Making Water Feature Tiles for Battletech

One of the most common terrain types in Battletech is that of various water features, such as lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. Today we are going through my process for creating these kinds of water features for my modular hex map system. It mainly uses resin, a skill that I am still new at, but if you follow along hopefully you will not make the same mistakes that I do.
Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
0:49 Types of Water Tiles
5:39 Soldering Iron Method
9:31 Hot Spoon Method
14:27 Painting
17:19 Pouring the Resin
27:58 Conclusion
#Battletech #Crafting #Resin

[@hexedcrafting4621]

Let me know if you have any questions. And remember, don't make the same mistakes as me!

[@PGIFilms]

I was wondering if it would be safer, that instead of using a soldering iron or heated spoon if the hollowing-out can be done using a small paintbrush (like the one you used for the blue paint) dipped in a small cup/dish of acetone (nail polish remover) to "melt away" the foam chemically and let the tiles dry/evaporate before applying paint. The only issue with the idea is that I don't know if acetone would affect the type of insulation foam panels you are using compared to simple styrofoam drinking cups, which acetone can completely dissolve/melt.

[@eusebiou-say-bee-oh326]

Probably not healthy for either cases since the fumes generated from the heat (like the one in the vid) or from a chemical compound such as acetone melting the foam, isn't safe for the lungs or blood. If one would try these method then for sure there is enough ventilation to vent the toxic air out of the environment such that one doesn't get exposed too much from breathing the air. Better yet wear a half face mask with a charcoal respirator so the fumes can be absorbed by the charcoal. If nothing else, a carving tool to scoop out the inside may be better since no fumes could be generated from just carving.

[@CrownTarget]

Late to the party.... Just found you.
What are you doing?
Save your lungs!
Stop wasting resources like butane and accidentally burning through your bases.
Use your hot wire cutter from the previous videos. Laterally cut them in half height-wise.
Take the (now) top piece, hollow out the centers like reverse that you did for your 'hills', and glue them back to your 'base' piece.
Paint or fill as previous.
If you want, cut it in thirds. Then step your two top upper pieces. The lower level can be for your deep water.
Glue the center pieces on your larger lakes around your deep centers.
(use tacky glue for these parts, it won't melt anything)
top
I--- -----I
I '---- ----' I cross-section view from the side
I '---------' I
bottom
Experiment with different transparencies of your resins.
The deeper they are layered the darker they become.
Do some further research.
Model Train Terrain How-To videos are invaluable, as well as those weird resin-filled table top furniture videos.
I would forgo the push pins, you don't have enough surface being supported and they are only distracting you.
Put your pieces flat when you are working on them with the resin.