Cleaning/refreshing ideas for river made with Liquitex Gloss Medium?

[Bart1701]

I used Liquitex Gloss Medium to create the rivers on my layout a number of years ago.

They are not quite as shiny and glossy as they once wear. I do clean them using Woodland Scenic's Dust Grabber and also will use a soft, wide paint brush to remove any dust that accumulates.

Any suggestions on the best way to clean my rivers or a way to "refresh" them?

Thanks,
Bart

[robert3985]

I used Liquitex Gloss Medium to create the rivers on my layout a number of years ago.

They are not quite as shiny and glossy as they once wear. I do clean them using Woodland Scenic's Dust Grabber and also will use a soft, wide paint brush to remove any dust that accumulates.

Any suggestions on the best way to clean my rivers or a way to "refresh" them?

Thanks,
Bart

I do my rivers (and customers' rivers) with either Liquitex glossy mediums and/or WS "Water Effects"...sometimes over just flat, painted river bottoms, or over Envirotex.  When they start to get abraded by cleaning & dusting, I apply a thinned coat of Liquitex Gloss Medium on them...making sure they've been thoroughly cleaned and there's nothing on the surface like dust, cat hair, ground foam...you get the picture.

This does the trick for me, keeping the waves, ripples and rapids like they were, not adding any noticeable artifacts to my previous surface treatment, but rejuvenating the high gloss.

I don't thin the Gloss Medium much...about 3 parts Gloss Medium to 1 part distilled water...or maybe slightly less.  I don't want it runny, but I don't want it to make more waves either.

When I clean 'em, I dust them with a camera lens soft brush cleaner that has a manual blower (rubber bulb) that also blows the dust away.  This is pretty effective. If you can't get on locally, get one here: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1176845-REG/dot_line_dl_1772_blower_brush_large.html/?ap=y&ap=y&smp=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514

Have fun!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Bart1701]

I do my rivers (and customers' rivers) with either Liquitex glossy mediums and/or WS "Water Effects"...sometimes over just flat, painted river bottoms, or over Envirotex.  When they start to get abraded by cleaning & dusting, I apply a thinned coat of Liquitex Gloss Medium on them...making sure they've been thoroughly cleaned and there's nothing on the surface like dust, cat hair, ground foam...you get the picture.

This does the trick for me, keeping the waves, ripples and rapids like they were, not adding any noticeable artifacts to my previous surface treatment, but rejuvenating the high gloss.

I don't thin the Gloss Medium much...about 3 parts Gloss Medium to 1 part distilled water...or maybe slightly less.  I don't want it runny, but I don't want it to make more waves either.

When I clean 'em, I dust them with a camera lens soft brush cleaner that has a manual blower (rubber bulb) that also blows the dust away.  This is pretty effective. If you can't get on locally, get one here: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1176845-REG/dot_line_dl_1772_blower_brush_large.html/?ap=y&ap=y&smp=y&smp=y&lsft=BI%3A514


Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Thanks, Bob!

For the "cleaning" step, is it just the camera lens brush that you use to do that? Nothing else in addition to that?

Thanks,
Bart
Have fun!

[robert3985]

Thanks, Bob!

For the "cleaning" step, is it just the camera lens brush that you use to do that? Nothing else in addition to that?

Thanks,
Bart
Have fun!

Bart, I also suck the dust out of the air while brushing the river surface with a vacuum cleaner nozzle close by.  I'll also clean the river surface with a lens cleaning micro-fiber cloth dampened with a bit of ethyl alcohol "lens cleaning solution"...but, I always make sure I've removed the vast majority of the dust from the surface first before applying the damp cloth so I don't scratch the river surface.  Most of the time, just brushing with the lens cleaning brush is sufficient, along with a shop vac nozzle nearby sucking the dust out of the air.  Using the damp micro fiber cloth is something I've done maybe three times in the past 12 years?????  Not much.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[signalmaintainer]

I used Liquitex Gloss Medium to create the rivers on my layout a number of years ago.

They are not quite as shiny and glossy as they once wear. I do clean them using Woodland Scenic's Dust Grabber and also will use a soft, wide paint brush to remove any dust that accumulates.

Any suggestions on the best way to clean my rivers or a way to "refresh" them?

Thanks,
Bart

It's pretty simple to maintain water effects created from Liquitex gloss medium.

1) Get a copy of Dave Frary's "Realistic Model Railroad Scenery" book.

2) At the back of the book, he covers rejuvenating scenery, including water: Clean the surface by dusting with a soft brush. Then apply another light coat of gloss medium.

I do not thin the gloss medium at all.