# ShadowLight's Adventures in Hirst Arts



## shadowlight (Mar 3, 2005)

Like most of you, I've seen (and drooled over) tons of Hirst Arts terrain around on the web and at conventions.  Well, I finally went over the edge and ordered my first Hirst Arts molds!  (ok, actually my wife bought them for me for GM's Day!)

I'm sure there are others out there teetering on the edge, so I decided to chronicle my learning curve with Hirst Arts so you can see if it's something you can do or if it's even worth it.

So, here goes!!


On Sunday night, my wife ordered molds #70 (Fieldston Wall) and #260 (1" Flagstone Floor Tile).  The cost was $34 for #70 and $29 for #260, and $7 for shipping and handling.  *Total: $70*

Monday morning around noon, Bruce Hirst sent me an email/invoice saying that the molds ha already been sent!  AWESOME!


By Tuesday, I couldn't stand the wait, I decided to make a pound board - a board that you can pound on to help get the bubbles out of the plaster.  To do this, I glued (using _Aleene's Tacky Glue_) two kitchen sponges to the bottom of a 1/4" thick piece of MDF.  Here are the results:






Bottom






Top​
More to come...


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## shadowlight (Mar 3, 2005)

Since my molds didn't arrive yesterday (of course), I tried to pick up all the rest of my materials today.  My awesome wife spent some time at the local craft store and picked up some Permastone.   There's a pretty good review of how the stuff works on the Hirst Arts website. 

Now, Bruce Hirst recommends some dental plaster called Excalibur.  The stuff costs $40 (plus $7 shipping) for a 50 lb bag from ClintSales (email cindy@clintsales.com if you want to order some) - so about $1 / lb.  The permastone that my shockingly gorgeous wife picked up was about $7 for a 28 oz tube (shown below), or about $4 / lb.  So it's definitely more expensive, but I'm still trying to get my Excalibur ordered and I cant just let those molds collect dust!!!

Well, when I got home from work this evening, there was a lovely package in my mailbox!  Yep, I ordered them on Sunday night and they were in my mailbox on Wednesday evening!!  You wrok Bruce!!

Here's a picture of the molds:







Molds #70 & #260





Mold #70 Closeup





Mold #260 Closeup​
How cool are those?!!


Here's my tube of Permastone:





Permastone​


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## shadowlight (Mar 3, 2005)

*My First CAST!!!*

To prepare my supa-swank table for casting, I cut a garbage bag in half, opened it up and taped it to the table.  Like so:





Don't you wish you had a table this... octagonal?!​

The mixing instruction on the Permastone says to use 3 parts Permastone to 1 part water.  I poured some water and Permastone in 9oz plastic cups to get ready:





Permastone + Water = ???​

As a total guess, I used 1/2 cup water.  I ended up putting in only 1.25 cups of permastone (rather than the recommended 1.5 cups) because the water seemed to stop absorbing the powder (this is Bruce's method for mixing).  I mixed it up and it looked something like this:





YUHM!!!​

I put the first mold on the my gnarly pound board and slowly poured the mix in while pounding the crud out of the pound board.  Tons of bubbles came up so I hope it helped!





There's Bubbles in Them Thar Molds!​

I was supposed to wait about 5 minutes before scraping the excess off the top of the molds.  I didn't get my timer until a little too late, and ended up scraping after about 8 minutes.  

To scrape I used my MASSIVE 12" putty knife (you're supposed to use a 4" knife for better control) and ran it along the top of the mold at a 45° angle.  The bottoms of the bricks had set up a bit and the scrape kind of hosed the bottoms.  I went back over the bottoms again, but next time I'll definitely wait less time before scraping.

After scraping I set my timer for 30 minutes and started typing up my first post as I waited!





Patience...​
That's all for tonight, I'll post my first cast results tomorrow!


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## KnowTheToe (Mar 3, 2005)

Very cool, thanks for sharing.  I just sighned up for a class on doing this stuff at a gaming convention in April.  I figured, it was a good way to get exposure to it, learn some tips and decide if I am ready to jump in and start building.


