Malifaux Buildings

[mperry1701]

I was looking into getting some lasercut Old West style buildings but after looking at the prices I decided to try to make my own. I've done a lot of Hirst Arts stuff in the past so I figured this would be a good place to start. I've been Keeping this blog on another forum but thought I would add it here as well.

First I made it out of paper to make sure the sizes were correct:

With the Paper one looking good, I build this frame out of 1/8 inch Basswood:

I created a door and window out of wood and plasticard and then decide to make a mold of it:

I'm using my hirst arts molds to make the wood for this. Here is the front with some attached:

Here is the back I'm playing to put a angled roof on it:

Finished painting my prototype building:

I've started construction of my second building. I decided to make this one playable inside. The roof and door will be removable. I also created new molds so I can cast up an entire wall in one go.

I cast up a bunch of pieces and washed them:

Here I glued wood sections together so I can later cut them into squares.

Here I was cutting them up into squares for my inside bottom and four sides.

Internal box all cut out.

Cut out a doorway.

Layout before gluing

Here I had just glued the box together. The tape is to hold it till it drys.

After it dried

Adding the exterior panels to the box

Exterior applied

Roof glued together:

Front view with sign added:

I wanted a better door so here is the master I made:

The new door mold:

All the pieces for the building

Preview with it dry fit toether:

Edited September 5, 2013 by Zombie1701

[Demonn Agram]

looks awesome! I use plaster for my dioramas but have always been wary of the fact that it is extremely brittle.

aren't you worried the edges might break during gaming? (and which plaster are you using? make and company if it isn't a secret )

[mperry1701]

I'm casting all this in Smooth-Cast 300. It's a two part resin so very durable.

[Demonn Agram]

ok, thanks.. seen the white so I assumed it was plaster. Resin makes way more sense for gaming

[TekDekay]

Nice work! Thanks for posting this. I like the fact that you doubled up on the HA wall mold to get inside textures as well as on the exterior.

Have you considered doing 2 part molds of the individual walls once they are sandwiched together? It might save you some time if you are looking to do a bunch of buildings near the same size.

Very cool.

[mperry1701]

I have thought about making a two part mold for the walls as you suggest. I have't made a two part mold before so I didn't pursue the idea. I'm not sure how hard that would be to do but it's probably the way I would go if I was going to make more then a half dozen of these buildings.

I plan to make a few more that are of different sizes. I also want to make a two story saloon with an interior balcony.

[TekDekay]

Souynds awesome, I can't wait to see those.

[Jonasty]

I was wondering if you'd get to posting these on here. Having seen and played with some of these, I can confirm that they're as awesome as they look.

I'm already in line for bribing Zombie to make me some, or at least the component parts to make my own. *grin*

[harbinger]

Ive consider doing this with the buildings I make.. oh about 500 times. Problem is the cost just does not justify it it for me as one offs. I just dont think enough would buy them to make it worth the effort.

Curious if youve figured out cost ratio yet. If not as high as my guess then I might take plunge. While I love having mine done out of wood.. the durability factor of resins could sway me to redo them.

[Pagan Wolfe]

Looking great, really like the look of the finished product.

[mperry1701]

Curious if youve figured out cost ratio yet. If not as high as my guess then I might take plunge.

I have not worked out the cost ratio. The first on I made with leftover resin and mold making rubber I had at the house. I have run though quite a bit of Smooth-cast 300 making them. I think each building is about half of a small Smooth-Cast 300 kit which you can get on amazon for around $25. So around $13 each for materials, though you can get it cheaper if you buy the larger sized containers. That doesn't count the few hours of labor involved in casting the pieces, cleaning them up and assembly or the money and time I have in the molds.

[EnternalVoid]

Personally more a fan of Smooth Cast 310 or 322 but that is just cause I generally like longer pot lifes.

Overall I like it, a very simple and easy for customization and further production. Never got a chance to really look at the Hirst Art mold with the wooden planks first hand, how do you rate that mold? It always seemed kind of painful in a way as it was another mold on top of others if you went the Hirst Art route.

[mperry1701]

I love the Hirst Arts molds. I would rate the wood one very high. As with most of his molds it's easier to use his to make larger pieces and then make molds of that. Most of my building is built off Wooden Plank Mold #220. This has two large wooden siding pieces. I took both of them an made a mold of 6 of them assembled together so I can produce a entire side in on go. I actually have like 6 molds I made from the parts of that original mold so I can make each side in one go and only have to cut out the door and windows.

[EnternalVoid]

I have two of his molds but have done little with them mostly because I live in an apartment. Making some of the things I have long envisioned is one of those things I have decided to wait till I have more space. That said I will keep that in mind about the wood plank mold, I have been wondering if it could be used to make wooden structures with in reason. Good to know.