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Hi,
I will use this thread for new releases by the Hirst Art Company, that sells moulds for doing your own plaster terrain for Fantasy, Historical and SciFi: http://www.hirstarts.com/molds/molds.html

Quite new are machinery bits and some more terrain for your Space Hulk needs http://www.hirstarts.com/molds/moldssci.html :

Nice!

That would be great for that Space Hulk table I've wanted to build since those 40K BatReps on the war for Armageddon (the last one) in the 90's.

Impressive stuff there, that lot must have taken ages to design. Really need to get some hirst arts moulds at some point.

At the outset, the Hirst molds look really expensive.

But- theyre really good molds. I have 3 that I got somewhere around 10 years ago. I havent treated them as well as I shoud have, but theyre still in great shape and make great casts. I dont make much terrain anymore, but these molds are in my toolbox for it and I always wish I could get more of them

I was just going to purchase about 5 more of these molds in about a month. This machinery mold looks really good too, I amy have to add more to my order.

How easy is it to use these molds?

Is there a link somewhere that details 'how to'?

Its not that hard Alph and their website has good directions. I highly recommend using dental plaster for strength. We have done a lot of terrain with them and they are great. My moulds were so good my "freinds" stole them when we were done heh.

They look great.

Hirst molds are really great. I got some floor tile molds for my necrons. Real easy to use and the stuff comes out great. Some guys in my club have some of the building molds and we've done lots of scenery with em.

While I've never made anything with the molds myself, i've definetly played on them before and they are awesome. If you're on the fence about these, go for it. You won't be disappointed.

I've always wanted some - I just want some kind of sci-fi building pack to come out (kind of like the packs to build certain buildings - watch towers, farms, etc that there are for fantasy).

Perhaps this Christmas I may have to place an order for myself

Alpharius wrote:How easy is it to use these molds?

Is there a link somewhere that details 'how to'?

Here:
http://www.hirstarts.com/how/how.html

And he has them for each mold:
http://www.hirstarts.com/mach/mach1.html

I wonder if he's ever considered making moulds for scenic bases, that way you could have a whole army on special bases without breaking the bank and not just the cool units.

The floor tiles come in sizes which fit on various sizes of bases.

Personally, I am not a fan of plaster, as the folks in my club are a bit too rough to terrain pieces.
How easy is it to replace plaster with resin?
Armorcast does some officially licenced resin recasts: http://armorcast.com/store/index.php?cPath=120_153

@ Kroothawk: There are instructions for casting with resin using these molds. http://www.hirstarts.com/casting/plastic.html

Please make sure you follow the warning about using mold-release. If you do not use a mold-release agent of some sort (I like mold soap), the molds will deteriorate quickly.

Also, when using resin, at least use a vibrating table, and preferably some thin (less viscous) resin. If you have access, a vacuum chamber for debubbling is awesome.

-Dave

@Kroothawk: On the website he recommends dental plaster which is used by dentist to take impressions, its more expensive than normal plaster but cheaper than resin. Dental plaster and polystone??? are both plasters that approach the hardness of resin but cost less, while being a lot more forgiving to the molds.

Resin will quickly damage hirst arts rubber/silicone molds but dental plaster is a great strength, I use slightly cheaper but almost as strong merlins. I have yet to use polystone or the rock named ones but I have heard good things about them too.

I was surprised at how easy plaster was to get. Just look in your phone book under dental supplies and there are loads of suppliers.

For a gaming club I do not know how well it will hold up. Damages can be quickly repainted and it just looks like battle damage but touching up after every game would suck. Maybe just pickup one mold and see how well it does.

There is a couple of scifi kits, I personally have been looking at the rounded building kit but feel that it lacks character for what I want.

You can mix colours into the plaster so that when it chips you don't have the white of the plaster coming through.

Merlins also comes in dk grey but the cheaper dental store does not buy it here.

The dental plaster is seriously strong. I've dropped it, stomped on it, and generally abused the hell out of it, and it stays fairly intact. It *can* be broken, but it is much more likely to happen on fiddly bits that stick out (generally, the glue gives out before the plaster).

As stated above, it also will not deteriorate the molds. Resin is suggested for a few molds (the gothic graveyard comes to mind), simply because the pieces are so incredibly thin and delicate.

-Dave

Wow, this is great! Thanks for the link

These kits will be available by weeks end in my online store.

I offer many of my items in both plaster and resin. As Lorne said the resin quickly deteriorates the molds. I know people who have HA molds more than 10 years old, with thousands of casts from them, using various plasters. However, with resin and even if using mold release, you'll likely only get 150-200 casts from a single mold before it starts to noticeably deteriorate.

You can use resin on any of the molds, but certain molds / pieces, like HA 46, pretty much require resin (especially for the gates).

Also, as far as chipping goes, if you know what color you are going to paint your pieces, you can buy tints for the plaster and mix it in. If you do this, mix it in thoroughly prior to mixing with water. This makes chips less noticeable.

Naloomi

I've made a handful of terrain pieces with Hirst Arts Molds, and I don't consider me as a "good or great" artist.

It's like anything else, you get what you put into it. I spent many afternoons and evenings just casting, without a real plan in mind. then, I start loose fitting the pieces until I have something I like. I've done a dice roller and a few smaller terrain pieces for 40k.

Also, you can follow the directions that they have on the website to build specific pieces, like a wizard's tower for example. I have done the smaller, round tower. However, that was my first piece, and I didn't take my time to dry stack the pieces or properly file them down to even height. My tower is a little crooked, but it doesn't completely suck, and I learned a lot.

They have a forum on the hirst arts website under the community section. The folks there are mainly hobbiests like the rest of us, and seem to be very helpful.

There's my 2 cents.