A short review of the Woodland Scenics E-Z Water, mostly because I couldn't find a useful one anywhere on the web when I needed it. Hopefully this will benefit someone.
What it is is a bag filled with small yellowish beads, it looks for all the world like a bag of hot glue spheres, but it's not glue. The small beads are resin, you put them in a disposable pan and melt them. Then you pour out the liquid onto your terrain and it dries all shiny and clear, like water.
How is it? Well, it's good. The bag mentions using it for puddles and ponds specifically, and i can see how that would be the ideal use for this. When you pour it out it pours rather like you would imagine a liquid hot glue would pour, it's not water thin but rather more like a syrup. It pours well, but it's not going to flow into every nook and cranny on it's own.
The good: It's pretty cheap, it's easy to use, and it does indeed look like water when you're done. The best part is that it hardens in just a few minutes (once again, think hot glue here). This was the main advantage to me, I was in something of a hurry and didn't have the 24 hours other water products require for drying.
The middle: It's thicker than water, so it will pool with an edge to it instead of self leveling. Once you know that it's easy enough to compensate for. Also, it hardens quickly so there is very little time to work with it once poured. Later attempts to fill in spots must be done carefully since the new pour will simply sit on top of the old pour. Knowing this, however, makes it possible to create some very nice effects that would be exceptionally difficult with other products.
The bad: If you over heat the pellets, and it's darn hard to figure out when that's going to happen, the liquid starts smoking. A lot. I'm talking military grade smoke bomb here. Alright, not quite, but it will (and did) set off the smoke detectors. It will also dry with a yellow tint to it. That may be an issue, it may not be, depending on the purpose you have in mind. I didn't care and actually think the odd tint looks nice in the creek I used it for.
Other points: Other things I noticed that someone reading this may wonder about.
Does it smell when melting? Sort of. The first melt has the odd smell of someone browning butter. Otherwise it really has little odor, though an open window is not a bad idea. If, however, you overheat it and get it smoking it most certainly does have a smell. It's not a bad one, not like burning plastic or anything, but it's there and noticeable. Fortunately it went away fairly quickly (with the AC fan on, four windows open, and another large fan blowing). Like I said, not a bad smell but not one I wanted around to get yelled at over.
How long does it stay liquid? Not real long, but long enough that I could melt it on the stove, walk out to the deck, and pour it on the terrain. That's not real specific, but it's the best I have.
What stuff do I need to do it? Heat (I used the stove. Shhhh) A pan, I bought a small frying pan at the dollar store. Masking tape, this seals off the end of the creek area. Obviously a pond or puddle would not need this.
So, would I recommend it? It depends on what you're doing, but yeah, it's a good product. If you need water fast, this is it. If you need pools or ponds, this is it. If you don't care if the water is yellowed, then this is really it.
I'll give it a 3 out of 5 on the scale. It has a few wonky issues you need to be aware of, but is over all a very nice product.
What it is is a bag filled with small yellowish beads, it looks for all the world like a bag of hot glue spheres, but it's not glue. The small beads are resin, you put them in a disposable pan and melt them. Then you pour out the liquid onto your terrain and it dries all shiny and clear, like water.
How is it? Well, it's good. The bag mentions using it for puddles and ponds specifically, and i can see how that would be the ideal use for this. When you pour it out it pours rather like you would imagine a liquid hot glue would pour, it's not water thin but rather more like a syrup. It pours well, but it's not going to flow into every nook and cranny on it's own.
The good: It's pretty cheap, it's easy to use, and it does indeed look like water when you're done. The best part is that it hardens in just a few minutes (once again, think hot glue here). This was the main advantage to me, I was in something of a hurry and didn't have the 24 hours other water products require for drying.
The middle: It's thicker than water, so it will pool with an edge to it instead of self leveling. Once you know that it's easy enough to compensate for. Also, it hardens quickly so there is very little time to work with it once poured. Later attempts to fill in spots must be done carefully since the new pour will simply sit on top of the old pour. Knowing this, however, makes it possible to create some very nice effects that would be exceptionally difficult with other products.
The bad: If you over heat the pellets, and it's darn hard to figure out when that's going to happen, the liquid starts smoking. A lot. I'm talking military grade smoke bomb here. Alright, not quite, but it will (and did) set off the smoke detectors. It will also dry with a yellow tint to it. That may be an issue, it may not be, depending on the purpose you have in mind. I didn't care and actually think the odd tint looks nice in the creek I used it for.
Other points: Other things I noticed that someone reading this may wonder about.
Does it smell when melting? Sort of. The first melt has the odd smell of someone browning butter. Otherwise it really has little odor, though an open window is not a bad idea. If, however, you overheat it and get it smoking it most certainly does have a smell. It's not a bad one, not like burning plastic or anything, but it's there and noticeable. Fortunately it went away fairly quickly (with the AC fan on, four windows open, and another large fan blowing). Like I said, not a bad smell but not one I wanted around to get yelled at over.
How long does it stay liquid? Not real long, but long enough that I could melt it on the stove, walk out to the deck, and pour it on the terrain. That's not real specific, but it's the best I have.
What stuff do I need to do it? Heat (I used the stove. Shhhh) A pan, I bought a small frying pan at the dollar store. Masking tape, this seals off the end of the creek area. Obviously a pond or puddle would not need this.
So, would I recommend it? It depends on what you're doing, but yeah, it's a good product. If you need water fast, this is it. If you need pools or ponds, this is it. If you don't care if the water is yellowed, then this is really it.
I'll give it a 3 out of 5 on the scale. It has a few wonky issues you need to be aware of, but is over all a very nice product.
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