Canal PIP & Crane

The painting of the canal warehouse board has begun. Really happy with the flagstones, still a little unconvinced by the tower. I might do another lighter coat to try and make a wider difference between the two surfaces.

You can also see in the above pictures I've started the roof. I've done the vertical gables and started the detailing on the hoist. All WIP at the moment of course.

Also done some work on the hamster crane. I realised when I had a proper look that it didn't really have the reach to get across the path at the side of the canal. Hrm. So I've mounted it on a small platform.

The small notch in the supporting beams sits over the raised edge of the canal sides. This means the platform hangs over the edge by about 2cm. Gives it enough clearance to reach the barge.

Also worked out how to attach the wheel to the main post, which I have done. And even added some little stairs for detail. I plan to surround this and the cart with sacks and boxes anyway so it should need much more detailing.

Modelling Mates review

I recently bought a set of Modelling Mates moulds from TerraScenic, they looked like a bargain at £21.60 so I thought I'd have a go.

The photo above shows what you get for your money. Three moulds, each one 6 1/2 inches square. One is of cubes, the other blocks twice the size of the cubes, and the final miscellaneous pieces.

The variety is great and the sheer number of pieces you get per mould means you won't be casting as often.

The moulds are made from EVA foam, which to me is the stuff on my golf trolley handle, but you may know it in other ways! It's a dense, flexible foam which seems rather sturdy. The base is a softer material which is glued to the main body.

A comparison with a basic Hirst Arts block is shown above. As you can see these blocks are much bigger and therefore not interchangable with HA. Based on the number per cast though I could see you building a small tower with only two or three casts of each mould.

The texture is very different. HA blocks are sculpted and very detailed, but the pattern on MM blocks comes from the foam itself. It reminds me of a fine concrete. Texture is on sides and bottom just as with HA blocks.

The casts require a small amount of cleaning. It appears the moulds where sliced to form the cavities, and in doing so there has been a small amount of over-cut. So each cast brick will have a few mm of plaster on each corner which can be removed with a single pass of a sharp knife.

Above is a photo of my current assembly, I'll get a complete photo when done. This is going to be the lighthouse of Stadtheim bay. The misc mould has three different radius curves on it, which will work nicely for me and offers good flexibility.

Overall I'd say they offer a cheap alternative to HA and will provide nice variety of texture for the terrain builder. I doubt these will last anything like as long as HA moulds (the base seems to deform slightly at each demoulding and I'm worried about tearing the foam at some of the weaker points), but for pure value for money you can't argue. Three moulds for the same prices as only 2/3s of a Hirst Arts one seems like too good a deal to me.

I'll post a finished model when I've got one, and let you know how I get on with the long term survivability of the moulds. In the meantime though I'd recommend giving them a look.

Mould making

Trying to cast my own windows. I built a couple of masters, seen in the photo below. Small windows the same size, one with the shutter closed one open. I then took a silicone cast (shown right) and am trying out casting.

Basically I'd like to avoid having to cast them all in resin, that stuff's expensive. With a bit of work the plaster results might be ok. They're prone to bubbling and the wire mesh needs the plaster brushing on to avoid a complete mess. When I perfect the technique I'll show the cast results. Then they'll go in the tavern and all will be shiny.

Fountains

A couple of fountains I'm working on. These are really just to let me test out water effects for the canal, but should work out ok none the less.

Really struggling with my limited hirst arts moulds collection. Need to buy the round turret mould I think to make stuff like this easier.

The first will have a statue, I'm tempted to try for it spraying water but get the feeling that might be running before I can sit upright.

Not sure about the owls on the second, they're just balanced at the moment. It ties into the whole owl theme of the church, and the goddess Verena. With a texture they might work, the fact they're very low detailed lego pieces could work for partially eroded stone. Dunno..

Canal Warehouse

The canal board has been getting most of my attention recently. It was the small cargo barge that actually brought me back to Stadtheim from my 40k projects.

The warehouse is now up to roof level, the main doorway at the top will have a crane jib above to lower goods to passing vessels. The back door opens on street level. There's a wooden stairway to get to the goods doorway. Then a small door opens on each side at the lower street level.

When I came back to this I noticed the tower was well out of shape. Somehow it'd grown about 1/4 inch at the back. I decided to stick with this, hopefully with a slightly skewed roof it'll look ramshackle rather than badly built! We shall see.

The details for this board are shown below:

The first is the barge, with a couple of Antenociti's crates and currently a single Renedra barrel. I'm going to do a couple of large crate piles covered with tarps (saves money :D).

Second photo shows the in progress crane which will be loading goods to the barge. Human hamster power ftw.

Thrd is a very quick cart I built today. Not bad for half an hour's work. It's a bit rough but I like it that way.

I'm hoping this will be the first complete board, though I may not do the water until all the canal boards are sorted. That way I can make sure they're all the same.

Tavern Expansion

Remember the tavern, that very brief update with a single photo? Well I've been working on that, it's expanding and has somehow acquired a hugely complicated roof.

First picture above is the front view, with the main gable showing. The arch shaped hole will have a recessed window I borrowed from some random terrain I've seen somewhere. The roof will go over the main body and stop in a small dormer at the back.

Second pic is the rear view, the block on the right is the new kitchen wing. On the other side will be steps up to the first floor, they're not in yet.

The grey stuff is depron, shown in the third photo. This is my first play with this stuff and it's great. The first floor will be half timbered for a traditional look. Still no board to mount this on yet, but that won't stop it growing.

Stadtheim Lives!

I'm back. It's been a while since I've had time/inclination to work on the town but currently on holiday from work and finding time to get stuck back in.

Bought some depron, which I'm using for the ground floor of the tavern, that's going quite well. Also learned how to mould/cast stuff, so trying to sort out my own windows later.

Couple of new purchases arrived today. From Renedra I bought a couple of sets of barrels. Big ones are about 15mm high, little ones about 10mm. Seem very well scaled for 28mm models so I'll be scattering these around.

Then from TerraScenic I bought a set of Modelling Mates moulds. Basically a cheaper version of Hirst Arts moulds. Made from EVA foam (the stuff you get on fishing rod and exercise bike handles), they lack the detail and quality of the HA stuff. However for 2/3 the price of a single HA mould you get THREE of these. Plus they're a lot larger, the basic block one has 28 individual blocks.

I'm casting up my second batch now, once I have enough to build something I'll show it. They're a little larger than HA bricks but should work well to give variety to my town.

Finally I'm working on the canal section. The warehouse is almost up to roof line and I'm building a small cargo barge to go under the crane.

Photos coming.