What about this

Build 2 small mock ups and do one in each way. This way you can see what you like and how well you can do them.  If need be, do more to get better at it until you like what you are doing and then do it on the layout.  You can hold a mock up next to there area and get an idea of how each will look against the layout.  This is what I do for these kinds of dilemmas.  Bets of luck

Steve

Thank you

Magic Water

Look into Magic Water. I have not used it myself, but judging from the amount of press it's been getting it's becoming very popular. Here's the website:

http://www.unrealdetails.com 

Which Woodland Scenics water?

It depends on WHICH Woodland Scenics water you use... they have two completely different products

. First - don't touch the "melt in place" pellets (E-Z Water) with a 10 foot pole. Simply put - it sucks. It's a terrible idea.

Second - Their "Realistic Water" and "Water Effects" are GREAT. Basically, "Realistic Water" is artist's Thin Clear Gloss Medium, repackaged. You only need a VERY thin layer of this over color to do it right. An eighth of an inch is plenty. If you want it thicker, you can do that, but let each pour dry for at least 2 days before the next.

"Water Effects" is Thick Clear Gel Medium, and is wonderful for texturing the water surface to get away from the "plate of glass" look.

These were done with those products:

  The waterfall is laid down on a piece of plastic from a small zip-lock retail bag. It was textured over a piece of paper drawn to fit the shape I needed with the Water Effects, then painted with white and a little earth tone to match the landscaping.While that as drying I painted the rock with a slightly darker color where it would be "wet", and then painted some of the "Realistic Water" over the dark area to make it shine.  When the waterfall was dry, I trimmed it to shape from the bottom up, leaving a few "feathers" sticking out the sides, It was then glued to the rock face at the top and the water at the bottom with more of the Water Effects.

The final step was to use more of the "Water Effects" to blend in the falls to the stream surface, and work in radial wave patterns coming off the base of the falls. I use an artist's "fan" brush, and push the Water Effects for this - the wide, thin profile of the brush is great for creating ripples.

 The river was carved out of the 1" thick foam base of the module, and SEALED WITH LIGHTWEIGHT SPACKLING AND SANDED BEFORE PAINTING.

Yes, that is a VITALLY important step. If you apply the Realistic Water over bare or even painted foam, it'll look just great... for about a week. Then bubbles will form and work their way up through the acrylic, and it'll look like a pool of carbonated water frozen in time. I learned that less on the hard way, and had to cut out my first try and start completely over on the river.

That river is only about 1/4" deep in total. The illusion of greater depth comes from the painting. I used craft paints, in 4 (?) colors...   light tan, brown, grey, and a deep black. All were applied wet, and blended with the brush, starting from lightest to darkest. Yes, that means I had to paint the entire river in about 10 minutes, but it was pretty easy - I used a 1 inch wide brush. Keeping the colors wet (mist on some water if you need too) made it simple to blend the transitions to get uniform gradations.

I poured the river in several layers, because I was playing around with a couple of ideas... I embedded a few rocks in the river hear and there, and after lower layers dried I painted on weeds in a few places, then poured more water, then some more weeds, then more water... You get the idea.

When the river was dry and glassy, I got out the Water Effects again... First, I put in the smaller riffles over the entire surface of the stream, then the "V"s former by the water going around the rocks... and don't forget the bulge on the upstream side . A little drybrushing of white highlights where the water would be foaming, and it's done.

One thing other thing (besides the bubbles) to watch out for. This product takes a LONG time to COMPLETELY solidify. It's hard to the touch in a couple of days, and perfectly safe to work with... but it will still "creep" for months afterward - not in normal circumstances, but let's say you stood a module up on end for storage... Fortunately, I was able to turn it up on the OTHER end when I discovered the problem, and all ended well.

I've watched this several

I've watched this several times and am really sold on the idea, however the color pallet for my future river will require more of a muddy water look than the cool Atlantic waters in this video, but I think the finished look is the best I've seen for the appearance of depth.  I think it can be adapted to a river easily.

