Making hard water effects

[Eyeless1]

So due to the aquatic rule I wanted to make my own terrain of swamps and rivers and stuff, and I wanted to go all out doing so. So I bought some water effect stuff from woodland scenics and made a cool little swamp as a test run. Its big enough to fit about 15 skrimishers on it.
But there is a problem. The water effect is soft, even after sitting around for a few weeks. So whenever I put a model on it for a few minutes the base will sink into the water and get stuck. I can still pull them apart but then I have a nice square indent in the water.
Do you guys have any ideas about how I can make the water effect harden enough so that models dont get stuck on it? I was thinking of some clear drying glue and put a layer over top, which should work...but Ive never tried it before...
Thanks

 

[n810]

I think adding a layer of polyuritanne varnish over your water fx might work.
It's what I was considering for one of my own projects... never got aroud to trying it though.
in principle it should work though.

 

[Eyeless1]

So a quick google search tells me that its a gloss thing that I should be able to get at home depot or any hardware store, yeah?
But it looks like there are a lot of different kinds. Have any idea which would work best, or are they mostly the same?

 

[n810]

yea gloss would be the shinyest and the hardest.
Don't think brand matters, but you probaly want one that is clear and not tinted brown,
hmmm, unless ur doing swamps then brown water wouldn't be terrible.
You would only need like 1/2 a pint or whatever, oh and try and keep it in a
reasonably dust free area while it dries.

 

[DanBot]

Holy crap! I would have to say return that bottle if you can or get a new one! I use the woodland scenic products all the time, both realistic water and water effects. It is supposed to harden. Also you may be using "water effects" in too thick of layers. You should be using realistic water as your base and putting water effects(mixed with paint" on top of it for texture. I can see a half inch or more layer of "water effects" not drying ever. But quarter inch layers of realistic water should be hard enough to add to after 8 hours. Half inch layers should be completely hard(Thick layers can cause bubbles.) in 24 hours.

It should be so hard in fact that I have actually dropped one of my water based models and chipped and scratched the water effects so now it looks more like cracking ice.



I hope you used the stuff on the left.

Also did it at least turn clear? If it is foggy it is most diffidently not dry and probably never will.

Pretty shitty picture, but you can see it here on the base.

 

[NexS1]

I'd also suggest maybe some PVA over the top?

 

[Lizardgirl2102]

I really want to do this it looks awesome ^_^