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## shadowlight (Mar 3, 2005)

KnowTheToe said:
			
		

> Very cool, thanks for sharing.  I just sighned up for a class on doing this stuff at a gaming convention in April.  I figured, it was a good way to get exposure to it, learn some tips and decide if I am ready to jump in and start building.



 It's a lot easier than I expected!  I thought there would be more to it somehow.

The casts are turning out great, I'll post my results later tonight (weird, it looks like my pictures aren't showing up...)


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## shadowlight (Mar 4, 2005)

Continuing where I left off...

I waited about an hour before I removed the casts (just to be safe).  The pieces came out of the molds VERY easily:





Ahhh... The First Fruits!​
Even the taller wall pieces came right out!  Here are two picts of the final results:





Is that a Floor?!






Holy First Shot Parts Batman!​

As you can see, there were a few bubbles in this batch and the bottoms of the pieces are a little convex.  The convexity should be fixed with a little sanding.  Also, on the next cast I scraped a little more firmly and the pieces came out much more level.  They seem to fit together better now.

For the bubbles, I tried using the Wet Water method (a little Jet Dry mixed with water sprayed onto the molds before casting) and the results seem to be better.

So now I'm casting as fast as I can (I've done about four of each mold now) so I can amass enough pieces to make my first modular dungeon room!

Next time I'll post my painting tests!

If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to chime in.  I'm still a n00b at this after all


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## shadowlight (Mar 4, 2005)

Well, it was a long night of casting, but I ended up getting out 4 casts of each mold in about 3.5 hours!  I have enough parts now to make my first piece.


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## Mourngrymn Dasha'r (Mar 4, 2005)

Good job. Looks far easier than I had imagined as well.

Can't wait to see your results.


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## shadowlight (Mar 7, 2005)

Mourngrymn Dasha'r said:
			
		

> Good job. Looks far easier than I had imagined as well.
> 
> Can't wait to see your results.



 The results are even better than I'd hoped for!  I've finished a 5 x 5 room and a bunch of modular dungeon pieces (by Saturday night).  I'll post some picts as soon as I can.


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## rowport (Mar 7, 2005)

*Great Thread- Keep it up!*

Shadowlight-

Thanks for sharing your experience with the casting, especially with the photos!  I have wondered about the casting process- this is helpful.  (I am also interested in the painting process for cast pieces, so photos step-by-step on that would be cool, too!)

Thanks again!


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## shadowlight (Mar 8, 2005)

*Saturday Night Fever*

So by Saturday, I'd made 9 casts of each mold.  After about 2 or 3 casts, you get pretty good at guessing when you should scrape, and how long you need to wait before you remove the pieces from the molds.  I definitely recommend using a 4" putty knife (rather than a massive 12" knife like I used initially).  Also, the wet water method is REALLY helping my pieces come out with noticably fewer bubbles.

Before I started any gluing, I built a square form from Legos (see the first picture below).  This is basically a guide to help me keep all of my blocks straight and square while I glue them.  

I picked out all the pieces for my first room (a 25' square room, so 5"x5") and laid them out against the square.  Some of the pieces had bulbous bottoms (because I didn't do my first few scrapes very well), so I sanded them off to make the floor relatively even.

Once all the pieces were sanded I used _Aleene's Tacky Glue_ (white glue in a gold bottle that you can find at any craft store for super cheap) to glue the pieces together:





Ahh, Taste the Rainbow!​

One thing I should mention is that I decided to add a half inch border around my room to build the walls on (they're all 1/2" thick).  Bruce Hirst's Dungeon Tutorial says to build them right on the 1" squares, but I wanted a complete grid in the room rather than having only 1/2" rectangles next to the walls.  Here's the finished floor:





5" x 5" Floor!​
I should mention that I glued on a sheet of tin foil so the floor pieces wouldn't stick to the table.

While the floor was drying, I started work on my 2"x2" modular rooms.  These were a lot easier because they were smaller and because I'd built up my confidence a little   Here they are:





Cornered!






10' x 10' Pieces​

And here's the final shot of all my pieces:





My Modular Dungeon is Coming Together​

Well, this is all a lot easier than I thought it would be!  I ordered the molds on Sunday, and by the next Saturday, I'd made all the pieces above.

