Hello one-ring,

this is my first post here, but I've read many of your great threads in the last few months.

I did some terrain-making in the last days and weeks, and I'm thinking of buying some Hirst Arts molds. I bought some casted stones (not Hirst Arts) from a german seller http://www.fantasystones.de and had much fun building up structures, even if I only had a few different kind of stones.
The pieces are not painted finally, but if some of you are interessted, i might post some pictures soon

Anyhow, here are some questions regarding Hirst Arts:

1. How much does a single cast of a mold costs you, or how much plaster do you need for one single cast? The price for the molds is pretty high for me, and I would like to calculate, how much I would have to spend, to make some terrain.

2. Is it possible to make some buildings just with those two moulds?:
http://www.hirstarts.com/ruin/ruin.html (65)
http://www.hirstarts.com/tips23/tips23.html (75)
I like making ruins and stuff like that, but i don't know if it will be fun, to build things up with just one or two molds, and without basic stones at all.

I would be very pleased, if someone could help me

Malte

Ps: If something is wrong with my english, just tell me. I'm from Germany and my English is a little bit rusty.

#75 is a good choice. But you have to cast it twice to get one each whole block. I suggest you use it with #70. You need #70 for the part to cast a roof pitch.

#75 http://www.hirstarts.com/tips23/tips23.html
#70 http://www.hirstarts.com/fieldstone/fieldstone.html

#65 is a good choice too but you will need #51
#51 http://www.hirstarts.com/dragonin/dragonin.html

My recommendation is choose field stone or Gothic and a floor mold.Total of three molds.
I can not give a price per mold . I am in the US. It cost me about $5 for a small project for material.

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Unfortunately I do not own any field stone molds, but I do own some hirst arts and I absolutely recommend getting them for terrain projects. I have to agree with Oldman Willow that you should get either fieldstone or normal blocks. Getting both of the ruins in each type will leave you empty is some aspect along the lines later. But to answer you questions:

1. Even though the molds are usually $30-$35 (also in the U.S.A.) it really depends on the plaster you buy. I use Merlin's Magic plaster and the more you buy the more you save. So since I got a 50lb package of plaster, I would say the amount of plaster I use per cast could be down to $0.20-$0.30 per cast. If you get a 5lb or 10lb package you are probably looking at ~$1.00 per cast. Usually when you buy the blocks online or on ebay, they will cost a lot more per cast because you are paying for the fact that the person bought the mold and put in the labor to make the blocks. Once you get the hang of making blocks, it becomes much less of a hassle to cast them, and can even be fun at times. Similar to painting IMO.

2. For making ruins, I think Oldman Willow has given you a great pairing for each type of block. If you do buy some Hirst art molds with his recommendations, later down the line I would recommend buying some accessory molds to add variety and bring your terrain to life. Some great molds for that are:
For normal blocks: Mold #43
For field stone blocks: Mold #71

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My WIP: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=26482

Thank you both for your comments, they really helped, but I got some new questions right now

The molds are like 40 Euros here in Germany, and I really don't want to spend something like 150 Euros to get 3 molds and some plaster, but I would like to start smaller.
I might get some space problems if I buy 3 molds and use them for many buildings. On the other hand, if i won't do a few projects with 3 molds, it would be hard to justify the price.

I guess, I will start with a single mold and some plaster first. I still have some fieldstones and some normal stones, as well as some doors and stones for windows due to my order at the german shop, with non hirst-arts stones.
I can order 150 fieldstones or normal stones for 11 Euros, so I had to cast thousands of stones to be able to beat that price. (I just hope I an combine them in a propper way).

However, they don't have any ruined stones, nor do they have round pieces for walls or large arches, which would add some nice details to many buildings.
I guess I would want to start with a mold, which can give me some more optional arches, or pillars, or round stones.
Therefore #65 seems nice, but I wonder if those buildings would all look like Weathertop? Or is it possible to use those stones i a way, which would make the building look very different?
If not, I would go for #75 I guess. Or is there any mold which could fit my needs even better?

Thanks in advance!
Malte

Btw: I looked at both of your WIP threads, your buildings are awesome. I wish I had that much space to store things

I always end up throwing out plaster, but I use the ratio on the plaster of paris box. It's the cheapest plaster you can buy, and the quality reflects this, but for learning and large square bricks, it's fine. A box will keep you casting for quite some time, I'd guess 12 castings of a single mold. Yes, they are expensive, but you will get 100+ castings from each. I will die of old age under a mound of plaster before I ever wear mine out!

Go onto his site and have a boo at the projects page. This will give you an idea of what to buy. The standard cobblestones are lots of fun for Rohan buildings and the other are fun for Gondor. I would suggest the Roman Tower, it's got some fun arches and textures that make up the buildings from Fall of the Necromancer Sourcebook really nicely. They also have a Weathertop-ish mold, but it's kind of a one-trick pony IMO.

Since you will have some not so nicely cast blocks, buy some moss or other model foliage to plug the holes. It looks really good and no one will ever know you are hiding an oops.

Oh and plaster casting is much more rewarding than casting spells--no need to roll for success!

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