Hirst Arts - Step by Step (pic heavy)

[Kaine]

Alot of people seem to have gotten the bug for hirst arts terrain, so i thought i'd post a full step by step set of instructions for the way i make the modular boards.

Firstly a warning though, before you embark on one of these boards understand there is a huge amount of work involved in casting these up. Covering a 1ft x 1ft board with just a single layer of floor tiles is around 9-12 castings.

Step 1 Moulds

The first step is to cast the moulds, i use Hercullite 2 plaster which i can get in 25kg bags for around £22. The original pump station board used pretty much a whole 25kg bag.

I usually try and cast 4-6 moulds at once to save time, i lay the moulds out on paper towels to soak up the extra plaster and with a baseboard below them to catch the mess. Generally its best to do this bit near a sink.

The plaster is mixed roughly 2 parts plaster to 1 water, generally to a thick but liquid consistency.

I use sturdy plastic tubs to mix in, i just wash them out quickly after each batch and i find them more sturdy than disposable cups.

You can see in the next photo i dont always fill all mould parts, in some cases i know which bits i need and avoid wasting plaster on areas i dont need.

Once poured into the mould i use a plastic spatula to clean off the excess after removing bubbles by shaking the board the moulds sit on.

Step 2 Its Lego Time

If you ever played with lego the next step you'll love, basically your going to build up the terrain from the cast blocks.

Start with a plan, it helps alot

The base of each board (1ft x 1ft) is 6mm mdf, cut to size from large sheets at my local DIY store on their frame saw.

I use a decent quality PVA glue (Unibond) mixed at a 2pva:1water ratio, i make up batches and keep them in click lock jars.

You can see the first line of blocks here, this will form the back wall of this piece.

Next i start to build up the raised corridor, this level will be free of sewerage so its needs raised up, this is done by using wall blocks.

Next i place floor tile pieces onto the top, i try and create an irregular pattern where the corridor is wide, in this case its 2.5 blocks wide (hirst art blocks have a common sizing structure across whole range to make them compatible).

On corridors that are exactly 2 blocks wide i actually stick to a fixed pattern to save time.

The board starts to build up

The idea behind this module is a ruined room in the sewers that the wall has collapsed in and the sewer flooded into the room. so i start to build a broken wall around the room.

As the room takes shape i mark out where i will put the fan grills on the back wall, these are used to help break up the wall and add features.

Build the wall up like a real life wall, i.e. overlapping blocks

To add interest to the room i build a bridge across what will be the deep sewage.

And i add some pipework detail to the walls

That finishes the build section

Step 3 Painting

To paint the board using mini paints would be uneconomical, so i find a DIY store with a colour paint mixing machine and use samples from here, the samples are cheaper, smaller and dont have any emulsion or gloss in them, i.e. they are as close to acrylic paint as you can get in large quantities.

I mix these up about 50/50 paint/water.

Once the base coat is dry i dry brush two further lighter colours on, again from the same paint source.

the finished drybrush

Next i pick out the metals using rust coloured paint, in this case panzer aces model paint from Vallejo.

Step 4 Water (sewage)

The next step i used an airbrush for.

I use model air paints to paint on a deep brown layer onto the water areas.

I also spray some lighter areas onto the brickwork

I then mix various highlight shades and spray them onto the water, you can be a bit more extreme here, the water effect will dull them in the next stage.

Step 5 Water Effect

The next stage is to use water effect, this really takes practice and the key is to use a little and make sure you complete it in one session to avoid layers forming.

I generally pour a little onto one edge, in this case the top right corner, and then tilt the board to allow the water effect to flow over the board, constantly moving the board around and tilting in different directions to get it to flow into all the areas i need, adding a little extra as required.

And thats it, leave to dry for 24hrs, the white misty effect on the water goes when it dries.

To finish it off i usually drybrush and then ink wash the metal work.

I'll add final shots of this module to my existing sewers post once its dry.

Hope this has been helpful

[Shibby]

amazing, cant wait to own u on it seriously tho looks great nice imagination

[Wyrrn]

Thanks for the step-by-step ad photos; it is helpful to those of us thinking about getting some of the Hirst Arts molds. Love the work!

[deadboy]

It looks great but I'm assuming this is pretty heavy. Have you tried it with resin instead of plaster?

[NewbieFromHell]

Hiya, love your post where did you get the moulds from, everywhere I've found they've been really expensive.

[Kaine]

Its not that heavy actually, only some of the more built up boards are, resin would take way to long to cast (drying time is much longer), its more difficult to work with, and it ruins the silicon moulds.

