Cheap flexible river

       The Housemartin came to me needing a five-foot long river for a game he wished to present at Pro or Con. I dug around in my terrain pile looking for a suitable river model. Finding nothing to match the need, and not having done a terrain item in a while, I decided to make one. I based my model on a section of Eco Rug as it is cheap, strong and doesn't fray or tear. I needed a flexible material to build up the riverbank and create texture for both the shore and the river. My answer is cheap water-soluble latex caulk. It is flexible, paint-able and easy to to work with. I cut a length of Eco-Rug about eight inches wide with an irregular edge, I then marked the center and laid out a 4 inch wide river that wandered along the length of the piece. You can follow the step-by-step below.

 

 

I got mine at Lowe's for three bucks a tube,

 you can source yours as you like 

 

 

make sure you get the latex down into the knap of the fabric to ensure good adhesion

 

 

drying time is allegedly twenty minutes, 

I gave it an hour to be on the safe side 

 

 

add a second stripe of latex next to it,

make sure that you are laying it one pretty thick,

 around the size of a pencil or a bit smaller 

 

 

once that has dried add a third stripe, 

make this one extra fat as it will be the material that we are spreading out to blend in the riverbank 

 

spread the freshly-laid latex with a craft stick or similar

you want to blend the latex into the edge

 

 

spread it as if you are frosting a cake

I tried to get it as smooth as possible 

 

  

unhappy with the results I grabbed a soft sponge brush and a cup of water

this worked wonders at blending the latex into fabric 

 

 

 keep blending to the edge, 

the latex will be easier to paint than the fabric 

and it will help the riverbank to blend into the gaming table

 

 

next is the river, 

lay down several thin strips of latex in the riverbed 

 

 

the with a very wet brush spread the latex out to cover the bed

you are looking to go edge to edge with as thin a layer as you can manage

once that is done you will need to give it several hours to dry 

 

 

after that is dried add a number of very thin strips of latex

use the wet brush to smooth these into the river surface

this will give you dome unevenness to show the water flow

 

after that it's pretty basic painting, first I covered the whole thing with brown house-paint as that was drying I sprinkled some Woodland Scenics grass turf into the drying paint on the river banks. then sand onto the shoreline of the river, once all that has dried I painted the river with two shades of blue craft paint with random streaks of white to mark the foamy spot, after all of that has dried I hit the water areas with acrylic gloss floor wax for some shine

        After the convention I will cut this into handy-sized sections and make a few curves sections to increase its flexibility.