Redcoat 55 | 10 Dec 2014 3:39 p.m. PST |
Hello all, I am thinking of trying to make some rivers and streams out of Dap clear caulk for 28mm North American battles. My thoughts are to use a pair of dark blue slacks that got snagged for the base (cut to shape). Probably either paint the pants, apply and shape the caulk (adding things like pebbles and reeds)and then use brown caulk to make the banks or first make the banks out of some sort of plaster or clay. I have both pebbles and rocks that could work for the stream and was thinking of trying to use straw cut from a brush for reeds although I am also open to buying miniature reeds if they really sell the effect. I am a pretty visual person so I would really appreciate photographs although general comments would also be very welcome. Thank you in advance. |
Hlaven | 10 Dec 2014 5:30 p.m. PST |
I have been using caulk for years for my bases and terrain. Clear caulk works great. I dry brush a little white for foam on top. If you want color, you can mix some rit dye with the caulk. Greens, Browns, blues. Your choice. Experiment first on some base material you are going to use. A very little dye goes a long way. Use very little if you want it to be transluscent. |
Maddaz111 | 10 Dec 2014 6:49 p.m. PST |
for reeds use cheap painted paintbrush bristles. |
Yellow Admiral | 10 Dec 2014 10:36 p.m. PST |
I prefer brown for my rivers and creeks. I do early American gaming all the time (ACW, AWI). The Fire and Fury rulebook has pictures of rivers and creeks made from acetate. I replicated them and it was pretty easy. Paint a sheet of acetate a deep muddy brown on one side (or use blue if you like that better), then cut it into "sausage" shapes of varying lengths and curvatures, with rounded ends. Make some skinny and some fat, but give them all the same approximate width at the ends. You make a river by laying them painted side down, overlapping them a little. The curved shape and rounded ends of each sausage lets you create big or little bends in the rivers as desired for the scenario. Hide the sharp edges with lichen and pebbles and they look great. Make fords by sprinkling some rocks across the width of the river where desired. The acetate is really cheap, shines and lies flat like real water, and doesn't have any height above the surrounding terrain like caulk or rubber rivers. Even cooler – if you make all the sausages short enough, you can store dozens or even hundreds of feet of river in a single box, since acetate is so thin. Some easy ways to make them fancier:
- Spraypaint only a narrow stripe of brown that gets fuzzy along the edges, then paint over this stripe with a lighter tan color. Cut the river so that it has a brown stripe down the middle and fades to tan at the edges (near the banks), like the shallows coming up near the shore. Note: this didn't work well for narrow rivers using cheap rattle can spray paints – my 15mm scale rivers have almost no discernible shallows because the spray pattern is too wide. In 28mm scale, you might have better luck, since your rivers will be wider.
- Make permanent banks along the edges. Spread some PVA or brown latex caulk along the edge and spread ground cover (sand, short grass, gravel) or hand place items (tall grass, occasional big rocks, bushy plants, small bits of lichen, etc.). If you use brown caulk, leave some of it bare to look like mud.
- Make a few pieces that look like fords. Paint the underside in a pattern that looks like shallows all the way across. Select some rocks that are flat on one side, use a wash of dark gray around the edges of each rock, gloss coat the darkened areas (so now they look "wet"), then glue the rocks flat side down on the "shallow" part of the acetate to look like rocks poking out above the surface. The banks of the ford should probably be mud so they segue nicely into roads (and if you make your muddy banks and roads out of the same brown caulk, they can segue perfectly).
