Earlier this week I finally molded the 15mm building facade I’ve been working on since last year. If it seems like the blog posts have slowed down a little it’s because finishing this master has been occupying all of my modelling time.
Anyway, it’s finally done and here’s a rough photo of the second Ultracal 30 cast, fresh out of the mold. It’s so fresh the Ultracal isn’t completely dry which is why it’s that odd mottled gray colour. Dry Ultracal casts are white.
If you’re wondering what happened to the first cast, it was a give away and Jonathan nabbed it. I find the first plaster cast out of any mold I’ve made generally has a lot of issues with air bubbles, however the second cast is usually fine. It’s like the first cast tempers the mold somehow, possibly leaving a plaster residue behind that makes it harder for bubbles to adhere to the rubber in later casts.
I’m happy to see my master molds well in Ultracal 30. I did have some concerns about the window frames, which is why they’re a little over scale for 15mm windows, but they demolded without difficulty. In fact there’s only two small issues with the large shop window frame, both of which are fixable. Other than that the casting is pristine, which bodes well for future production casts. I’m glad all that modelling effort didn’t go to waste! This is by far the largest and most complex master I’ve constructed to date and I’m pretty happy with it. On showing it to the Garage Gamers there were appreciative comments all round which is a good sign considering they’re all Flames of War gamers too.
I’ve now got to commit some modelling time to building a couple of demo pieces. One which will get attacked with a hammer and reduced to ruins and the other which I’ll try to model largely intact, with maybe a few light bullet holes around the doors and windows. I also need to build some brick side and rear walls and mold/cast them too for a complete building set.
However I’m likely to offer individual facades for sale on the blog by the end of January, so stay tuned if you’re interested. I also plan to build some more variations on this theme, so our city streets don’t look too cookie cutter. In fact I already have an alternate set of 15mm columns ready to use.
careful with that hammer Stu, slow and steady, slow and steady… but I have to say, after fondling, um, holding and looking at the first cast, I’m impressed and excited about what else you can make…
Yes I’m pretty happy with this piece. Curse my stupid day job, because if I could work 18 hours a day on this stuff I’m sure I’d have a great lineup of products!
You could of course put all painting on hold and just focus on creating new terrain in the evenings… maybe even pay some one to finish off your Germans for you…
I really want to get my hands on to one of these they look and feel awesome.
Congratulations on getting the facade complete and ready for the wider gaming world.
Any chance you’ll use what you learned from this one to make a 28mm version someday? Think it would look pretty sweet for some period pulp gaming.
Heh, the same thought crossed my mind regarding creating a scaled up 28mm version. Technically there’s nothing stopping me from doing exactly that.
However the cost of the materials involved, both for creating mold(s), and casting copies make it a little uneconomical for me unfortunately. This is the primary reason I make 15mm terrain, because the scale reduction makes it worthwhile in terms of cost.
Just one thought - try a spanner instead of a hammer :) I find a spanner to be easier to use - more accurate than a hammer but still with enough weight behind it.
WoW! Another impressive piece of work! I read your blog every week and you’ve been an inspiration for terrain-making and painting. Keep up the good work!
Aquilonien.