Martin Tärnrot

Creating a Water Jet with Martin Tärnrot

Martin Tärnrot
Sign in
Duration:   3  mins

In this video, model railroader Martin Tärnrot will demonstrate how to model water jets. Martin’s water jet is made of microfibre and water effect. The water beam needs a stiff center, so a steel wire of precisely 0.6 millimeters thick is used. Unfortunately, Martin’s wire is not white, but it can easily be painted. The foamy water jet is made from microfibers that are typically found in pillows. The other component of the jet is water effect, which can be bought from Noch or Woodland Scenic. Martin squeezes the water effect on the length of the steel wire and applies the microfiber on top. The first layer has a pipe-cleaner appearance. The wire is then cut to the length he is looking for.

From a beach modeling set, Martin had a shirtless man with his hands over his head. He saw its potential for use in this scene after just a few modifications. A soldering iron is used to heat the plastic and the figure’s legs are bent so he is standing up instead of lying down. With his feet adjusted, Martin adds some glue to his chest and glues on the water beam with some extra on the sides to make sure it is attached well. Water effect is also added to the figure’s legs to resemble the water that is falling down his legs. On the sides of the figure, more microfiber is added for the water that is spraying behind him. A water hydrant is used from another set by Noch with a few modifications, such as removing the lid of the hydrant spout. A few drops of matte red Humbrol enamel with some paint thinner minimizes paint strokes as Martin touches up the hydrant. The hydrant is then glued to the water jet and figure and tested in the scene. To see how Martin finishes the scene, watch the full video. For more scenery tips like making water scenery, visit the Model Railroad Academy video archives.

Share tips, start a discussion or ask one of our experts or other students a question.

Make a comment:
500 characters remaining

7 Responses to “Creating a Water Jet with Martin Tärnrot”

  1. Ted

    That was fun! Thanks Martin

  2. ROBERTO ARROYO

    Hi Martin, listen could you do a tutorial on beading those figures so they'll be doing something else?

  3. Ronald Walters

    Another interesting thing you can do with this technique is to create a fire scene where a building is on fire with multiple streams from firefighters hoses and maybe from an aerial ladder or 2.

  4. Douglas Gaj

    This was one of the more informative and useful free videos. As a general comment, most of the video tips I see are HO scale specific. I model N-scale, and unlike most tips, which can be scaled up but not down, this tip should work in N-scale if the wire is small enough.

  5. Bryan Adams

    Wow what an impressive video . The Scene looks so real the way the water is coming out of the fire hydrant and hitting the person and deflecting off the body. I would not have thought to paint the pavement to add the water shadow, makes it look great. This is a something very easy to do now that Mr Tarnot has shown the process. I can't wait to add some of this technique to my layout.

  6. Magnus Hellström

    This is truly innovative and looks pretty easy to do. Really cool detail for a layout with summer theme.

  7. Alex Ehn

    Wow!! A really _cool_ tutorial! Perfect for summer days! Hehe. Amazing how you can get it to look so realistic! Want to see more tutorials from you!

Get exclusive premium content! Sign up for a membership now!