5 replies to this topic

[healey36]

Hey Peter, you've got some really nice representations of water on your scenery:

 

 

What's your technique (if you don't mind sharing)? The last time I did some, I used a product by Woodland Scenics to "pour" a river. Expensive, and I wasn't crazy about the results. Your finished river/stream looks really good to me...was wondering how you do it.

 

Paul R.

[Peter M. Skaar]

Hi Healey

I will put together a short tutorial on how I do this with a few pictures.

[Peter M. Skaar]

As you know, Healey, I use GHQ Terrain Maker for my terrain layouts.  Many of the things I do and techniques I use can be applied to other terrain systems as well. 

Terrain Maker uses the 1/4" hexes for streams and rivers.  The bottom of the hex is the riverbed and 2 pieces of cut 1/4" hexes form the banks on either side if a stream or on one side if part of a larger river.

Here are a couple pictures showing the basic riverbed with paint applied. 

 

These pictures show the water part after all the other stuff that I do to the hex.  You can see the flat base coat on the edges and then the gloss.

Here are the basic steps.

1. Paint the basic color.  I use Behr's Tannenbaum house paint for this and paint 1 coat and let dry. 

2. Put on a second coat.  I use the paint, unthinned, and brush it on the hex.  While the paint is still wet, I stipple it with a somewhat stiff brush to get some ripples so it is not completely smooth.  Let this dry overnight.

3. Spray on the colors.  For the final top colors, I used 2 shades of Luftwaffe Greens by the old Polyscale sprayed from my airbrush.  I used a lighter, more muddy olive green near the banks and ford areas while using the darker greens in the middle.  This gives a bit of "depth" without having to resort to pouring resin.

4. Apply a clear gloss over the paint to make it look wet.  For me, this seems to work pretty well.

That is basically how I do it.  I usually do a bunch of river/stream hexes at once.

More coming.
 

[Peter M. Skaar]

Here are a couple photos of a stream with a GHQ bridge showing the unfinished banks of the stream added.

 

 

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The next picture shows a completed stream hex with the banks flocked and finished.  I did not add any trees to this one.



The next picture shows 3 stream hexes together with a bridge.  The bridge is not yet complete.


 

[healey36]

That is terrific, Peter; thanks for the description of your process. Can't argue with the results...it looks great.

 

I want to avoid pouring resin at all cost (which can be high, lol). I've seen some water done using Mod-Podge, which I might experiment with. I think that process is similar to yours, except no gloss overspray required (if one uses a gloss Mod-Podge). 

 

Lots to consider as I prepare.

 

Paul R.

 

 

 

 

[Peter M. Skaar]

Here are a few more pictures showing stream and river hexes.



Here is a river with pontoon bridge across it.  This is probably a narrower river as each piece has a bank on one side.  To make a wider river just add more 1/4" water hexes in the middle with no banks.



Another view.



A stream/narrow river with ford.



A ford in a stream with road hexes.