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I quite like how it's some kind of ancient burial ground and the orks have just taken over and relentlessly tagged it all up. And even if the pissed spirits rose up to kill the intruders, the orks would just 'krump 'em like anybody else

Very nice indeed. I do like the way it fits in seamlessly with the 'Hotel'. You'll have enough for a proper table's worth of terrain soon enough.

Needs a swimmin' hole for the boyz. A good chance to play with water effects.

Cam has come a long way!

Thank you all for your kind comments.

Well the walls got 3rd place in the competition, which I am honestly surprised at, the level of work in the comp was amazing, and I have come away with a whole bunch of ideas and thoughts. looking forward to the next one, OneMan Noodle is running it, as his amazing wall sections won this round.

We are looking at moving house this year, which is all good, but leaves me a problem, far too many models, so I am giving away a fair bit, so if anyone wants the wall sections PM me they are free, just cover the postage and they are yours. I will be selling some stuff off, mainly mini's my creations are free, but I can't give away armies that have cost me hundreds, not that I will charge hundreds. So I will let you know exactly what I am loosing, as an when I get to it, which will be sooner than later.

Of course I will be creating more as I go here.

On that note, a question for you molding guys out there...

Resin. Currently using a Low Odour 2 part Fast Cast resin. It is fairly good, no nasty smells, sets up hard-ish, picks up most detail nicely. Struggles with crisp corners, And struggling with small objects like rokkits, it's kind of syrupy and struggles to pour nicely.
I also occasionally use Dental plaster, when I use this, and make it watery, it takes a little longer to set, but I get beautiful crisp casts, from the same molds!
Is this a common problem with all resins?, I have noticed that several of you use different resins! Which do you use? What issues do you have?
Here is a pic of recent attempts, happy with most of it.
Breif explanation of parts....
Made up some cog wheels moldeed from a kiddies toy tractors wheels, Then made a track unit, to add some detail, I added spring parts, and suspension, this I made with rods and tubes and springs I either wound myself or cut up clothes pegs to steal the springs, I have put the originals in so you can see how I made them.



Thanks for stopping by, please feel free to comment.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Happy New Year Dakka!

I am a patternmaker by trade (if you have google time you can learn about this almost lost trade) but basically it is all about casting metals and resins so have a fair bit of experience and am happy to discuss specific things if you are ever interested.

However on your points above:
Some resins are just better at reproducing details. The thicker a resin is the harder it is for air to move through it and get up any bleed holes you have before the resin reaches the end of its "pot life" (the point where it won't pour out of a pot any more) and therefore you will get airlocks, typically around the sharp edges.

On the note of sharp edges these are typically considered a major no-no in the casting world so if you can round them off or eliminate them altogether all the better.

I have always preferred a "fast cast" polyurethane two part resin (polyol and isocyanate) as it is very runny and gets great detail. Although you have roughly 5 minutes of usable time which you really need to mix well and then degass (ie suck the air bubbles out of it). I always find you get a much better result with polyurethane if you can have an open mold that you then sand the back off than a closed mold unless of course you have access to a vacuum chamber.....

The resins I tend to prefer are referred to as F16 or F19, they are from a company called Meury Enterprises but not sure you can get them in your neck of the woods, pretty expensive though.

You could also look for an additive to put in your resin to slow its reaction time down and also to thin it out to make pouring easier.

Thank you Archer, great response.

Been a while, sorry, been busy on Orky matters on other thread.

Putting this here even though it is slightly orky, because this I ythink comes under general knowledge.

Molding!

Well I originally bought some silicone mold stuff and some resin from ebay and was happy enough, but as explained above, not 100%.

Now several peeps have been in touch and in the end I opted to try OneManNoodles suggestion.
http://www.sylmasta.com/acatalog/Casting---Mould-Making.html

Bought the G26 resin, and the 370 silicone. So far I have found that the silicone, although taking a while to set is a vast improvement over my previous one. It is a lot better at picking up detail and is much more pliable. The resin is great, it takes about the same time to set as my previous one, but picks up detail way better, nice sharp edges, no real bubble issues, pours better in to some of my terrible mold efforts.

The only thing not 100% is it does not like my old molds! It works ok, but the molds are failing fast! It is hardening up the silicone, and some times it sticks fast to the silicone, yes i am using an "demolding agent", (well ok I either use baby talc, or olive oil dependant on the mold. But still had no issue here before, but do now. It is fine to a degree.

All in all highly recommend it.

Suppose you want some pics of what I been molding?!!

OK I am completely an amatuer here, but hope this helps you out.

I need some large circular bits for a project, so could not find anything that rocked my boat, so make it then....

Make an "original", I use allsorts here...card...


Then I added some foam and a few rivets....


Stuff it to some lego and covered it in silicone....badabing a mold.......


A note here, I fouled up, making the "original" from foam meant it floated in the silicone, gave me no end of trouble, So always make sure your Original is either stuck down or does not float.

Next pour some resin in it and.....


Oh you say "whats the other one?"......well this is my other tried and tested idiot proof mould making method....

Get a good flexible receptical (this is the box from some masking tape (frog tape I think)) Press in some plastercine, and carve your design in there. If you want to make a mold, make it embossed, if you want to just make a few quick then you have to think about it a bit and indent your design.


Pour inb some resin and badabing more stuff... I find that this is generally good for about a dozen casts, then you are loosing detail on the mold.

"Wait a minute! Whats that in the middle?" I here you mumble, well that would be a scenic base about 70mm wide.....


