Hirst Arts molds - 3.

My first experiments with these were carried out using plaster of Paris (PoP). It's something I've done before to construct buildings for my 1/300th Imperial Roman wargames collection. The results this time were mixed as I got the hang of molding with plaster once more. The problem with PoP is it's soft - sometimes very soft if too much water is used. This makes it crumble very easily and it's hard to rectify - if at all. Even a good casting lacks crisp detail.

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But there are other options. Yesterday, I was pleased to get a bag of Herculite 2 plaster from Special Plasters, Ltd. This is a very hard-setting plaster used in engineering to create models of metal components, as well as in architecture for decorative features. A large bag of this comes in under £10. A first run tonight (while watching Poirot on TV) saw excellent results. Each component came out crisp and clean, requiring only a little sanding here and there where I put too much mix into the spaces. Even the most difficult parts on the molds - the barred gate, the panelled door and two brackets - came out intact, which they failed to do with the PoP.

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Overall I'm very pleased with the way these molds are shaping up. Once I have enough of the right components together I'll run a project to add a small building and walls to the base area of the tower I made some weeks ago.