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What would be perfect is something I could use with a basic press mold to texture and has enough working time for some sculpting, that does at least a reasonable job holding detail, that air dries, and won't shrink off of the insulation foam I intend to back it with, and is durable enough to be the base for a board (without huge/heavy stuff on it) for not an absurd amount of money (hoping to cover about 4-6' with texture).

I'm intending the board to be pretty flat, so I don't need a ton of dimension, though would like to be able to get some without making an understructure.

The backup is attempting some hirst art-style molds and doing the entire table with repeating chunks and using distressing and texture over to break it up, but I'd really like to make the patterns more random and have a more clay-like workability.

...Speaking of which, my problems with regular air dry clay are the mild shrinkage, tendency towards getting tacky (too much so for small molds to work), low durability, and excess weight. I'm fine with the weight if it needs to be heavy, but would really like something like an air-dry clay without the durability/shrinkage issues and with the ability to hold detail.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/565806/6298763.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/565806/6298763.page GMT
I make tons of terrain and would love to maybe offer some insights based upon my experience.....but my apologies, I am not sure what you are asking...

Are you trying to duplicate some rubble pieces and looking for a way to mold them?

Or are you looking for an alternative sculpting material than air-dry clay to make some press/texture pieces out of?

(again, my apologies....maybe I am just tired....).

If you are looking to duplicate rubble pieces - unless they are very specialized pieces - I would not bother - just use twisted pieces of spure, old model parts, sheet styrene, spare bits etc. for rubble.

If you are looking for a better clay product then maybe sculpy - press it them bake it, or one of the various epoxy putties (green stuff, aves apoxie sculpt, milliput, etc.).

best of luck!]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/565806/6298960.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/565806/6298960.page GMT
I'm planning on making some fairly specialized flat ruin details, then reproduce those elements across the board.

I was hoping to be able to do something that could air dry on the board as I added to it, but epoxy putty is way too expensive in the volume I want (at least a few square feet)- I'm thinking sculpy might work if I bake it then glue it on and incorporate it with air dry stuff, but would rather not need to go through those extra steps...]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/565806/6299087.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/565806/6299087.page GMT
Making masters and casting them is abit of work, and while silicone is not cheap, it is not prohibitively expensive - you might not need perfect copies (its terrain) so would not have to mess with vacuum chambers and pressure pots.

On the clay, to deal with stickeyness if you can make a stamp, try a thin coat of olive oil on it. As far as shrinkage...either maybe adjust the design a bit so it does not matter (i.e. cover up gaps with some sand, etc.).

Regarding other materials, you might check some art forums for clay with less shrinkage or go with one of the cheaper apoxie putties - aves apoxie sculpt comes in a large tub at a decent price.

Finally, depending on what exactly you are trying to do, there might be some other methods - for example if you are just trying to duplicate some kind of tile pattern - you might use large plasticard sheets (cheap from plastic supply places) and just score in some kind of designs - or on top of insulation foam itself (this might not work with what you want to do).

Sorry if these ideas may not apply well - maybe if you could post up a pic of the items you want duplicated all around your terrain and and maybe some other samples this will inspire more ideas.

Best of luck!
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Thanks for the tip on apoxie- that looks very promising.
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