from the pipe. The size of the stone depends on the size of the pipe. If your pipe is 24" dia, use stone that scales to around 18" round. The stone could be smaller if the bottom of pipe was at ground level.

What you have is a very cool opportunity to create a unique scene. Use the image below as a starting point. A few years after installation, the riprap will get clogged with silt at the edges; grasses and water loving trees and shrubs will start growing there. Find a place in your town where a storm pipe empties into a pond or lake, take photos, and maybe a fishing rod.

I hope I haven't been to much help.

Mark Gugliotta

Pipe drainage

 Have done something similar. I used a black thread draped out of the pipe then coated several times with Woodland Scenics water effects. Once the final coat was dry I did a wash with a rust stain. Some stones for rip rap to protect the stream and lost of dead weeds and branches to show the damage done by coal drainage.

Hydraulic flow

I'm not a hydraulic engineer, but I did try and reference a lot of drainage pipes before building the scene. The pipe is angled about 30 degrees down, and who's to say how forcefully the runoff would be flowing through. To me it looks very similar to the photos included in this post, especially the first image. So, I'm happy with the results and I seriously doubt I'm going to have very many hydraulic engineers critiquing my modeling. 

Drain into river

Mate, I have seen some drains in my time of driving trains in NSW Australia and I think you have nailed it with the drain into the river. very good representation of the water coming out of the pipe. Love it.

Allen

Arc of flow

BTW: the "arc" of the water flow is a whopping 4 scale feet. IMO, totally reasonable for angled runoff as shown. 

@scenicRme:  the soft gel is made by Golden. They produce a very good line of acrylic paints and mediums. 

@Aussie Allen

Thanks, Allen!

@Scott

Scott,

After reading through this post, then re-examining your photos, I think your finished result looks just fine as is.  Good job!

Al Carter, Mount Vernon, WA

@Al

Thanks, Al!

Well done Scott!

The fact your work has generated so much detailed discussion of the physics of hydraulics is testimony to the fact how great and awe inspiring your water pipe scene is. Well done! Doug