Layout with river emptying into ocean, color change??


M

Matthewd5

Member
Ok my layout is going to be like 1/3 water with a river running all the way down into a 2 1/2' harbor

For thr top of the river I'm definitely going with shallow water lined with small rocks and will have some scale fly fishing figures but when I get to the ocean I'm planning on having it far blue/greenish

The question is where and how to transition, I'd hate to just have it be a hard cut from clear stream to dark ocean, I'm using magic water which dries totally clear

I could airbrush the waterbed from a medium earthy brown in the beginning into the blueish green/blue/black for the harbor or I could cheat and make the change under a low bridge!

Matthew
 
Depending on what area you are modelling, the transition into the ocean isn't as sudden as you might think. Even with selective compression a river will be washing silt and some turbulance into the sea for some distance. The "deep blue sea" probably doesn't occur until a couple of miles offshore, depending on the presence of reefs, sandbars, manmade jetties, etc. True, there can be some sudden dropoffs that would provide a deepening of the bottom, with the accompanying change in color. Are you planning on having ocean-going ships tied up at a dock? The churning of the ship's propellers will stir up mud and debris from the bottom which would take awhile to settle.

Best of luck with your project.
 
Somewhere I have an aerial bhoto of Belize City, taken from about 30,000', and there is a very noticeable demarkation between the river outflow and the main sea water - which is between a mile and two miles from the coast itself. The distance would also depend on the speed of the river. I'd suggest that you go for a brownish-green, and forget any clear blue .
 
Thank you for the replies, it's supposed to be a small harbor in Maine with the biggest ships being lobster boats...

The depth wouldn't be anything more than 30-50 ft but I need to goto my local working pier and take some pictures as I've spent a bit of time on and near the water

But i wasn't building a layout at the time and the view from a kayak is a lot different than being 25 scale feet above plus the harbor will be dead center in front of the layout along with a lighthouse

Matthew
 
I suggest using Google Earth to view real rivers similar to what you want. Save it as a jpeg, print it, and put it under the clear coating! :)
 
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