Help painting Total Battle Miniatures latex rivers?

[cram]

I'm considering getting Total Battle Miniatures latex rivers, they look good quality and come at a good price. The only thing putting me off is the fact that they are black. Do you get black rivers? Dark blues or dark greenish blues or dark browns if the river is deep enough, but I'm not aware of pure black rivers.

So I have considered painting them but am not sure if acrylic paints will take on the gloss surface, their site says the following 'The water area has a gloss finish and doesn't require painting while the river banks will take paint and flock like our other flexible tile and road products'. Does that not imply that the water area want take paint? Even if I could paint the surface, I'm left with a rather matt finish to the river. Gloss varnishing to get a shine would surely not be an option, wouldn't the latex lose it's flexibility, or the varnish crack if the river was bent?

Thanks for any help and thoughts!

[MediumAl]

Dunno if it will take paint, but one way of putting a shiny surface onto a flexible base is to use clear silicon sealant. Hardware/DIY stores do it, but if you're in teh uk see if Poundland or similar have something suitable.

Al

[matthais-mouse]

It sounds like it will not take the paint to be honest.

However if you do go for it, you could use sanding paper to rough the surface up, see if that helps apply paint to the area?
Plus once finsihed, varnish the painted area and it should give a water effect after the repaint?

[snitcythedog]

So I have considered painting them but am not sure if acrylic paints will take on the gloss surface, their site says the following 'The water area has a gloss finish and doesn't require painting while the river banks will take paint and flock like our other flexible tile and road products'.

I was looking at these too but waiting until I saw them on a tabletop.  Hopfully someone here has them and will post pictures.   

You might ask the company if you can purchase them unpainted (for me this would be a deal breaker).  If so you can paint them up how you want.  In answer to your question about paint sticking to the clear gloss effect it depends on what they use. An idea might be to paint the glossy surface with artist guesso first, then paint the water and finally brush on a thin layer of clear latex or silicone caulk to restore the shiny water surface.  That should be flexible enough to match the original river. 

If I do pick these up, I had it in my head to fill the "river" with envirotex lite resin.  I would loose the flexibility but gain the illusion of depth.  Hope that gives you some ideas. 
Snitchy sends.