Pirate Wench
Scalpel supremo
my favourite finger paint is strawberry flavour
Posts: 353
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Post by Pirate Wench on Feb 3, 2007 21:01:14 GMT 12
breathing life into an old thread here.... Yes I enjoy indulging in necromancy when it suits my needs *evil cackle here* But really, heh. I'm on the prowl for a suitable casting plaster and I checked the plaster warehouse website and they don't have any ultracal listed. They do have Victor dental plaster listed at $14.19 for a 20kg sack. Looks like it is a gib product www.gib.co.nz/Products/Plasters/Victor-Dental-Plaster.asp?PageID=4236&ID=3&CatID=2190&Level=1Anyone had any experience with this one? The price is rather favorable and plaster warehouse have free delivery |
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kreativescenery
Ambitious Upstart
"Life, I don't have a life, I have something better, a family"
Posts: 93
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Post by kreativescenery on Feb 4, 2007 9:03:45 GMT 12
Hi there
The plaster warehouse in thorndon definaly has it (I got a bag a few weeks ago $73 for 20kg). Give them a call I'm sure they will help you out.
My guess is that Dental plaster will only be slightly harder than standard plaster. I think Stu would be with me on this one, its just not worth it. Go Ultracal all the way. If you just can't justify the price of Ultracal you can improve the surface hardness of the plaster by priming it with Indian ink. It penetrates the plaster to about 0.5 - 1.0mm and improves the durability a lot. Don't be fooled though it still chips very easily compared to ultracal.
Cheers
Kim
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kreativescenery
Ambitious Upstart
"Life, I don't have a life, I have something better, a family"
Posts: 93
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Post by kreativescenery on Feb 4, 2007 9:16:14 GMT 12
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Pirate Wench
Scalpel supremo
my favourite finger paint is strawberry flavour
Posts: 353
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Post by Pirate Wench on Feb 4, 2007 11:58:58 GMT 12
Ok thanks for that, hopefully they're open tomorrow and I can pick some up then. Just ordered half a dozen moulds from hirst arts which should be arriving next week and I'm looking forward to playing at making some scenery.
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Post by c0d3monk33 on Feb 5, 2007 7:29:54 GMT 12
Ah a new Hirst Arts follower! Excellent! I'm sure you'll love it! Make sure you check out the HA official forums too, lots of handy stuff and inspiration on there. Also I'm more than happy to answer any HA related questions since I've been using his molds for several years now. Fieldstone and Gothic mostly, but last year I picked up a bunch of Egyptian too. Regarding plasters I've used Ultracal 30 and Hydrostone (both from USG). To be honest I prefer Hydrostone because of it's quicker set time, but Ultracal 30 is cheaper from www.topmark.co.nz so I use that. www.topmark.co.nz have a wide range of plasters, molding rubbers and urethane casting resins and I find they're very friendly to work with, even if you're a humble hobbyist like myself. They're based in Auckland though...which can make it expensive to ship 22kg bags of plaster around though! But can't hurt to ask I guess. |
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Pirate Wench
Scalpel supremo
my favourite finger paint is strawberry flavour
Posts: 353
|
Post by Pirate Wench on Feb 5, 2007 12:52:54 GMT 12
Looks like i'll be building with standard plaster from mitre 10. They only have the ultracal in 22kg bags and they're $79 plus gst. There's just no way I could swing spending $90 on an indulgence like that. Does anyone know if there are any suppliers that stock it in smaller sized bags?. I could buy some from ebay australia but i'm paying more for shipping (but buying a smaller ammount so I could swing that one)
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Post by PitYak Studios on Feb 5, 2007 12:58:03 GMT 12
Top Mark do smaller pots, about 5kg for $40 if I remember right, or you can smaller cartons again from model shops, under $20.
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Post by PitYak Studios on Feb 5, 2007 12:59:32 GMT 12
... and if you're thinking of using regular plaster, I think bunnings are cheaper than mitre 10.
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Post by c0d3monk33 on Feb 6, 2007 17:16:42 GMT 12
PirateWench, what do you want to do with your Hirst Arts blocks?
Gaming pieces or fixed diorama pieces? I'll hazard a guess and say diorama?
If you're just going to be looking at the cast pieces without handling them regularly regular old Plaster of Paris will be fine.
If you're going to be handling the pieces regularly then use something else like Ultracal 30. Plaster of Paris from Mitre 10/Bunnings/art stores is light, weak, flakey, prone to breaking and chipping and doesn't hold paint well (because it's flakey etc). Take it from me, I changed to UC 30 and promptly threw out all my old PoP gaming pieces.