Here are a few random suggestions I'd make after building my first few pieces:
1) Use a square form made from Legos.  It's SO easy to get everything square!
2) Build the piece completely before you do any gluing.  There's always a piece or two you'll have to sand
3) Learn to use the wet water technique.  Water + Jet Dry = Fewer Bubbles
4) Have a lot of Ibuprofen around!  My back was killing me by Saturday night from hunching over the table.  In fact, I ended up putting cinder blocks under the table to raise it up several inches.  I took a break on Sunday and Monday, and my back's feeling a lot better

Next steps:
- Paint the dungeon!!
- Base the dungeon!!
- Order a few more molds to feed the growing addiction!!!!!


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## shadowlight (Mar 8, 2005)

rowport said:
			
		

> Thanks for sharing your experience with the casting, especially with the photos!  I have wondered about the casting process- this is helpful.




Hurray!  My hope in posting my experiences is that it will be helpful for someone.  Mission accomplished!!!    



			
				rowport said:
			
		

> I am also interested in the painting process for cast pieces, so photos step-by-step on that would be cool, too!




Painting is up next.  I plan on doing some experiments tomorrow night and if that works out, I may paint the rest of my pieces.  There will definitely be pictures involved!


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## shadowlight (Mar 8, 2005)

OK, I just went a little psycho... I got my bonus from work today so to celebrate, I just ordered 5 new molds:

	71 	Fieldstone Accessory Mold
	72 	4" Circular Fieldstone Mold
	93 	Egyptian Tower Mold
	95 	Egyptian basic block mold
	201 	Floor Tiles Various Sizes

Did I mention the addiction aspect of all this?


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## Cthulhu's Librarian (Mar 8, 2005)

Very cool thread. I've looked at these molds the past two years at GenCon, but haven't been able to bring myself to buy any. Seeing how easy you make it look makes it much more likely that I'll be picking a few of them up this year.


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## shadowlight (Mar 8, 2005)

Cthulhu's Librarian said:
			
		

> Very cool thread. I've looked at these molds the past two years at GenCon, but haven't been able to bring myself to buy any. Seeing how easy you make it look makes it much more likely that I'll be picking a few of them up this year.



 Cool.  I've never been to GenCon, but my wife and I are going this year.  I'm stoked to see what the Hirst Arts booth looks like!!


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## blargney the second (Mar 8, 2005)

I really like the pictures, ShadowLight - keep 'em coming! 
-blarg


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## shadowlight (Mar 8, 2005)

shadowlight said:
			
		

> And here's the final shot of all my pieces:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



One thing I should mention is that I used 2 full tubes of the Permastone to make the modular dungeon pieces shown here.   There are some pieces I haven't used (the arches, and skulls, etc.), but I'm pretty much out of wall pieces.  (except for 3" wall pieces, I have like 18 of those and I haven't been able to use any yet due to their size).

My point is that I'm going through plaster a lot faster than I expected!


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## shadowlight (Mar 9, 2005)

Well, I got all of my pieces painted last night, and I'm really pleased with the results!  I'll post some pictures tonight.


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## shadowlight (Mar 9, 2005)

*Plasters*

I've been checking out prices on different plasters.  Bruce Hirst recommends dental plaster for molds because it is so strong.  In fact, he seems to use Excalibur almost exclusively.  However, people seem to complain that it's too expensive.  

Below is a little table I've compiled to look at the price per pound of the various plasters:




So, yes, the dental plasters (Excalibur and Merlin's Magic on the table) are more expensive initially, but the price per pound is much less than Permastone.  But consider that for the molds I've done so far (2 molds with 9 casts each) have used 3.5 lbs of Permastone - in one week!

At that rate, it will be much cheaper to go with the dental plaster (which is stronger and apparently easier to cast), and a 50 lb box should last me 3-4 months.

If you can't afford $55 all at once, the Durham's Rock Hard Watter Putty seems like a good alternative.  My scandalously beautiful wife picked me up 2 4/lb cans of the stuff from Lowe's yesterday, so the next time I cast (either tonight or tomorrow night) I'll try it out and post the results of how it works.


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## pogre (Mar 10, 2005)

shadowlight said:
			
		

> Did I mention the addiction aspect of all this?