Shallow rocky rivers are fun

Shallow rocky rivers are fun to build, but need plenty of preparation and it can be pretty tricky getting the 'water' level when there are lots of obstructions like rocks and logs.

Mine was painted a couple of times before the resin was poured, and I stabbed and stippled the paint to get interesting textures. I added sand and small rock chips too which I had to paint to match the colours I wanted,

The painted bed of my tidal inlet:

This time I tinted the resin with small amounts of acrylic paint  and it was poured in three thin layers, brown then green then blue-green. I allowed 24 hours drying time between pours. Ripples were worked in with a skewer as the resin dried.

Both waterways were done with two-part epoxy resin [Glasscoat here in Australia] I think Envirotex and Magic Water are very similar products.

Best advice I can give, I think, is to be absolutely certain you have in place all the rocks, logs and sandbars and other features that you want before you pour.

Mike

Mike, that looks terrific!  I

Mike, that looks terrific!  I especially love the added figure and dog in the last scene to help sell the illusion.  An article on your technique would be helpful to many other modelers if you haven't already done so.

creep

Mike, how did you eliminate/minimize/manage creep of your water material above the nominal water level?

David

Envirotex

Envirotex makes the best looking "still" water I've ever seen.  I haven't tried Magic Water but to me, it looks to be much the same thing as Envirotex.  I've always wanted to try plastic casting resin but have never done so.

Michael

TJR and David

TJR - I have written this up elsewhere, but will gladly do something here in case someone finds it helpful. Kind of you to mention it - thanks.

David - "Creep" was managed by standing over it for what seemed like hours as it dried, ducking down to check it from all directions at water level and teasing out the troublesome edges with the point of a skewer. Even then I missed a few bulges, especially around the rocks in the small stream. Some I dealt with by carefully painting over them with the surrounding earth and rock colours.

Mike

Envirotex

I agree with Michael that you can't beat Envirotex. I got mine from Scenic Express over 15 years ago and it's held up great since then. It passes the test of time.

Epoxy +

Envirotex is one brand of epoxy resin.  Others include Crystal Sheen and Amazing Clear Cast.  They all work the same.

This watercourse on my layout uses two pours of epoxy resin, each colored with a few drops of olive drab enamel.  By itself, epoxy does a poor job of representing moving water as it sets up entirely smooth.  You can try to manipulate the surface as it sets, or add waves atop the finished resin with a gloss material like Mod Podge or acrylic gloss medium.

Depending on how much of the bottom needs to be visible for the effect you want, a textured surface over a painted base may be adequate.  As shown above, not much of the bottom can be seen, so most of the effect relies on color and texture instead of depth.  The oft-used black may not be the answer for your situation, so experiment with colors based on photos of the look you need the represent.

Rivers

I have used Magic water and love it. Read the instructions before you purchase from their web site. No smell and bad fumes and no air bubbles. To stop creep they suggest painting the top waterline first, let dry then add the rest. I agree with all the other comments tinting each coat and by painting the river bed and adding stones etc it can turn out looking very realistic.

Rod.

River effect

My latest Envirotex effort......

is here.....

Riverbeds

Rather than give an explanation of what products and techniques to use in making water, I'll try to answer the other part of your question, and I'll do it with a question.

Do you want to model a rocky riverbed or a deep, dark, riverbed? It depends. Look at your surrounding terrain. If rocks, of any size, would either roll down the embankments and end up in your river, or be washed down from upstream, then go with a rocky stream. If your surrounding hillsides are fairly steep, then you could go with a deeper shade of color for the center of your river. You could combine the two (think Colorado) with rocks near the banks but not in the center, but I doubt if most of Vermont is like that. Trees, grass, and other vegetation would slow if not stop all but the largest rocks. 

Some of the worst river modeling I ever saw was a stream filled with rocks where the surrounding terrain was smooth.

