Modelling a river

[whiffwaff]

I'm making a diorama with a river running through it... But am stuck on how to make the river...

I wanted to steer clear of resin as it ways goes wrong for me!

Any suggestions?

Cheers

Adam

[OSHIROmodels]

Spend time looking at the colours of real rivers and then spend even more time painting the bed right. Once your happy with that then several coats of yacht varnish will finish the job. Thin coats of varnish, and plants of them otherwise it will ripple.

cheers

James

[Turbo-Ben]

Hi Adam, we just built a very simple (and cheap) river for our table - greenbrown paint on flat surface, some sand and stones on the sides an a coat of transparent acrylic from the diy. I think it looks quite good!

[Westfalia Chris]

I support the varnish concept, I've done a number of river sections in that way. Works very well, although it can be tedious (less so than working with resin, mind you, and less tricky).

An alternative option would be to buy a self-adhesive transparent foil, and put these onto the tiles before texturing and painting the river banks. I've done a couple of water boards in that way, and it provides for a nice reflection effect:



It may, however, be a bit tricky to get the river banks to adhere to the foil, as I haven't tried using this method yet for "modular rivers".

[whiffwaff]

Great suggestions all round, thanks

@ turbo Ben, how did you get that lovely ripple effect?

Cheers

Adam

[grant]

@ turbo-ben: fantastic river, super-realistic!

[Mister Rab]

That really is a lovely river, Ben! I like the glossy stillness of the harbour, too, Chris.

I guess both those methods would also work for modular plonk-on-top-of-a-gaming-mat rivers as well. Hmm...

[Westfalia Chris]

That really is a lovely river, Ben! I like the glossy stillness of the harbour, too, Chris.

I guess both those methods would also work for modular plonk-on-top-of-a-gaming-mat rivers as well. Hmm...

I'll be the first one to admit that the "foil" method only results in "still" surfaces, without ripples, waves etc. Not for everyone, and the wild river shown by Ben is marvellous (and much more realistic to look at). I must admit that I wasn't too much after a realistic appearance but rather a mix of "watery surface" and playability - the foil is rather robust (spills, scratches) and I don't have to worry about snapping off wavecrests; also, we use it predominantly for Dystopian Wars, and the ships' small size leads to strange visual effects if they sit "on top" of wavecrests.

That said, I think there are also foils that have a grain, or similar structure, embossed into the plastic. If you find one that looks like it, I think you could do a quick, yet not unconvincing, wave effect.

[Hammers]

Hi Adam, we just built a very simple (and cheap) river for our table - greenbrown paint on flat surface, some sand and stones on the sides an a coat of transparent acrylic from the diy.

I endorse this method to. Transparent silicon or acrylic works very well for rapid water.

For slow moving river I see many people do very well with just a few layers of a shiny lacquer.

[Turbo-Ben]

Great suggestions all round, thanks

@ turbo Ben, how did you get that lovely ripple effect?

Cheers

Adam

I modeled the waves with a wet spoon, than waitet some minutes until the acryl starts to dry on the surface, and then stippled the acryl with the spoon to pull some threads.