Need to pick the Brethren's tiny minds!

[Harry Faversham]

Basing a boat on a river, bright blue won't cut it, so wot's a good Vallejo grey/green colour to represent the water, please?

[Daeothar]

Depends on the river (the material of the river bed in particular), but also the banks (lots of silt/soil etc), but also on the season and the weather!

Over here in the Lowlands, most of the rivers are a brownish colour most of the time, with a bit of a greenish tint to it. So I'd use a colour close to raw umber; that seems to approximate most of our river/stream colours.

And do't forget; the Americans call their fleet of rivercraft the 'Brown Navy', which I think is also pretty telling...

[carlos marighela]

From what I've been reading in the paper, pretty much all UK waterways seem to be suffused with a brown tinge these days. Not just blood that's thicker than water. Happy swimming!

[Dags]

Clear perspex is the way to go.

[FifteensAway]

It's the Brown Water Navy, please! 

Can't recommend Vallejo colors because I use craft paints but this 'basic' formula works well enough for me:

Dark brown strip down the center, light brown strips down either side, a middle brown between the dark and the light if really going all out, blend together as best you can (really have to work FAST with acrylics!).  Over top of this, first very mildly tinting it, apply a coat of high gloss acrylic medium - I start with a blueish green and then another coat of sort of pea green mix with possibly a third coat of clear.  For an added effect, in that last clear coat embed a bit of white/silver glitter to add some extra sparkle.  Can add more coats of that high gloss acrylic medium to your heart's content.

River 'color' is often as much the reflected color of what lines the banks as the color of the dirt under and suspended in the water - generally only blue water when reflecting the sky color.  Seen maybe one blue river but hundreds of greenish brown rivers as you are seeking.  That reflected color is why I use the tinted medium - sub level blue for the sky but more likely the green hues for the trees and bushes along the banks.

And if doing terrain, unless a very tiny piece, why use expensive hobby paints over craft paints?!

[modelwarrior]

Used this method recently for water and worked really well. I also used standard craft paints from Hobby Craft.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=painting+model+harbour+water&&view=detail&mid=5D56990F1467372644405D56990F146737264440&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dpainting%2Bmodel%2Bharbour%2Bwater%26FORM%3DHDRSC4