Well, you certainly cannot claim no one warned you


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## shadowlight (Mar 12, 2005)

OK, I finally have some time to post my painting results from Tuesday night!

For me the first step in painting is to get into some appropriate attire.  I recommend an old BNL T-Shirt from their Maroon tour:






Hello City!​

I'm going with the dirty stone look rather than the gray stone look, so I got some colors that looked similar to the ones that Bruce Hirst has on his website.  I got some of the cheap _Delta Ceramcoat_ acrylics from my local craft store in the colors Burnt Umber, Mocha Brown, and Antique White:











Color Me Cheap!​

I really recommend reading Bruce Hirst's painting tutorials (linked above) and watching the painting video he has on the same site.  Those are nearly exactly the same techniques I used for Basing and Dry Brushing.

I experimented a bit with some of my broken/bubbly pieces and came up with a three coat system that I liked:

     - *Base*: 2.5 parts *Burnt Umber*,1 part *Mocha Brown*, 0.5 part *water*
     - *Dry Brush 1*: *Mocha Brown*
     - *Dry Brush 2*: 1 part *Mocha Brown*, 1 part *Antique White*

For the Base coat, I watered it down just a bit so that it would slop into all the cracks nicely and so that I'd end up with more shades of brown (in areas where it ended up thinner).

Here's a corner piece after the base coat:





All my base are belong to... me  :\​

Next came the first dry brush:





Dry Brush 1​

Followed by the second dry brush.  Here's the final results being shown off by my trusty warforged:





Is that a Warforged on your dungeon or are you just...nevermind.​

Same piece but pulled back so you can see the walls:




My 5x5 room never looked so good!​

And finally, a little Displacer Beast on Monk action:




Fight!​

Well, all in all, I'm really satisfied with the paint job results.  Once I figured out what I liked, it was really straight forward to do the bulk of the painting.

One word of caution: when the pieces get wet from the paint, the Tacky Glue bond gets kind of soft.  Be careful to make sure your pieces don't goo apart while you're painting them!


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## shadowlight (Mar 12, 2005)

pogre said:
			
		

> Well, you certainly cannot claim no one warned you



 Curse you pogre!!  You're as guilty as the rest of them!!


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## jgbrowning (Mar 12, 2005)

I'm begining to think that Pogre is really an anacronym for Pusher of Great Roleplaying Enhancements.....

joe b.


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## punkorange (Mar 13, 2005)

I wish my wife got me molds for DM day


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## Desdichado (Mar 14, 2005)

shadowlight said:
			
		

> Have a lot of Ibuprofen around!  My back was killing me by Saturday night from hunching over the table.  In fact, I ended up putting cinder blocks under the table to raise it up several inches.  I took a break on Sunday and Monday, and my back's feeling a lot better



  Yeah, I get the same effect from painting minis on the kitchen table.  Ideally, I'd have a drafting desk style table somewhere in the house I could use, but realistically that ain't happening.  I'm resigned to painting in shortish 3 or so hour stints, usually seperated by a day or two during which I make an effort to either sit up very straight, or lay around a lot.


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## Digital M@ (Mar 14, 2005)

Looking very good SL.  I am going to get some myself.  I think I am going to go with the 1.5" scale for the flooring because minis always take up more than an inch.  I can still use a square = 5' so it should not be a big deal.  Thanks for sharing.

If anyone is interested in trying a kit out before they buy the molds, go to www.castlekits.com and order 1 or two.  It is a good way to introduce yourself to the product without having to cast the bricks.  I ordered two pieces and really enjoyed putting them together.  Now I have to decide which molds I want.


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## Mourngrymn Dasha'r (Mar 15, 2005)

So I have a question that hasn't really been brought up. How much do these molds weight after they are finished. For instance you create enough molds to have a decent amount for a good dungen crawl... how much will all of these molds weight? And how difficult would they be to transport them to and from a game, if you don't have access to store them where you game?


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## Desdichado (Mar 15, 2005)

Mourngrymn Dasha'r said:
			
		

> So I have a question that hasn't really been brought up. How much do these molds weight after they are finished. For instance you create enough molds to have a decent amount for a good dungen crawl... how much will all of these molds weight? And how difficult would they be to transport them to and from a game, if you don't have access to store them where you game?



