I have done quite a bit of work on my terrain of late. I have sufficient trees for my purposes for quite a while. I also have plenty of buildings. All the remains are rivers and hills.
My hills, while they are not pretty, are perfectly functional for the time being - but my rivers are a disgrace. Chopped up felt will not do - so I've decided to start work on something a little better. Above is five inch by two inch MDF base from Products for Wargamers which fits my hexes perfectly. I chose MDF as previous experiments with card warped badly and cutting the pieces to size consistently would be troublesome.
The wonderful thing about hex systems is that they are modular. Unfortunately because they are modular, they need to be exactly right.
To the MDF I added some of my usual basing filler. I painted the river with Vallejo prussian blue and lightened the sides to give an illusion of depth. The riverside is Vallejo khaki with a white highlight. I'll add static grass and other brush later, but in the meantime I set to work on something else.
Woodland Scenics have a product called Liquid Water, which is available in my local model railway stop. I'm sure it's good - but I balked at the €26 price tag. I decided to try my own experiment with some distinctly more affordable PVA glue. I placed two strips of plasticard at either end of the river section. Each one was coated in vaseline so that the PVA would not adhere to it and I filled the section with PVA.
The plan is that the PVA will dry clear and provide a suitable water medium. If that is the case, I will be able to make a dozen or so river sections that can be assembled in a variety of ways and with some rocks, fallen trees and the such like. I will have to work out a way of producing consistent 30 degree bends.
The PVA after being left overnight. This is still tacky to the touch, but I think it will dry clear though it is taking longer than I expected to do so. If this works, I forsee a lot of river making in my future.