Yes, I took geology in college.

Rocks

Rocks rolling and washing down to the max! A section of the Potomac at Kitzmiller MD which will reside on my layout. Gonna need a lot of rocks.

I use Invirotex for all my

I use Invirotex for all my water projects , I am in the prosess of building a river to flow into this harbor, and I will use invirotex for this project as well.

[  Sam

Sorry

Sorry I couldn't get the picture to post.

  Sam

Water both still and fast flowing.

Folks...

Has anyone tried clear silicone caulking for adding water to your riverbed{s}?

Silicone, when fresh from the tube, can be thinned with varsol or paint thinner. I've never tried lacquer thinners, as I think they are a bit too aggressive.

First, I prepare a container with about 1/2 cup of thinners. I then squeeze the clear silicone right from the tube onto the riverbed, and then I use a brush to dip into the thinners and then I spread the silicone around, being careful not to "push" it too much as to creep up the sides of abutments, shoreline, etc. This is where the varsol comes in...use as much or as little as you need to reduce the surface tension of the silicone. I use several sizes of brushes, as well as little sticks for moving the silicone into small spaces. You can squeeze some white silicone on a paper plate to use for adding whitecaps, rapids, etc. wherever the water is fast moving.

It holds its shape as it sets, and you can do wonders with it as far as ripples, waves, and waterfalls are concerned.

The only downfall is is a bit opaque so if your riverbed is super detailed, it will hide some of that detail.

I suggest experimenting with this method first, as it does take a bit of "finagling" to get the hang of it...but it is not a bad method, once you get the hang of it. Unfortunately, I have no photos to show as examples.

Water effects

I am in the middle of building a small display layout for an Historical Village in my area and have just done the lower level of the river section. I use a few steps to create water effects... First, i make the colors on the bottom of the river, usually I start with any sandy color for the edges raw sienna and a little black. I then dab blue with a little black and an occasional bit of green along the river bed and this is all done with acrylic paints. While they are wet they blend nicely and I have NO skills with a spray painting system. once this is satisfactory, I install rocks and debris, dry brush them with white acrylic again to give them that sun drenched look and I then use "Aquadhere" or any other brand of PVA wood-working glue that dries clear to layer the bottom of the river. This seals the colors, fixes the rocks and gives a glossy finish that looks pretty good already BUT...in order to get rapids and some movement in the water, I then add a layer (1/8th inch no more) of "Gloss Medium" a product available from the local art suppliers. this gives the opportunity to give the 'water' surface some texture and, once dry (24hrs at least) I dry brush titanium white onto the higher surfaces to give that foamy effect seen around rocks in rivers.
This process eliminated 'drips' creeping and any other major problem but if you still run into such issues...lay some newspaper on the floor under the water sections as needed. 
For still water I use exactly the same process and when satisfied, I dab on the Gloss Medium with a stippling motion across the surface to indicate ripples.

Both of these systems work well for me and I usually finish them off with a coat of acrylic HIGH GLOSS varnish to seal, protect and shine up the final display. This also toughens up the surface and makes it easy to keep clean.

Hope you try some of this on a small diorama until you feel confident enough for the layout...I always try new ideas on diorama first.

What you have done so far looks great and I'm sure that your water effect efforts will only enhance it.

Keep up the work effort and the high level of display.

Franklin

I created this water fall

I created this water fall with PVA glue spread over cling film allowed to dry highlighted with white acrylic paint dry brushed on. it was just stuck on to the rock face at the points water would fall from. I would not use this for open water as it tends to fog.

Magic Water Streams

Here is something never model in the way of rivers.

Red River is over flood stage.  It went up over 37 feet. There are photos of it all over the Internet.  Here is an example;  

https://www.google.com/search?q=KCS%20railroad%20bridge%20in%20flood&gws_rd=ssl

Look how high the water is on the trestles.

Den