How to make Real Realistic Looking Water Base for Ship Model Diorama

Disclaimer – This article is reproduced here from IPMS Stockholm without permission – I know this is a really bad thing to do, but SO many good articles have disappeared from the internet over the years, and I couldn’t stand to lose this one, so I have saved a back up copy of it here.

PLEASE Visit IPMS Stockholms original article by Omami HERE.


tech_seawater_01Replicating elements of nature in miniature is one of the more tricky aspects of modelling, requiring not only the “engineering” knowledge of a subject but also a bit of artistic sense.

For ship model builders such as myself, water base can really make or break a good model. In this article I would like to show you how to produce a realistic sea base for ship model, with rough water surface, surf and wake. I have perfected these techniques during my own project of modelling the IJN Task Force, Carrier Division 1. The Task Force consists of  the aircraft carriers Kaga and Akagi steaming side-by-side on a single base.

Before we begin, let’s consider the qualities of our subject.

Despite of what we all know about water, deep water basins seldom look transparent, especially when seen from a distance. Rather than that, water has colour and forms a glossy, highly reflective surface. These qualities of water are especially appropriate to replicate in scale, particularly when dealing with ship models in smaller scales such as 1/700.

Having performed this most basic analysis, let’s move to a step-by-step description of how to produce a convincing sea base.

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