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Anybody got any suggestions for good materials for casting bigger pieces?

I am thinking maybe small to medium sized hills, bases for my trees to stand on, maybe a castle wall etc.
Mostly terrain stuff.
There is plaster, but if i remember correctly it chipped very easily and feels chalky.

I like the idea of my terrain being in one piece so sand and stuff dont fall off. And also being able to duplicate some pieces is nice.
Anybody got any experience in casting terrain this way?

There are a variety of foaming resins, too (which have the firmness of regular 2 part resins, but foam up and are lighter for their size). They don't just come in "solid resin" like FW stuff.

Plasters come in more than just plain gypsum powder ("plaster of paris") - there are several dental grade plasters which give a good strength v weight (and are lighter than PoP, too ). There are also ways to give some extra strength to regular gypsum plasters, too (often just mixing PVA into the mix helps ).

I'm a bit confused about what your asking.
1. Are you wanting to cast up multiple copies of a terrain piece you have made?
2. Or are you wanting to make terrain (doesn't usually involve any casting)?

For 1. If your a handy type, have a look into glove molding and then fibreglassing for the cast, makes nice light terrain that doesn't break when you drop it and if done right is very strong. I've done it to make multiple copy's of some hill terrain, but as with most casting it's not really cost effective if your not making a lot of them.

dodgemetal wrote:I'm a bit confused about what your asking.
1. Are you wanting to cast up multiple copies of a terrain piece you have made?
2. Or are you wanting to make terrain (doesn't usually involve any casting)?

For 1. If your a handy type, have a look into glove molding and then fibreglassing for the cast, makes nice light terrain that doesn't break when you drop it and if done right is very strong. I've done it to make multiple copy's of some hill terrain, but as with most casting it's not really cost effective if your not making a lot of them.

Yes, its number 1. I can already cast resin and do it for small stuff but it gets very expensive if i were to do big stuff with it.
Thanks, i will look up fibreglassing.

chromedog wrote:There are a variety of foaming resins, too (which have the firmness of regular 2 part resins, but foam up and are lighter for their size). They don't just come in "solid resin" like FW stuff.

Plasters come in more than just plain gypsum powder ("plaster of paris") - there are several dental grade plasters which give a good strength v weight (and are lighter than PoP, too ). There are also ways to give some extra strength to regular gypsum plasters, too (often just mixing PVA into the mix helps ).

I will look up foaming resins. I also read that you can put fillers in resins. Talc for example, which i might try since i have it already.
About the dental grade plasters, do you know how they feel? Do they become smooth like resin?

My big problem is that i want to use resin, but the cost becomes to high when doing big pieces.
Any alternative that can fix this is good to hear about.

Do some research on 'slush casting.' If you have a detailed mold, it's possible to use your nice, detail-holding resin to cast the outer surface of your piece with minimal casting material used. From there, you can either leave it hollow, for display pieces, or fill the rest in with something cheaper - plaster, expanding PU foam, etc. It takes multiple steps, several materials, and good molds (the surface requires detail retention, expanding materials take a sturdy shell around that), but it's the best bang for your buck, in terms of detail, resilience, and lightness of weight (if you use the expanding foam to backfill).

Well, if weight is not much of an issue for you, i would suggest looking into plaster casting.

You make your initial model out of a rubber, then cast it with dental plaster which you can get in a massive tub for dirt cheap.

You can get 50lb of the dry mix for 50 bucks, i have heard good things about this place.

http://merlinsmagicplaster.com/shop/

But just note its going to be heavy as the emperors brass balls.

This company you can buy molds from just to get an idea of what your working with.

http://www.hirstarts.com/molds/molds.html

As well as being heavy, plaster is also brittle - drop it from even a small height and it's likely to crack or shatter. (I've even seen injuries from plaster scenery falling onto people's feet :( .) Personally I'd only recommend it if you'll be able to store all this terrain at the same location where you'll be playing, and don't mind the occasional drop disaster.

One other option to investigate is vacuum forming. It's very limited in the types of shapes it can produce, but has the huge advantage of producing lightweight stuff, which can then be glued together to make more complex shapes.

Alright, i will look into vacuum forming too.

I think i will skip all kinds of plaster. Too heavy, and the good ones cost a bit too much. At least around where i live.

Right now for bigger hills and such i am thinking of doing the hollow cast resin variant.
Trying to find some strong resins so i can keep it hollow and do not have to fill it.

And for medium sized things like castle walls i am thinking about using resin with some filler to get the cost and weight down.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
This is how forgeworld terrain resin looks up close, got some air bubbles:


This is what it says in the description "These set uses hollow resin, which allows us to produce highly detailed, light and very durable scenery pieces. Due to the casting process of this material, it is sometimes possible to find small air bubbles on these terrain pieces. These are easy to fill as our Working with Resin guide explains."

Anybody know what that hollow resin is/where i can buy that?

It's just a form with an insert that makes the piece hollow to lighten the load. It isn't a special sort of resin.

How about drywall mud? Cheap as dirt ($10 for five gallons?). It will be brittle, but with a couple coats of pva, it will be as durable as resin. You might also look into paintable silicone. Pretty cheap as well. That isn't brittle. You can play basketball with your terrain!