A while back I purchased a Woodland Scenics Rock Mould, at a first glance the mould looked nicely detailed and made of sturdy material, when I got the mould home I had a closer look and noticed that some of the moulds were quite deep, I wondered how hard it would be to get the castings out once they had set, anyway for $12.95 I thought it was a good buy, eventually I tracked down some casting plaster, found some free time and thought I would cast some meduim sized boulders for my terrain field.
So last weekend I took the time and cast some boulders, they seem to set fairly quickly but for safety's sake I left them over night as per the instructions, the next day, like a child unwrapping their christmas gift, I made my way to the garage and proceeded to pop the boulders out of the mould, the first thing I realised was just how brittle they turned out, bits breaking here and there, in the photo below you can see a boulder that broke after I had finished with it, the second thing I noticed was the deep moulded boulders took some convincing to come out and some of them came out in peices (just as I thought) overall the boulders turned out real nice, plenty of detail, with a realistic look, they are fragile but I think once you glue them down to the terrain, they should be fine.
7 comments:
Looks pretty good way to make rocks, especially as I can't get convinced by using reall ones!
So, overall you'd suggest this mould? Considering you can make them over and over again, breaking some might not be too disturbing?
I have the two larger rock moulds and really like them. However I used resin, which turned out to be quite costly and they are deep and take an age to cure properly. End result was great though.
Only thing was I struggled with keeping the mould level and resorted to making a frame for it to sit in.
No idea what to suggest regarding the brittleness perhaps some sort of other plaster, maybe polyfilla might be more robust.
The finished ones look great perhaps a few coats of matt varnish might toughen them up a little
Well they certainly look the part, even if they are a little brittle.
@Mathyoo - Yeah I would recommend them, I just need to find a substitute material to cast with.
@Dtempler - Resin sounds like a good idea, I didnt really have a level problem.
@Brummie - Matt varnish sounds like a good idea, will do that.
@Ray - yeah your right mate, they turned out nice even if a little brittle
I thought they were pretty fragile too when I first made them. Never fixed them down and many years later they are still doing fine! I mixed my plaster rather thick though so as to reduce the porous nature of the plaster
@Paul - A good tip mate thanks for that, I will try a thicker mix next time around.
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