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Pirate Wench
Scalpel supremo
my favourite finger paint is strawberry flavour
Posts: 353
|
Post by Pirate Wench on Feb 6, 2007 19:37:53 GMT 12
yeah, I figured the plaster would be fine for the chunkier blocks for castle walls, but I also got some molds that have finer details and thinner pieces annd they recommend using hydrocal or something reasonably strong. One thing I have considered though is that while plaster sounds fine for display pieces, it could have some major disadvantages in it's weakness. I tend to spend alot of time painting things and I would hate for a piece to be marked or chipped easily and end up looking trashy
Oh I alos I got the tomb mold and small brick mold which are not recommended for ordinary plaster. I also got the prison tower, octagonal tower, turret and ruined tower molds. Was hard trying to select a range that should supply me with alot of choices and elements. Probably will need to get a ordinary brick mold and a few others at some stage too. At least the shipping is decently cheap. If anyone has the wooden shingle roof mold and is interested in some brick trades once I fork out the money for hydrocal get in touch
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Post by c0d3monk33 on Feb 7, 2007 7:36:42 GMT 12
Yes, the painting aspect is the primary reason I ditched PoP too. I spend some time painting my gaming terrain so want it to last. PoP is a nightmare for chipping. I built several PoP pieces for Mordheim (a dark, ruined fantasy city) so everything was in dark browns and greys. A couple of games later and you start seeing stark white PoP chips every where. Grrrr... I have the wooden shingle mold (but to be honest don't like it that much, the shingles are very thick and quite crude), in fact I have: Most of the gothic line, Roman temple, Most of the fieldstone line (bridge I particularly like), Most of the Egyptian line, Various floors: Cobblestone, large flagstones, small flagstones, cracked flagstones. I haven't ventured into the sci-fi molds (unlikely to either), but do like the look of the Cavern molds that Mr Hirst is working on in 2007. HA molds are quite addictive... Wouldn't mind doing swapsies at some point either. PS: Grab some cheap PoP anyway and learn to cast your HA molds without bubbles, breakages etc. Then throw those pieces away when you're ready to go to a hard plaster  . Also don't bother scraping the HA molds as recommended, but use the 'no scrape' aka 'glass cover' method. Results in better cast pieces -every- time imho. |
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Pirate Wench
Scalpel supremo
my favourite finger paint is strawberry flavour
Posts: 353
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Post by Pirate Wench on Feb 9, 2007 11:41:18 GMT 12
Well the molds arrived yesterday and I've spent teh evening making pop blocks, I used some stuff I bought at the warehouse a while back. I'm actually quite suprised at how quickly casting the blocks chews it up, the 22kg sack of ultracal doesn't sound like it is over the top anymore. The plaster I've used is actually fairly strong once dried, I have a hard time snapping a block and i'm thinking about sealing them with klear floor polish which should harden the surface up some more.
I went with a spreading the butter technique, using an old butter knife and just smoothing it across the surface rather than scraping, that seems to work fine and gives a smooth flat surface. I've already designed a rather ambitious project for my first.. I just need to figure out the exact angle the roofing tiles from the tomb need to rest at so I can work out how much they need to be trimmed back to make a circular roof to fit the larger diammtere ruined tower mold arches.. yeah I know I should have just stuck with making the prison tower but squares are boring
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Post by c0d3monk33 on Feb 9, 2007 13:11:46 GMT 12
Heh, you're not making the project the mold is designed for! Careful that's the sure sign of a Hirst Arts addict in the making If I can offer some advice I'd forget about scraping the molds at all. I use the 'glass cover' method (which I incidently rambled on about earlier this week on my blog). Works much better and gives your casts a smooth, level bottom each time. www.tabletop-terrain.com/archives/2007/02/07/738/Each to their own, but I find this method works a lot better than scraping of any sort. And it's quicker and easier too. |
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Pirate Wench
Scalpel supremo
my favourite finger paint is strawberry flavour
Posts: 353
|
Post by Pirate Wench on Feb 12, 2007 6:38:53 GMT 12
I'm still playing about with the pop. Decided after dropping a few pieces of it from the front door step onto concrete to test for hardiness that I'll not actuaally build with it. But I did find a nifty molding trick, After filling the molds and swishing with the old paintbrush to remove airbubbles then a quick shake, I stack them. The bottom of the molds is nice and flat and the weight of it is about right to ensure the blocks come out the right size.
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Post by c0d3monk33 on Feb 12, 2007 9:00:32 GMT 12
Heh that is a nice trick . I use an old brush to remove air bubbles too, but generally only in the more detailed mold parts. With a heavier plaster (like UC30) I think you'll find air bubbles are less of an issue too because the mix settles better. I also use the 'wet water' method where you pre-soak the molds in water with a little Finish dishwashing 'anti-spotting' detergent mixed in. That really helps get rid of bubbles. Interested to see what you end up building! |
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. Also don't bother scraping the HA molds as recommended, but use the 'no scrape' aka 'glass cover' method. Results in better cast pieces -every- time imho.