I get the moulds from hirst-arts.co.uk, but yes they are not cheap.

[Sholto]

Very good tutorial, thanks. As a means of making terrain it appeals enormously to me, but the costs of entry (not just the price of the molds but also the time needed to cast 20x of the same mold) put me off. For now.

[Svenn]

I've been meaning to pick up some Hirst arts stuff for a while. This was exactly what I was looking for before ordering though! Thanks!

[deadboy]

Well, the time and difficulty to work with are less a concern than it ruining the molds.

I am just envisioning a 3x3 board that is that beautifully built up weighing in the neighborhood of 40-50 pounds. Is that in the ballpark?

[Kaine]

Well, the time and difficulty to work with are less a concern than it ruining the molds.

I am just envisioning a 3x3 board that is that beautifully built up weighing in the neighborhood of 40-50 pounds. Is that in the ballpark?

The piece shown in the step by step weighs in at about 5 pounds and its an average piece, so yes 40-50 pounds for the 9 modules is about right.

They are not really meant to be transported often though so its not really a big concern of mine.

[deadboy]

Absolutely. It's obviously beautiful. My concern is I generally play at my LGS and any terrain we make we donate for everyone to use. A table's worth of terrain weighing in at that kind of poundage is likely to get broken. To many clumsy/careless kids.

That was why I was thinking resin. Lighter weight and more resilient.

[Kaine]

Absolutely. It's obviously beautiful. My concern is I generally play at my LGS and any terrain we make we donate for everyone to use. A table's worth of terrain weighing in at that kind of poundage is likely to get broken. To many clumsy/careless kids.

That was why I was thinking resin. Lighter weight and more resilient.

The plaster when properly sealed and glued together with decent pva is actually very resilient, once its had a few days to dry totally we've had 0 accidents so far moving the boards around.

The real test is end up October when i take all 3 boards to a local tournament.

[semanticdm]

The plaster when properly sealed and glued together with decent pva is actually very resilient, once its had a few days to dry totally we've had 0 accidents so far moving the boards around.

What do you use to seal the plaster? I've tried a couple different things and haven't been overly happy with the results - then again, I'm still fairly new at the whole thing.

[Kaine]

What do you use to seal the plaster? I've tried a couple different things and haven't been overly happy with the results - then again, I'm still fairly new at the whole thing.

just watered down pva painted over it before you paint it

[Shadowopal]

Totally agree with Kaine about the plaster being strong and not that heavy. However, if you really want to use resin, you can get some silicone, cast up one set of plaster and make a mold of the pieces you cast up. Then the silicone mold can be used to cast resin blocks. I've done this when making wall sections. I'll make one wall section out of plaster bricks, then make a mold out of silicone from Smooth On. Then I can cast up as many resin walls as I need to keep the weight down. it's not a cheap option. Resin costs quite a bit more than plaster and and silicone will be an investment as well. But, if weight is your concern....

[Pithound]

Good job with the Hirst Arts stuff. I've been using them for years now and they make all sorts of great stuff.

[n0valoco]

Dental/diekleen pasters have resin bits in them which makes them MUCH more durable than plaster of paris. They may be a little heavier than plaster of paris but PoP can't take a drop from 5-7 feet like dental plasters can.

[Kaine]

I find hercullite II is fine, its a stronger plaster anyway you can lift the whole board pieces up by the walls or even archways.

7/9 pieces of sewers are now done but i'm running low on plaster and its not back in stock until end of week, remains to be seen if i manage to finish whole sewer board this week.

[Mawdrigen]

I've done a few bits with Dental plaster before now, and that stuff is INCREDIBLY strong. One piece of terrain fell down a flight of stairs and although the paintjob was wrecked, the blocks were only chipped.

[Nemissary]

I have always been curious about casting with plaster and Hirst Arts items. Thank you very much for covering this topic. I think i will take the plunge and start drawing up an order for what kinds of molds I would like to try. I already use alumilite for small detail things. I think plaster will be a neat change for me.

Thanks again for the inspiration!

[joelmmorgan]

What is the layout of your sewer board? I am trying to think of one that would allow lots of character interaction not just always go down one tunnel to fight.

[anathema]

Hi, what type of plaster would you recommend? Is there a cheap yet reasonably strong type available from the likes of B&Q or would I be looking at making specialist orders?

[AntiZombie]

If you go to the hirst art mold websight it has some recomendations for good plasters. I use Merlin magic plaster and have found it to be durable and cheep. There are also alot of tutorials on the site with regards to what you can make with the molds.