European Terrain 2010 - Part 4 - RIVERS

The main reason why I glued 2 cork tiles together to make 1 terrain square was so I could model in rivers, creeks and low ground marshes and the like. Before I glue to 2 tiles together, I cut the top tile into sections, either into 2 and remove an inch or so from one of them, or by removing a lot of the tile from both sections without touching the outer edges. I then angle the cut on the "water" edge.

Then comes an important question. Do I model the river on the remaining tile BEFORE I glue on the top sections OR AFTER I glue them on?

In the past I have painted and modelled the river prior to gluing on the top layers and have had moderate success. But this time around I want to use a thick resin like liquid to set in the depressions as model water. This means I will paint blue and green the water section on the bottom tile but then immediately glue on the top sections.

When all is dry I will then shore up any depression that moves off an edge and pour in my model water.

Only when this is completely dry will I go through and flock the rest of the square and spray the whole with matt sealer. I am excited about this.

Off I go then.

Lay down the collection of tiles to be allocated to river sections.

Mark each tile with a Central Mark, 2 x Quarter Marks and 2 x 5 Inch From The Centre Marks. The Quarter and the 5 Inch Marks are the edges of the river. That way the river sections will all start and finish in exactly the same place on all the tiles so they can all be grouped together in any order.

Mark the flow of the river edges in pen making sure the edges of the river pass through only those points mentioned above.

Cut the tile close to these lines marked.

Place the sections cut, minus the middle section, onto the base tile to confirm positioning.

Cut and file the edges of the river to model riverbanks and river beds. Make some jagged and some smooth.

Paint the rivers using a light blue and then a darker blue along the centre. These 2 colours convey depth and shallows if done right.

Glue on the cut sections from above making sure to line the top with the bottom perfectly.

The resulting river tile.

Paint and model the river edges and banks.

Paint the tile green being careful not to paint the river edges. Leave to dry completely.

Glue and flock the tile. I added some heavier flock sections to the river edges to model bushes.

Pour Woodlands Scenics Realistic Water to a depth all along the river of around 1mm. Brush it out to the edges and tip the tile on an angel until all the river blue is covered evenly. I put a few layers of sticky tape on the ends of the rivers to stop the liquid running out from the ends of the river section. You may need to put something square and heavy against the tape once the liquid is evenly distributed and ready to sit and dry.

The resulting river.

Just a couple of rocks added where airbubbles spoiled the surface and then some realistic water trailing off from rocks and banks and a light dry brush of white.

Now to Part 5 for some Roads.