You see, I am useless at calculating how much stuff to mix, I do it all by eye. So mix a bit too much resin....no worres, pop out a scenic base or another wheel or another jet engine, or anothertrack set, or another....ok you get the picture. Got me a stack of spare bits now.

Well thats it for now, supposed to be going to work today to clean cars, but we have had a foot of snow overnight, and I don't think I will bother travelling 50 miles toclean cars covered in snow anyway?!! So hopefully these circles will get some love and become something.

Thank you for looking in and I hope this has maybe helped a bit...

How are you finding making moulds using cardboard as the master ? I had considered it a couple times but figured there would be to much warpage or deformity from the card becoming wet or collapsing from pressure/heat ?

So far it has not been an issue, I did worry. I would say that you will loose your "Original". They seem to soak up some of the chemicals and become, Greasy. Plastic can obviously be washed and used, but card, I don't think paint would like it much.

I have had no issues with warping, or degrading materials though.

Well as long as you get a good mould it aint much of an issue, good to know for future work

Sealing the card with water/PVA would probably work. Haven't tried it myself though.

I like this spare bits making you got going on in the side.

Time to reserect this old puppy....

Well I am busy as hell in RL and I have been doing some stuff, on my other thread. But this is not ork related so going to put it here.

New LoER competition is up, and the theme is "Trapdoor"

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/654377.page

YOU NEED TO LOOK AND ENTER NOW!

Ok well it got me brain juices going so much I have to try and do something, so here we go.....

Some of this will have to be secret !!!

Ruined corner of a building with a trapdoor leading to a basement,

Started with the scrap from my last project...


Started breaking it down into blocks...


And promptly built a foundation/ basement...the material of the block I think is called Sintra board, I use PVC Pipe adhesive on larger scales like this and it works a treat, mixed up a bit of the old dental plaster and poured her on, sets nice and quick....



Next a word on materials......(please do not be offended if I am telling you how to suck eggs. This is hopefully helpful to some people)

This is this Sintra board, "acquired" from some contractors fitting signs. They gave me a little bit. (read an 8x4 board of 5mm and a 6x4 board of 10mm.)
It is quite stable, doesn't seem to warp, cuts easily, glues easily, takes paint, no idea on how much it costs.


Then there is foam board ....I find there are two varieties

This stuff which is mostly available, it good for building stuff provided you dont break the surface, and does not like superglue, polycement, or spraypaint on its core material.


Then ther is this, which has a different core material, that still does not like solvent but takes spray paint ok. This I find excellent for building walls. in particular exterior rendered walls.

Unfortunatelyt it seems like gold dust, quite hard to find.

Now back to the project, that last boarding material in action (yes thats why I put that bit in)

The exterior walls....

Couple of scrap bits from previous projects, I like to mark them out for brick pattern so when I cut the edges they line up, I do not labour this, I just quickly pencil it on..

And mark out windows etc..


Then the reason I love this stuff, carefully cut through the top layer of Paper and peel off sections, I cut to the brick lines. then cut grooves for the mortar lines in the foam.


Bit more cutting and fiddling, making sure my edges are brick line.


Oh and on the back, using some cheap superglue and sprinkled with Bi-carb, lay out the brick pattern, if you have ever seen the inside of your walls it looks rough as hell.


WOW big post, well back later, Thanks for the posts guys, very much appreciated. Sorry its been so long....

Please feel free to comment and critique.

Hey mate... looking really cool as always! Loving the way the blockwork foundatioms are looking and those walls are sweet! As always its glorious to watch you work mate!

The foundation looks great, reminds me of the house I grew up in . Good luck with the competition

Very exciting stuff Cam! Really looking forward to watching it come together!

very glad to see you back in a LoER comp, Cam.

Nice start, Cam'. Good use of leftovers.

and very informative about the various building materials.

Thanks guys, much appreciated....

Settled down to a bit of nice chillaxing......end result.....





Comes to bits..



Underside of ground floor...


Couple close ups...



Thanks for looking.

Someone's been busy

Wowzers. That looks great so far.

That's truly outstanding...

Incredible work buddy... looks awesome! Really grest way tomshow off the house construction.... going back to the drawing board now to figure out what to do to compete! Lol

Wow this is fantastic, I'd have to bring my A-game's A-game to even have a chance... doesn't mean I still won't make something cool with a trapdoor given time.. it's actually kind of relieving to know I don't have to worry about trying to win

Thanks all,

Lick of paint....



And a bit more..



And a little more...



More later...

you are making amazing progress!

Looking awesome dude!

You evil scheming fether...! *shakes fist*
I stand here in awe looking at a miniature scale house building in progress...you really know what you're doing there...I still marvel how you start on such a project...was feeling kinda comfortable with those chopped up bricks, but then you upped the game so fast...man...these detachable floors are amazing...evil...amazing...argh...

Btw your first shots motivated me in starting finally my own entry...now I m thinking floor/model/foot...
nawww...I won't allow you an easy win... I'give you a good run fer yer money

Need to join in the chorus Cam.

That build is looking amazing.

Really honoured guys, thank you...

Well this is it for this weekend... will try and do some through the week but dought I will touch it until next weekend now. I do have the bug though so we will see....

So outside, still long way to go but basics laid down...


Bit of raspberry jam in the basement...


And did a bit of decorating upstairs..


As always thank you for looking in and your comments and critique are most welcome.

You know Cam, you've always been a brilliant builder, but your painting skills, especially when it comes to buildings and the like have really jumped ahead by leaps and bounds.