We have been clamoring for a modular river for years, we’ve finally done enough research and planning to make this happen.  In this article I will outline the rough building of our river pieces.

Fresh Cut River sections

Using a table saw at one of our fellow gamers houses, we were able to cut a 3/8″ piece of plywood into 8 inch sections, 6 inch sections for straight pieces. We also cut out a number of turns that go 30 degrees and 60 degrees allowing us to angle and turn the river on the board.  Each section of the river is 4 inches wide.

Example 30 Degree Turn

Each of the banks was cut out of a sheet of foamcore to the length of each section and then 1 inch wide. Each of these pieces then had one side of the paper pulled off to expose the foam underneath.  From here we sand down the square edges to give the rough appearance of a river bank.

Cut and sanded river banks

Each individual bank starts and ends at exactly 1″ wide.  The reason for this is so that when you put a couple of sections together, they all line up roughly well together.  The reason they only start and end is because we didn’t want the rivers to be perfectly straight and instead have some character to them.

Example 6" Straight

1 of 3 cross-able sections of the river

All of the completed river sections

In the next article you’ll see all of the river sections put together and detailed, painted, and with envirotex water on them.