hirst art blocks

[Pirate Wench]

Anyone here have personal experience with building using these. I'd love to hear about it, and see pictures too! I'm thinking about buying a few of the basic molds so I can create some mordheim style scenery

[c0d3monk33]

Hirst Arts molds are an *absolutely* top notch product. I have around 12 of them in my possession at the moment. For Mordheim I'd recommend either (or both) the Fieldstone and Gothic lines - both these lines also mix together nicely.

Seriously, I can NOT recommend them enough! Definitely invest in some while the exchange rate is so good (still about .70!) because you will get years and years of use out of them.

The molds are made of a sturgy, long lasting rubber product that I've not managed to tear or even damage despite average treatement over 2 years - they live in a cardboard box of the roofspace of my garage - so have been exposed to a variety of temperatures and humidities.

My personal stuff is all on www.tabletop-terrain.com and is almost exclusively built with Hirst Arts molds these days. Currently I'm putting together a Mordheim canal. Try searching on the blog for 'Fortress' for a completed Mordheim city wall.

However my humble efforts pale in comparison to some of the work you'll find on the official Hirst Arts ezboard forum here: p068.ezboard.com/bhirstarts under the 'Post Your Own Pictures' section. Also check out the www.hirstarts.com tutorial pages for some excellent tips and ideas.

Any questions feel free to fire them at me here...I've been using the molds for about two years and have had no difficulty casting smooth, bubble free pieces with Ultracal 30 or Hydrostone using the 'wet water' method. Where I have difficulty is coming up with imaginative pieces of terrain

Which molds were you looking at in particular? I may already own them (if they're Fieldstone or Gothic) and may be comment on their particular pieces and usefulness...

My apologies if this has been a rather gushy email ...but Bruce Hirst's work just blows me away and even $50-$70 (given the exchange rate) is a reasonable price for these molds!

[Pirate Wench]

I was interested in the small brick mold, and some of the gothic ones. Maybe I can just get you to mould me a ton of blocks ?

where do you get the plater products from to cast? I've been trying to source it online. I wasn't keen on the idea of using just standard grade plaster for something that will potentially take me so long to build

[Pirate Wench]

I was also interested in

prison tower mold #60
bell tower mold #55
bridge mold #53
Small brick mold #250

or anything else I could actually create a complete something from without buying multiple molds

[c0d3monk33]

Small brick is one I don't have alas... I have successfully resisted purchasing it so far...but only just! From the Gothic line I've got (in order of usefulness)

#55 Bell Tower Mold
#54 Gothic Church Mold
#205 Gothic Floor Tiles
#100 Basic Block Small Mold
#46 Gothic Graveyard
#235 Gothic Roof Mold

If you're picking up your first mold obviously you want a kit mold like Gothic Church or Bell Tower depending on what you want to use it for. Despite Bruce's claims on his web-site #100 isn't *really* absolutely req'd for these molds ... it just makes building things a lot easier because you can cast the basic building blocks in bulk.

If you want to experiment with cast pieces without buying molds I'd suggest checking out www.castlekits.com although being in NZ we really get stung for postage ...

Regarding plaster I'd recommend getting some cheap art POP (or Mitre 10 stopping plaster) just to try experimenting with the molds initially as some of the pieces can be quite complex and require some techniques to cast correctly - in particular I use 'wet water' and 'the glass method' with CD jewel cases...searching on the hirst arts forum should uncover the details or I can elaborate if you want.

However yes if you're building anything you want to last, or to game with then you'll need Ultracal 30 or Hydrostone. Suppliers is tricky...I get all my plaster, resin and RTV from www.topmark.co.nz but I gather some people here have had bad experiences with their staff on the phone? I typically deal with them in their warehouse as I live in Auckland.

Sometimes local ceramics firms can supply Hydrostone but your mileage may vary. I used to get Hydrostone from Petra Ceramics in Auckland...but shifted to TopMark when Petra stopped importing it.

I have a garage full of cast Ultracal 30 pieces that I could be convinced to trade for? I couldn't supply enough parts to build anything large but I certainly could supply a cast of Bell Tower, Gothic Church or any of the floor molds and some extra bits. Enough to get a feel of the pieces and their myriad possibilities... Heh I feel some kind of seedy Hirst Arts pusher

[c0d3monk33]

And if you do deal with TopMark from memory they can supply a 20kg bag of Ultracal 30 for around $60NZ (without shipping alas). When I was there in 2004 they supplied the Ultracal in a handy plastic pail too.

A 20kg bag of Ultracal 30 will last you for quite some time...I've built an entire Warhammer Siege fortress (four 1' walls and 5 towers - including a triangular one) most of a Gothic Church with BellTower and those 3 x 1'x1' Mordheim canal tiles from a single bag.

[Pirate Wench]

I would love to have a crack at the bell tower. I prefer the more upright smaller footprint models because I have to store them somewhere and those take up less room *grin* email me so we might work something more out?

I'm kind of intrigued with the new egyptian blocks, the temple looks quite impressive.. but I would have no use for it really.

I worry that the molds might be like hershey chocolate kisses, once you have one you have to have another, and another....

[c0d3monk33]

Ah yes, yes indeed they are. If you search my blog (www.tabletop-terrain.com) first "ordered hirst arts" you'll see I regularly ordered more molds in 2003-2004 ...I think now I've reached the point where I got enough to make some really nifty terrain although of course am tempted every time Mr Hirst produces a new mold... like those Egyptian sets...I have absolutely no use for them in a Mordheim table but they look sooo lovely. Ok, maybe I could use the cracked flagstone mold... yes yes I'm sure I could fine a use for it .

Having said that though I maintain they're excellent value for money. I fully intend to hand my son a dusty cardboard box of worn molds on my deathbed. I'm sure they'll still have some use left in them.

[LordsWarrior]

HEY PIT.

Im thinking this may be another area of product youu may want to look into.

They are obviously fairly popular

-LW

[c0d3monk33]

Mr Hirst does do reseller agreements...the cost might be a bit prohibative though ....$US 35 for most molds equates to $47 at the current exchange rate.

Heck, that's actually not bad! When I started buying them the exchange rate was so lousy they were costing me up to $65 a mold.

[LordsWarrior]

NO I mean Pit makes his own range of rubber moulds.

Go for a different look to Mr Hirst.

Perhaps a scifi look or something.
Pits scifi bases look really good...the metalic sheets etc.

Perhaps wall and floor moulds of that look may do well.
And of course the generic brick type.

-LW

[LordsWarrior]

Further more..

Pit could sell the rubbermoulds etc....or if buyer prefered sell the pieces from the moulds in bags.

Hey...how about this for a community project.

MR Yak creates his new range of moulds etc. Sends us a few bags each and we build some rad stuff to make his website rock'n!!
Make a unique themed city or something, where we build bits and send them back to him to build a wikked city or something.


OK.... That was a massive mind fart (or was it a brain vomit)


-LW

[c0d3monk33]

Ah gotcha ...yeah that's certainly a possibility. I've considered it myself in fact...really the hardest part of the whole exercise is finding a good, reasonably priced source of a bulk high quality RTV product with a long life...

[c0d3monk33]

So Pirate Wench did you get any Hirst Art molds yet?

[Pirate Wench]

will not be for quite some time

have a $2000 sewing machine to pay off somehow. Doing lots of dolls outfits to sell on ebay and I recently picked up a decent mini painting commission but still can't see it happening until summer. I'm still keen on the small bricks mold though