Colours of slow-flowing rivers

[billtee]

I am modelling a river for my O gauge layout. I have created the river banks and the valley in which the river flows (from back to the front, not side to side), and have given the earth its first coat of burnt umber brown as a base colour. There will be lots of other colours in due course.

My ‘problem’ is the river. I know that rivers are never blue, but possibly a muddy greeny-brown, but what would be best for a SLOW-FLOWING river? Most tutorials I have seen show tumbling water, obviously fast-flowing as there is always lots of white froth as the water splashes its way around and over rocks. But my model river is not anything like that! It is about 50mm wide at its widest, and as the river course goes towards the rear of the layout (disappearing under half of a diagonally placed hump-back bridge - the country road disappears into what one day will be a backscene), it narrow down to about 18-20mm wide. The stretch of river is nearly straight, with just a bit of a curve to it. I have modelled the banks fairly steep, though not very high above what will be the water level, and with occasional shallower sections which will become gravel banks. Water reeds and bullrushes will border the banks. I will glue these onto the river bottom before(?) pouring in a max. 3mm layer of ‘water’ resin.

I just don’t know what colour to paint the baseboard which will eventually be my river bottom. The centre of the river would obviously be darker, but darker what? Green, brown, even a hint of blue?

All the real rivers near to my residence are mere streams when it has rained sufficiently, and then the water which runs off the fields is usually mud! We are surrounded by acres of sugar beet, so our roads are usually seas of mud after the beet has been harvested.

The nearest BIG river is the Orwell at Ipswich, and although it appears to be a slow-flowing river, it is considerably larger than the river I am attempting to model.

I suppose I ought to mention that my layout is not a reproduction of any real place. It is all purely something imaginary, with just a hint of Exeter to it (my station is called Great Green and is the home of the imaginary West Exeter Railway, a heritage line of GWR and SR locomotives and lots of BR diesels).

Can anyone please give me a clue? I would be very grateful for any advice. Thank you for any help offered.

Bill Tranter

Edited October 5, 2020 by billtee
Spelling typos!

[The White Rabbit]

The biggest influences on the appearance of water is the colour and brightness of the sky. For slow-moving shallow water, you'll be able to see most of the riverbed, it won't be obscured by the current kicking up sediment and/or mud and pebbles being dragged along. If you haven't already, Google 'river images' or something similar and keep trawling until you see something similar to what you have in mind. But FWIW, I attach a few of my snaps, hope they are of use:

4mm scale model for Railway Modeller, shown in varying angles and camera settings. Water from Deluxe Materials. The estuary base was done from GreenScene textured paint, a mix of browns, some green and grey. (IIRC, light earth, yard filth, some corporal crap and general muck). Dilute a little and you can create 'swirls' to represent slow speed currents. The third is the least flattering but I include it as it shows the base colours. 

 

 

[doilum]

50mm scales out at a tad over seven feet wide ( I am too wise to get into a pedantic debate over when does a stream become a river!). Slow moving water has only the energy to transport only microscopic silt and will often run clear unless in flood. So no boulders. Slow moving streams tend to meander with deeper water on the outside of the bend and perhaps the hint of a beach on the inside. The water will be shallow, perhaps only a couple of scale feet or around half an inch in model form, with weeds and reeds abundant. Try having a look on YouTube for people fly fishing on the river Test or the other chalk streams of Hampshire.

There a many different ways of modelling water in 7mm but shallow water lends it self to casting resin. This can be done in several layers with a faint hint of greeny brown paint wash between each pour. Given the importance of the final outcome to the appearance of the layout, it might be worth making a trial river section from scrap materials in order to experiment with techniques. Have fun!

[The White Rabbit]

 

This is a view of the River Coly from East Devon, a gravel/pebble riverbed and about one-two foot deep. Maybe 20-25 foot wide but the closest I could get. 
 

 

[Nick Gough]

This is the Thames at Moulsford, in Oxfordshire, where it is crossed by the Paddington- Bristol main line:

The Thames is about 170' wide here and slow moving (no eddies around the cutwaters on the bridge) but also deep enough for commercial, passenger carrying pleasure craft, so you can't see the bottom.

[billtee]

Thank you, everyone! I think I will try a trial ‘river’ first before working in the layout one. I don’t want my river very deep, so I will get a few bottles of resin from Deluxe Materials (I use a lot of their products!) and try different colours.

Anyway, thank you all very much for your guidance.

Bill

[doilum]

1 hour ago, billtee said:

Thank you, everyone! I think I will try a trial ‘river’ first before working in the layout one. I don’t want my river very deep, so I will get a few bottles of resin from Deluxe Materials (I use a lot of their products!) and try different colours.

Anyway, thank you all very much for your guidance.

Bill

Worked for me when modelling the stream on Houghton Street.

[eastglosmog]

A few pictures of slow small rivers for you.

The Shill brook ford at Shilton:

 

Windrush near Bourton on the Water:

 

 

and the Windrush at Burford:

 

[Nearholmer]

A great deal depends on viewing angle and height above the water, as White Rabbit's excellent model makes clear.

 

With an acute viewing angle from low down, what you see is almost entirely reflections and shadows, whereas if you pull up to a higher angle (say looking down from a bridge, or the sort of views in Google maps set to "satellite") you are likely to be able to see the bed, lots of weed/plants, and even the odd flash as a fish moves.

 

Here’s a high-angle picture. The river is a bit big at this point, but it should keep pike anglers happy.

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2020 by Nearholmer