Building a river for Congo

For adventures with "Congo" and as habitat for the crocodiles, it was time to build a river.

 

Cut Styrofoam 35mm thick into a roughly shape. The river has a length of 80cm, so the piece spanned my standard tabletop exactly.
Sketch the riverbed and deepen it with a butane gas burner. The burner glazes the styrofoam and gives a nice texture, so that one can usually save on filling. Then the whole is painted, giving the riverbed a visual depth in several shades of blue and green. Then flock with gras, sand, bushes and stones. Finally fill in the liquid acrylic in the riverbed.

 

Warning: When using a butane gas burner to deepen the styrofoam, vapors are generated. Ideally use outdoors or in well ventilated areas only. Hold the flame not too close to the styrofoam, otherwise it will start to burn. It should melt, not burn!

I have used "Woodland Scenics Realistic Water" and should have used a lot more of it, because after about five days drying time the acrylic has shrunk around 4 to 5mm. But in the end I'm satisfied with the result.