Cliff & Waterfall for Jungle Table

Here is what I'm am currently working on. I have a jungle table that needs a waterfall. So I started by cutting the bulk of the cliff out of foam.

Using a Woodland Scenics rock mold, I cast some stone facings and glued them to the front. I tried alternating them enough so you wouldn't notice a pattern, but it was very awkward to work the size of the mold & shapes together with the size of my cliff.

Then I cut the top using a hot wire cutter to match the varying levels of the stone facing and used spackle to fill in the cracks. While the spackle was semi-dry I took some crumpled up aluminium foil to give it a texture. Hopefully it'll blend together nicely once it's dry & painted.

Of course as I close in on my deadline for this project, things start getting frustrating. I've gotten the thing painted:

I even put a little fossil guy on the outside of the cliff for funzies.

And onwards to the waterfall... The plan is to make the falls first, then pour a thin pool of resin to be a base for all the splashes and give it some stability during storage, and lastly pour resin in the top river area.

I know this thing is going to spend most of it's days in a box & be transported quite a bit, so I thought making the falls out of resin would be a good idea. Except foil was probably not the best thing to use as my mold.

I thought it would just peel off after the resin hardened, but it didn't. So that was a bust. But I had some left over silicone caulk for doing a river/waterfall a few years back so instead of dinking around with the resin, I started using that method again. First I was going to use the 'crystal clear' tube I had unopened from last time but when I opened it to use it, it was hard as a rock & turned brown. I checked my foggy/clear kind & it seemed ok, so I squeezed some out on the foil & started texturizing with a stick...

except... apparently that stuff can look alright & still go bad. Because I've left it sit for 2 days and it will not cure. It's just as tacky as when I applied it.

So, a quick run to the store this morning & I did it again.

The tube promises me this will dry clear, so I have faith that this is it. I will be able to move on to Phase 2 tomorrow. *fingers crossed*

Here's an idea if you still wish to use resin - pour the resin on to cling film that way if it can't be removed its a clear object and can be wrinkled prior to pouring to provide a textured surface (by rights cling film 'should' only stick to cling film and nothing else).

Nice job on the piece so far! I like the colors of the stones too!

Last edited by Skunkape on January 16th, 2014; edited 1 time in total

Yes and aluminum foil wants to stick to everything! The caulk wouldn't release from that either, so I ended up reapplying it to some cling wrap with a much better outcome.

Even before it was totally dry I was able to peel the caulk from the cling wrap. I applied another coat to the back of it so the backside of the falls do not appear flat.

I did pour a bit of resin on the corner of the cling wrap to test it, and it did peel off fine. I will be using that to make the puddle the falls lands on. Now it's a race against dry times to get this together before next week.

Glad my mis-spent youth attempting to stick things to other things has finally paid off, this technique also works for doing the edges of sectional rivers/canals and dockside (well as long as you coat something with a flat edge in cling film and seal the edges with 5 minute epoxy (stuff of legends for water at the edges of things)

Fingers crossed your that the time constraint doesn't gang up on you cos I am really looking forward to seeing this one complete.

That doesn't sound mis-spent at all
You want to know the really silly thing? I've done that before for a modular river. I wrapped a sturdy box in cling wrap, butted it against the side of the river & filled in my caulk to end up with some pretty decent edges

Unfortunately the more stressed I get, the more I forget handy things like that.

The falls are complete and I even had days to spare. So, to finish up I cut caulk sheet into two strips & attached to the top of the cliff face using hot glue.

Cling wrap was laid down under the whole piece to provide release later. I lifted up the falls & poured a puddle of resin...

... and released the falls into puddle.

I put down more resin to act as base for splashes

Then I temporarily attached cling wrapped cardboard at cliff edge, and poured resin for the river & let dry

More caulk was dabbed on to give river & splash zone texture

Then I added thin wisps of Fiberfill around base of the falls in a mist-like fashion. (I did this while caulk was wet to hold mist in place.)

Here is how it looks after it dried.

I mixed gloss medium & a bit of white paint to add a foamy look to the peaks of the caulk

Then finished off with some flock & plants for greenery.

TaaaaDaaa!

And the whole set together. Thanks for following along!

They look fantastic Melly.

Like the fibre mist never encountered that before will remember that one thanks

This turned out marvolous. The cliff side is great - your colour palette really compliments the fine texture of the cast stone. Water texture is just brilliant. Last time I tried out "Crystal Clear" silicone caulk it looked more yellowish, but yours looks perfect. The foaming up part needs to be written up for a Wiki article.

I just realised I missed out on your pyramid and pond. Great palette and great stone cutting too. Reminds me of the work by Theomar Pious over at Tom's Boring Mordheim Forum bit with a more radical stroke to it.

I agree - this piece is absolutely great! The water and especially the stone look very realistic. I think my favorite bit is the hidden dino skeleton in the cross-section though. Such a great little detail. I will have to remember that if I ever make some table-corner terrain like this!

That piece looks amazing! I love the water, looks really great!

inspirational stuff!