That depends on what you cast them with, but if you've got a ton of them, they can get relatively heavy.  Pretty much all of the options are some kind of plaster.


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## shadowlight (Mar 15, 2005)

Digital M@ said:
			
		

> Looking very good SL.



Thanks!



			
				Digital M@ said:
			
		

> I am going to get some myself.  I think I am going to go with the 1.5" scale for the flooring because minis always take up more than an inch.  I can still use a square = 5' so it should not be a big deal.  Thanks for sharing.



Cool.  Post when you get your molds.  I'd be interested to see how the 1.5" dungeons work out.  



			
				Digital M@ said:
			
		

> If anyone is interested in trying a kit out before they buy the molds, go to www.castlekits.com and order 1 or two.  It is a good way to introduce yourself to the product without having to cast the bricks.  I ordered two pieces and really enjoyed putting them together.



You can also order individual bricks from them.  Very handy if you just want one or two and aren't sure if you want the mold or not yet.



			
				Digital M@ said:
			
		

> Now I have to decide which molds I want.



I (obviously) recommend the field stone dungeons, but I'm also enjoying the egyptian molds I bought.  Bruce is currently working on an Egyptian Dungeon mold....


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## shadowlight (Mar 15, 2005)

Mourngrymn Dasha'r said:
			
		

> So I have a question that hasn't really been brought up. How much do these molds weight after they are finished. For instance you create enough molds to have a decent amount for a good dungen crawl... how much will all of these molds weight? And how difficult would they be to transport them to and from a game, if you don't have access to store them where you game?



Well, I just weighed a couple of pieces.  The 2"x2" corner piece weighs 100g and the 5"x5" room weighs 385g (that's glued and painted but not based yet... I'm still making up my mind on how I want to do that).  Those are both made from Permastone.

I've done some casts with Excalibur and it's about 1.2 times the weight of Permastone (so 30g vs. 25g for 4 1" square floor tiles).  So it's a little heavier but is allegedly stronger (I haven't had any of the Permastone pieces break after they're dry).

I don't think carrying the pieces to the gaming location will be a problem.  So far all my pieces stack nicely and they're really not that heavy.


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## shadowlight (Mar 15, 2005)

Joshua Dyal said:
			
		

> That depends on what you cast them with, but if you've got a ton of them, they can get relatively heavy.  Pretty much all of the options are some kind of plaster.



 The densities (and therefore the weight) of the plasters can vary quite a bit.  

A lot of people use plaster of paris, which is very cheap and a LOT lighter than the stuff I've been using (I've used it before with some latex molds I made of some Dwarven Forge pieces). It's also VERY fragile.  I definitely do not recommend using plaster of paris.

Once you get into the really hard/strong stuff it starts getting closer in weight but it can still vary a lot from HydroCal to HydroStone/PermaStone to Dental Plaster


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## shadowlight (Mar 16, 2005)

Since we're talking about different plasters, here's a bit about Excalibur.  I got my 50 lb box in the mail and it was HEAVY (hmm... about 50 lbs I'd guess) but a lot smaller than I'd thought.  Here's the box:




50 lbs?​

Just to give you a sense of scale, the box is 12"x12" and 11" high.

Inside is a big ole' bag of powder:




Bag in a Box​

And, for the curious, here's the instructions on the front of the box:




That's what I call a User's Manual!​

Compared to Permastone, this stuff sets fast... REALLY fast!  It's not kidding when it says 12-15 minutes to set!  You need to scrape pretty quickly after pouring, and then you can seriously pull the parts out of the molds in a little less than 20 minutes!  With the Permastone I'd wait a good 40 minutes before pulling the pieces out of the molds.

I used the Wet Water method on pretty much every mold I cast, and it seems like the Excalibur is a little more forgiving and produces fewer bubbles than the Permastone.  

People told me that Excalibur was a lot stronger and heavier than Permastone, but I didn't notice that much of a difference (I haven't broken any of either material yet).  When I weighed them, the Excalibur pieces are about 1.2 times the weight of the same Permastone pieces.