I also enhance the look of the acetate rivers by putting my hills under the ground cloth, and laying the acetate rivers into the lowest areas. The hills rising beyond the banks of the river increases the illusion of the river being below the level of the surrounding fields. - Ix |
Yellow Admiral | 10 Dec 2014 10:45 p.m. PST |
for reeds use cheap painted paintbrush bristles. That's a cool idea. I'm going to try that. Maybe I can find a cheap brush at a dollar store with brown or tan bristles. A brief overspray with a can of very grassy green should give the "grass" a nice organic brown/green appearance. - Ix |
Yellow Admiral | 10 Dec 2014 10:48 p.m. PST |
If you want color, you can mix some rit dye with the caulk. Do you mean Rit dye that has already been mixed with water? Or Just put the Rit powder straight into the caulk and mix it around? - Ix |
Maddaz111 | 11 Dec 2014 5:16 a.m. PST |
Yes, I got six pale straw coloured brushes for decorating from my local pound store… enough reeds for lots of rivers. |
uglyfatbloke | 11 Dec 2014 9:09 a.m. PST |
Army painter dark tone dip over blue paint makes a pretty good river finish…quick and easy. |
ACW Gamer | 11 Dec 2014 9:46 a.m. PST |
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Yellow Admiral | 11 Dec 2014 11:04 a.m. PST |
I'm looking. I know I have some around somewhere…. Getting them on the web is the next struggle. Don't hold your breath. :-) - Ix |
Yellow Admiral | 11 Dec 2014 12:20 p.m. PST |
Here's how I've done mine, though I rather like the acetate method Yellow Admiral describes. Those look nice. The end result has a lovely water-like reflective quality. Is the finish flexible enough to bend safely? - Ix |
firstvarty1979 | 11 Dec 2014 2:02 p.m. PST |
In 28mm you may want wider rivers to match the scale of the figures better. The method I used was to cut pieces of fiberboard in 2-foot sections, with irregular sides, but with the ends of each the exact same width (10 inches), so that they would be modular. Then I spray-painted them brownish-tan, flocked the sides with mixed green. After it dried, I sprayed the "water" with gloss spray. It's turned out to be more of a semi-gloss, so I'm probably going to go back and some point to give it another go in order to obtain a more high-gloss result. Here is what it looks like right now. It's very fast, very cheap, and so far, very durable. I'm pretty happy with the results.
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Redcoat 55 | 11 Dec 2014 6:56 p.m. PST |
Pretty cool information and pictures, thank you all for sharing. I too would love to see the Acetate river photos. In addition to the above comments, I did find these sites of interest, this one in particular for the way the shore goes into the water: link This one for rock placement: link |
Hlaven | 12 Dec 2014 6:02 a.m. PST |
Rit powdered dye. One box lasts FOREVER. A tiny bit mixed with the caulk Which is usually white at first will dry transluscent color. That is why I test first. You can also layer your river with color on the bottom and just clear caulk layer on top.Then just a little dry brushing white for foam on top. |
ScottS | 12 Dec 2014 10:36 a.m. PST |
I originally did this for Vietnam rice paddies, but it works for streams. If you're using any sort of system that involves multiple layers of clear medium – Woodland Scenics Water Effects, for example – make the first layer dark brown (mix in dark brown paint) and pour it in from the edges, slightly over where the final "waterline" will be. Before it dries, dust it with a very light sprinking of green flock. Then follow Yellow Admiral's technique. This will result in a bank that looks nice and mossy. |
Lion in the Stars | 12 Dec 2014 2:12 p.m. PST |
Another trick I've read about is to use colored acetate (like from a florist) on top of aluminum foil. |
Redcoat 55 | 12 Dec 2014 8:00 p.m. PST |
Another site I found, this one showing painted felt covered by acetate… link |
FireZouave | 12 Dec 2014 8:39 p.m. PST |
Use silicone caulk. It lasts forever and flexes to any terrain. Lay out saran wrap on a flat surface. Paint the saran wrap with acrylic paint the color that you want. Let it dry. Apply the silicone caulk using a spatula and spread it out very thin. Work fast as it cures quite fast when it's thin. Let is dry overnight. Next, you can add banks to it with a bead of silicone on each side and press flocking into it while it is wet. Once it has all cured in 24 hours, you can peel the silicone creeks right off the saran wrap and the paint adheres to the silicone. They are the best creeks and rivers! |
Redcoat 55 | 12 Dec 2014 11:08 p.m. PST |
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Borathan | 13 Dec 2014 6:26 p.m. PST |
One rather workable method of making them is to go to your local office supply place and get the clear or translucent report covers. Then you cut to shape and use hot glue to texture it as water while also attaching stones and anything else you want to it. When the glue dries, give it a quick run over with some of the "stained glass" paints that come with those cheap plastic things for the colors you like. You can hit each side with a different color for more variation. After that dries, use white paint to hit the ridges of the water if you want rougher water. Then you can make the banks and flock them. To make things more interesting looking, you can also then print out an image of what you want for the stream bed and glue to the underside of the piece. |
EricThe Shed | 15 Dec 2014 5:01 a.m. PST |
I used vinyl floor tiles…nice and easy link
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Redcoat 55 | 15 Dec 2014 7:29 a.m. PST |
Very nice Eric, how do you cut the tiles? |
ScottS | 15 Dec 2014 10:05 a.m. PST |
Beautiful work, Eric! Those are some really compelling photos. |
EricThe Shed | 16 Dec 2014 8:05 a.m. PST |
The tiles are just cut with a sharp Stanley knife. I am rather proud of these photos |