A River Runs Through It

   Found this posted on TMP (The Miniatures Page). An interesting idea for what looks to be reasonably attractive, cheap do-it-yourself river sections. I hope the blog owner doesn't mind me sending extra traffic his way.

http://wargamesandstuff.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-rivers.html

   Essentially, he uses cheap vinyl tile as his base and some silicon caulk for building the banks.

   Personally, I think cross-pollination of blog ideas like these are a great thing. The more exposure to good terrain tips, the better, I say.

Rivers Project, Part 3

So, I have finally gotten around to pouring some of the realistic water effect stuff into some of the river sections.

The stuff is pretty easy to work with, you just use it in thin layers. As you can see, I used some modelling clay to block the ends of the pieces so the liquid would not simply run all over the place. Then I set it aside to dry for a day.

After 24 hours, I poured a second layer. Again, let it sit for 24 hours.

It was actually more like 3 days before I got back around to these sections. I scored the ends along the modelling clay with a craft knife. Always use a fresh sharp blade - I probably keep the guys at X-Acto in business. Sorry about the blurry picture.

Now all you have to do is flock the banks, which I am going to try to get to this afternoon. Which means you may finally get to see some finished pieces in the next week or so. Note that I highly recommend you finish all of your pours and let it dry all the way before even thinking about flocking. The reason is simple: little bits of flock always get trapped in the hardening water. It isn't the end of the world, but it looks better without.

I have some custom pieces I need to work on to finish the project, and of course all that flocking and sanding and such. I hope to have a decent shot or two of some finished pieces by the end of the week. Until then, check out some of my other projects that I am updating.

Rivers, Part 2

So, this is a basic multi-part "how I did it" for the rivers. I have a few pictures to go with, as well, though they are of different pieces.

Just to re-cap, I am using the styrene sheet rivers from a company called Precision Products [www.appliedimaginationinc.com]. The sheets are 16"square, 0.025" thick, with vacuum-formed terrain impressed into the sheets. The stream is about 1" (2.5 cm) across, with banks of about equal width.

Materials and tools: wood putty, styrene rivers, kitchen shears, hobby knife, 1/16" thick plywood, glue, felt, a few heavy books

1. Cut out the river piece. I cut mine all the way to the edge of the banks, but you could leave a small lip or flange of plastic around it. I used kitchen shears to cut them out.


2. Wash the piece in warm water with some dish detergent, just to make sure there's no mold release on it.


3. Mix the wood putty. I used to have Durham's, which I actually prefer, but the DAP brand stuff works as well. You want to mix water with the powder until it gets like a really thick milkshake consistency.


4. Fill the underside of the river piece with the wood putty and let it dry overnight.



5. Next day, trace the shape of the river out onto some thin plywood or MDF. I use 1/16 inch birch plywood (about 1.5mm), that is supposed to be for R/C airplanes or something.


6. Cut the shape out. A bandsaw with a fine-tooth blade would be perfect for this, but I don't have one, so I use my hand jigsaw (sometimes called a fret saw or jeweler's saw, I think). Sand the rough edges.


7. Glue the river piece to the base. I use Allene's Tacky Glue usually, but I have also used superglue (liquid, not gel) with good results.
   
8. Clamp or weight down the piece and leave two+ hours (PVA) or twenty-ish minutes (superglue). I have tried lots of ways to weigh it down, and I am still least happy with this step of the process. Best so far has been a layer of felt or something, then a few large heavy books on top. It still leaves a few gaps at the edges, though.


9. Spray with flat white paint. I tried black paint on one piece. It doesn't work for me. Let dry (duh!).

At this point, you should have a piece of nicely detailed river, with the hollows filled and attached to a base for a nice, weighty, durable piece of terrain.

Next post, I'll discuss painting and filling the stream with water effect.

Rivers Project

[Carried over from my defunct Napoleonics blog]

[Originally posted Saturday, September 27, 2008]

I started a new terrain project last night, one that has been sitting in the Closet for more than a year. I bought some styrene sheets last year at Historicon from a company called Precision Products [www.appliedimaginationinc.com]. These sheets are 16"square, 0.025" thick, with vacuum-formed terrain impressed into the sheets. The two sheets I bought are 1" Straight Rivers [SKU 16091] and 1" River bends [SKU 16092]. The Straight Rivers has four lengths of straight river, each approximately 15" in length. The River Bends includes:

2 x 45 degree bends
2 x 90 degree bends
3 x Y-Junctions, and
1 x Wooden Bridge

I have cut out two pieces so far, the bridge and one 90 degree bend. Yesterday I filled the styrene hollows with DAP Water Putty to prevent it from crushing or flexing, and then glued each piece to a 1/16" plywood base. Late last night I primed the two pieces with flat white spray paint, the cheap stuff from WalMart. Today, I applied basecoat colors, using cheap craft paints. Sorry about the blurry picture, I was hurrying.

So far, I am pretty pleased with the results. The water putty has added some heft and rigidity, as has the plywood base. It is taking the paint really well, too.

I will be adding a link to all the photos to the margin tonight. I'll post more when I make some more progress.

Still to come:
Drybrushing for detail
Add flock and ballast
Pour scenic water into riverbanks
Build a hand rail. The only drawback is that the piece will lose its scale-neutrality if I do that.