Now, a few posts up, I posted a table that indicated that Excalibur would be the cheapest per _pound_.  Now that I've used the Excalibur, I'd guess that Durham's will probably end up being cheaper per _brick _because Excalibur is so dense (the water can soak up a TON of this stuff!).  I'll reserve my final judgement until I try out the Durham's though.

All in all, I like the stuff.  The bag-in-a-box packaging isn't the greatest (I prefer the tubes that the Permastone and Durham's come in), it's expensive, and you can't just run to the store when you need some.  However, the casts I've made with it seem pretty good!


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## pogre (Mar 16, 2005)

shadowlight said:
			
		

> All in all, I like the stuff.  The bag-in-a-box packaging isn't the greatest (I prefer the tubes that the Permastone and Durham's come in), it's expensive, and you can't just run to the store when you need some.  However, the casts I've made with it seem pretty good!




FYI - Bag in a box is how almost all dental and art plasters are shipped.


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## shadowlight (Mar 16, 2005)

pogre said:
			
		

> FYI - Bag in a box is how almost all dental and art plasters are shipped.



 Hmmm...  I'd better keep my Durham's cans so I can repackage my future dental plasters... bringing that big box up from the basement whenever I want to cast is getting old


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## Guillaume (Apr 30, 2005)

Hey there Shadowlight,

Just wondering if you have done any more stuff with your casts.  Would like to see some new pictures if you have them .


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## Angel Tarragon (Apr 30, 2005)

HOLY COW!

Quite impressive! I like it a lot.


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## Ozgood Ratsbane (May 25, 2005)

*Casting Idea*

I use the no scrape method or called the glass plate method. After I pour the mold I let it sit a few moments and then lay a plate of glass on the mold and hold it down with two 20 oz. bottles of water. The bricks come out smooth and every time they are even without scraping .


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## rollingstart (May 27, 2005)

You could aslo try ultracal-30. It is cement. I have had hirst molds for years and that is all I used. heavy but very strong, and cheap as heck $18 usd for 100# (lbs)


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## kengar (May 27, 2005)

Very cool stuff!  Can't wait to see more.

Can any of you "moldies"  tell me how well the various molds work together? Can you mix elements from things like the gothic dungeon molds easily with the fieldstone, etc.?


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## Boddynock (May 28, 2005)

kengar said:
			
		

> Very cool stuff!  Can't wait to see more.
> 
> Can any of you "moldies"  tell me how well the various molds work together? Can you mix elements from things like the gothic dungeon molds easily with the fieldstone, etc.?



I can answer that. Provided that you're judicious in your use of the various molds, you'll find that they actually mix very well. Bruce (Hirst) has designed them so that all the pieces will work together in terms of scale, and the variations in texture can give some very interesting effects.

He also produces various "lines" - so that you can buy basic molds and then extend with all sorts of accessories. The Gothic line has a whole series of fantastic additions, including secret doors and huge, cathedral-style arches. His latest is the Egyptian line, and I'm looking forward to the day (far off, sadly) when I can justify buying still more molds. Of course, finding the time to do enough casting and building and painting is another matter.

BTW, shadowlight, I like your paint job very much. I've developed a "dirty" grey scheme that looks fairly realistic, but I'd like to try some more earth tones as well. I think I've just *yoinked* your colour scheme. Thanks!

'Nock


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## Lady_Acoma (May 29, 2005)

rollingstart said:
			
		

> You could aslo try ultracal-30. It is cement. I have had hirst molds for years and that is all I used. heavy but very strong, and cheap as heck $18 usd for 100# (lbs)




How does that take paint and what about bubbles?  Also what are the basic set times please if you could...I think I have found a new past time for once I figure out where to get the money for this and then go look them up somewhere.


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## Ozgood Ratsbane (May 29, 2005)

*Molds*

I just have two molds and enjoy them both. #50 and #201 the Wizards Tower and a floor tile mold. I am working on a rather large project with four walls amd a central keep. If you want follow the link below to see it in progress.

http://www.voidgamers.com/channel/HirstArts/b.100.o.15.html

It is just a work in progress at this time.


