is there any way to create water effects on a base of the model without having to buy a bottle of water effect? i heard of PVA and water but i tried that and it doesn't seem to work well.
You can use gloss medium to cheate a shiny surface that you have painted water colored... White glue can work for shallow water... but I immagin that different brands will give different results. so if you want any type of deep water, you are probaly going to get some sort of water FX.
Try mixing a very tiny amount of blue ink or wash with the pva glue before applying it. This gives a nicer water effect. You could also try a touch of green or brown as well if you wanted the water a bit dirtier; I was aiming for a beach look when I tried. Here are a couple of tests: Each base is split horizontally as well, the lower half has more ink in it and the top half has only a tiny amount. The glue dries clear so you really only want half a drop of ink with a decent blob of pva, maybe more wash since it has less pigment. Experiment and see what you like. The left one is done on top of sand, the middle is done on top of a blue painted base, and the right is just on a black base and obviously didn't work. You can see it on the bases of some seaguard here.
I think I put a little bit of water in, but the more water you use the longer it takes to dry. I don't know how this is even possible but I had a a small amount of PVa mixture on my pallete that took over a week to dry. I don't think it really needs much water.