It's all water under the bridge...

Warning: this is a big post, it contains a lot of pictures and a lot of text!

I have completed the first batch of river Hexes to expand my 6mm Hex terrain... I have been working on these for a couple of weeks now, most of that time was needed to build up the layers of gloss varnish to represent the water...

The Hex Terrain Toolkit provides some very handy options to make river Hexes. Cutting the basic 15mm Hex in half to make the riverbed and bank and then using a mold to make bends or straights... This construction allows the river to be embedded in the surrounding terrain, rather than to sit on top.

Instead of using the molds to create bends and straights I decided to free-hand the shaping of the river. By setting the wire of the hot wire cutter at an angle it's easy enough and it prevents getting all identical pieces... With a bit of planning and careful measurement all the pieces lign up neatly.

What river is complete without a bridge? I only made one and really should make some more...

I also made a water mill. This was a little project all on it's own and I am very pleased with the way it turned out.

Years ago I also made a water mill and bridge for my 15mm Flames of War terrain. Despite working on a much smaller scale I tried to improve on the design. 

For this model I used the old water mill in Bayeux, France, as a source of inspiration. While I was limited by the scale of the model and the size of the Hex, I think it works well enough...

The entire set consists of 24 river Hexes, including the bridge and water wheel. That should be enough for now, but as the collection of Hexes and the surface it covers is growing I do plan to add more in the future.

The complete set of river Hexes...

And incorporated in the rest of the Hex terrain... Turns out I have plenty of river Hexes for now, I just need more Snowflakes and regular Hexes...