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## kengar (Jun 8, 2005)

I think I've conn- er, conVINCED my lovely wife that I deserve a few molds for Daddy-Day. 

I've requested some Fieldstone molds (70, 71, & 260). Now, if I can just convince her about the 50# bag of plaster, I'll be set.


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## Ruined (Jun 8, 2005)

Great stuff, Shadowlight! I've toyed with the idea of getting some Hirst molds before, but never taken the plunge. You make it look easy...


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## Ozgood Ratsbane (Jun 15, 2005)

*Hirst molds*

You really should get a couple of molds. I enjoy coming up with new layouts for my builds and by making your own blocks as needed you just have have to use your brain. The community on the site is wonderful and helpful if you get stuck on an idea also.




			
				Ruined said:
			
		

> Great stuff, Shadowlight! I've toyed with the idea of getting some Hirst molds before, but never taken the plunge. You make it look easy...


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## Big Mac (Sep 14, 2008)

shadowlight said:


> Compared to Permastone, this stuff sets fast... REALLY fast!  It's not kidding when it says 12-15 minutes to set!  You need to scrape pretty quickly after pouring, and then you can seriously pull the parts out of the molds in a little less than 20 minutes!  With the Permastone I'd wait a good 40 minutes before pulling the pieces out of the molds.




How fast is really fast? Are we talking 1 minute or 5 minutes or what?



Ozgood Ratsbane said:


> I use the no scrape method or called the glass plate method. After I pour the mold I let it sit a few moments and then lay a plate of glass on the mold and hold it down with two 20 oz. bottles of water. The bricks come out smooth and every time they are even without scraping .




This sounds interesting, but a sheet of glass is a dangerous thing to have knocking around. Would this work with a sheet of perspex, or would the plaster stick to that?


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## Olaf the Stout (Sep 16, 2008)

Wow, that's some thread necromancy you managed there Big Mac.  A very awesome thread though.  I'm inching closer and closer to buying some Hirst Arts molds some day.  For now I don't have the time or money, but someday, someday! 

Olaf the Stout


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## Toscadero (Oct 4, 2008)

Great to see this thread pop back up.  It does an excellent job of showing just how easy it is to cast these molds.  For me, the hardest part is painting.  But if you follow the tutorials on the Hirst Arts site, even that comes out pretty good.  My most recent project was to make game pieces for Descent:  Journeys in the Dark.


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## Asmor (Jun 3, 2009)

Olaf the Stout said:


> Wow, that's some thread necromancy you managed there Big Mac.  A very awesome thread though.  I'm inching closer and closer to buying some Hirst Arts molds some day.  For now I don't have the time or money, but someday, someday!
> 
> Olaf the Stout




Heh, and I thought I was going to be the one to dredge up this thread... 

Thanks, Shadowlight! I just ordered my first mold and it should be arriving any day now... I'm rather nervous about it since I've never done anything like this before, so it was really helpful seeing a step-by-step from someone else who's completely new to it.


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## Olaf the Stout (Jun 4, 2009)

Damn you Asmor for resurrecting the thread and reminding me how good the Hirst Molds look!  I've still managed to resist buying any as yet but I don't know how much longer that will last.

[shakes fist]


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## Olaf the Stout (Dec 4, 2009)

Olaf the Stout said:


> Wow, that's some thread necromancy you managed there Big Mac.  A very awesome thread though.  I'm inching closer and closer to buying some Hirst Arts molds some day.  For now I don't have the time or money, but someday, someday!
> 
> Olaf the Stout






Olaf the Stout said:


> Damn you Asmor for resurrecting the thread and reminding me how good the Hirst Molds look!  I've still managed to resist buying any as yet but I don't know how much longer that will last.
> 
> [shakes fist]




And now I have finally been broken down.  The strong Aussie dollar, combined with a group order giving me 20% discount was the clincher.

I've gone out and ordered 4 molds, #40 Basic Block, #45 Gothic Dungeon Builder, #85 Cavern Accessories and #203 Cracked Floor which hopefully will arrive any day now.  That should send me on the right path to addiction (and dungeon building)!

I've still got to go out and buy some Hydrostone, putty knife, etc., but I should be casting within the next week or two. 

Olaf the Stout


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