Water questions

[Jim 68cuda]

At some point this winter, I expect to be ready to model water on my layout. It will be a rocky shoreline of a bay. I've read several different methods for doing water from painting directly on wood (or even painted plaster) covered with tinted gloss medium, to using Magic Water, or Woodland Scenics water products over paint, or in several layers over a detailed stream bed.
I've been thinking of a slight twist on what i've read, and would like to hear some input. The water I model will be rather deep. I want to simulate some depth.
I'm thinking of using some clear plexiglass. Then, rather than painting the top surface as you would if you were preparing wood or plaster prior to applying your "wet" top coat, I would paint the bottom of the plexiglass. Then, I thought the top of the plexiglass could be painted with more transluscent tones, but more opaque in some areas than others (thus it would be possible to hide the thickness of the plexiglass at the shoreline). I could drill holes in the plexiglass for wood piers to a dock so it looks like the piers actually disappear into the water. On top of the plexiglass, I would use Woodland Scenics water or Magic water or one of the other methods for creating ripples and small waves.
Am I over thinking this, or could this actually work for creating the appearance of more depth than the the more traditional ways of making water? I don't want it to look blotchy or cloudy and I don't want it to look like the water is only as deep as the plexiglass is thick. Has anyone tried anything like this?

 

[Pom in Oz]

Have a look at this Jim, it rung a bell when you asked about plexiglass
http://www.scale-models.co.uk/completed/10813-some-where-volga.html

Cheers Darren

 

[Larry]

I did the Plexiglass thing about 25 years ago on a Customers layout because that was what he wanted. It wasn't my idea, but I did what he wanted. The water area was about 4ft by 3ft. He had 2 large sailboats in HO scale, a Barge & some smaller boats. The only real problem was the discoloration that the Plexiglass caused when it got real cold in his trainroom. Also, the edges of the Plexiglass were always trying to distort when the room was real warm. Cutting the boats at the waterline were easy, making them look like they were in the water was another problem in itself. The depth really looked good & at the edge of the table I cut out a section to show the bottom & put logs, an old flatcar, parts of a steam engine, some small boats & other junk. The depth of the water/plexiglass was about 2 inches. At the edge I added a lot of scenery to blend in the surroundings. When you drill plexiglass or Lexan you have to be real careful not to make hairline cracks that will sooner or later crack all the way to the edge. That's another story in itself. Over the years I used the paint on the bottom idea in all my metal sculptures when I used Lexan in the art piece. It gives a lot of depth to the Lexan.

 

[Rico]

I did that once with glass from a shower door, same as a patio table top.
Looked pretty good actually.
I painted right on some rough surface plywood which came out looking like ripples also.
The paint I used was matched to a photo at the local hardware store.

 

[Jim 68cuda]

Thanks for the input. I was unable to view the pics on that UK forum since I'm not a member, but Rico's picture looks realistic.
At least it sounds like I should experiment a bit on a scrap piece of plexiglass.