Hirst Arts Castle and diorama done in 60mm. (1 Viewer)

[fishead19690]

Mike great job!!!! I still haven,t read through the whole thread yet but I,m enjoying it. The castle looks great and I,m glad to see your having so much fun and found the solution to your castle building problems. I think I might look into some of these molds, they look like fun.
What are these hydro bricks your talking about in 50lb bags???

 

[theBaron]

I say again, outstanding! I like your pieces much better than the JG pieces, because you're able to make them in much more realistic dimensions than the commercial pieces.

I guess you won't be breaking the display down too frequently, though, or carting it around. But if you had a mind to, you could take it to a show, or exhibit it somplace (local hobby shop? library?) I think even people who aren't in the hobby would be interested to see your work.

Prost!
Brad

 

[mikemiller1955]

Mike great job!!!! I still haven,t read through the whole thread yet but I,m enjoying it. The castle looks great and I,m glad to see your having so much fun and found the solution to your castle building problems. I think I might look into some of these molds, they look like fun.
What are these hydro bricks your talking about in 50lb bags???

Tim,

The Hydrostone (not hydro bricks) is a 50 pound bag of gypsum cement. It is a powder, a gypsum cement that you add water to and make a mold of a brick. You use rubber molds to cast the bricks. It's similar to plaster of paris but is commercially used because of its hardness. I believe it's used in the dental field for casting of dental work and in the industrial field to cast specialty parts.

The bricks don't come in a 50 pound bag. It's a powder (that comes in a 50 pound bag) that you cast your own bricks from. Maybe I wasn't clear about explaining what it is. Here are some photos.

]

I hope this clarifies it for you. I probably didn't explain it well. I should have shown a picture of the inside of the bag of Hydrostone.

You add water, pour into these molds and let it set for 30 minutes.

 

[mikemiller1955]

Tim,

Everything in my diorama I made from these 3 blue molds. They cost $103 with shipping included.

The purple one I made myself.

After my castle was finished, I made the purple rubber mold myself from a rubber silicone called OOMOO25.

This is the frame I cast the purple rubber mold in.

The long 3 piece brick section was the brick that allowed me to cast and build quickly with, so I made a rubber mold with 12 of the 3 section bricks so I could mass produce them quickly.

I hope this clears it up for you.

Michael

I did a thread in here on how to cast bricks with hydrostone and how to use the OOMOO 25. If you backpeddle a little, you will find it.

 

[mikemiller1955]

Del Prado Crusaders and Saracens.

I used a lot of the Del Prado mounted figures in my diorama.

In fact, I only have one K&C mounted figure (MK051), “Fight To The Death”, for $99.00.

It is two figures, one mounted, one laying, but it’s kind of expensive.

I have all the K&C standing figures, duplicates of some.

The Del Prado, I don’t see them around too much, I don’t know why.

Almost everyone sells them for $19.95, which is very cheap for a mounted figure.

They are a true 60mm and match up with K&C very well. The detail seems very good. Maybe not as good as a K&C, in some peoples opinion and definitely not as good as the Aero Art. I own both Frontline and WM Britain and they are an equal if not better.

I’ve been told by several people that they are a subsidiary of K&C, or made in the K&C factory. I don’t know if it’s true or not. I think there a steal for the price.

The K&C mounted are $75

Anyway, the Del Prado, at $19.95, they are a bargain and usually have 20% off on top of that.

They are extremely heavy and I think the detail and painting is more than satisfactory for the price. They don’t show very good pictures on their websites to view before buying, so I took a few. Have a look at some that I bought, you be the judge.

At $19.95, with 20% off, they come out to about $16 per mounted soldier. A pretty good bargain for a mounted soldier.

 

[mikemiller1955]

A few more Del Prado

I think the Del Prado’s are pretty nice. Especially for the price. I wish they had more. I think they are one of the best kept secrets around. I never see them on anyone else’s dioramas.

 

[marco55]

Mike,that is a fantastic piece of art, you should be very proud of it.What are the dimensions of your castle and how long were you on the project from start to finish.
Mark

 

[mikemiller1955]

Frontline Crusaders and Saracens

Frontline makes a Crusader and Saracen series. I was cautioned not to buy these, but not for the reason that I can’t recommend them.

Frontline produces in a 54mm scale and I was told they would look completely out of place next to the 60mm K&C and Del Prado. Too small, too petite.

I purchased one, just to try it out, and was not disappointed in the size discrepancy. I did have some other issues with them.

Here are some photos of the Frontline mounted next to some Del Prado mounted. I personally can’t see much difference in size if any, you be the judge.

Frontline at $25, plus 10% off from almost any distributor was still not a bargain for me.

First off, not one single mounted figure had a base for it. Some of the steeds couldn’t even stand on their own.

The ones in a gallop position wouldn’t even balance on a flat table.

I had to make some Sculpey bases in the oven and paint the, just so they could stand up on their own. I was very disappointed with that. For $25, you should at least have a figure that can stand up on its own.

Secondly, the figures are poorly painted to me, especially the horses. Just a general lack of detail makes them inferior. That’s hard for me to say, because if you have ever seen my Zulu diorama, then you know I’m a Frontline fan.

Anyway, here are some of the Frontline, I really can’t endorse them. I was kind of disappointed, but they will make good “filler” as opposed to buying the expensive $75 K&C mounted figures.

 

[mikemiller1955]

A few more Frontline Crusaders and Saracens

Note the bases had to be made by hand with Sculpey and baked in the oven before gluing the steed’s feet to it and then painting it. They came with no bases and wouldn’t stand on their own. Cheapo!

I don’t know, for $25, the horse should be able to stand on his own, I think.

 

[mikemiller1955]

Mike,that is a fantastic piece of art, you should be very proud of it.What are the dinensions of your castle and how long were you on the project from start to finish.
Mark

Mark, it's 28"s deep, 22"s wide and 19"s tall (the tallest tower). I wish I had made it bigger though, but honestly it's crowding the table I built. I guess I've been working on it, off and on, for 6 weeks, but I had a lot of setbacks, a lot of them. I started over many times and scrapped my originals. Thanks so much for the compliments. Everything is dry and set up now. I'm just going to start posting a ton of random photos of the castle now.

 

[marco55]

To do so much in only 6 weeks is great.Best to ya Mike.
Mark

 

[mikemiller1955]

I say again, outstanding! I like your pieces much better than the JG pieces, because you're able to make them in much more realistic dimensions than the commercial pieces.

I guess you won't be breaking the display down too frequently, though, or carting it around. But if you had a mind to, you could take it to a show, or exhibit it somplace (local hobby shop? library?) I think even people who aren't in the hobby would be interested to see your work.

Prost!
Brad

Brad,

I appreciate all your compliments. I know you've been following this thread and I'm flattered that you're interested. I know I have been lax in responding to the kind acknowledgements I have received because in between posting, I've been working on a section I had to re-do while it dried so I can finish this diorama. I'm not ignoring compliments, I have just been busy. I have broken down and removed that castle fron my table so many times, I could do it in my sleep. I don't think it will ever be on exhibit anywhere, those figures are so expensive, I hate to touch them, much less let them out of my sight. You know how fragile they are and how easily they break. The castle is sturdy, no problem there, I built it like a real house. Thanks for the kind words and your interest, I really appreciate them both, Michael

 

[mikemiller1955]

To do so much in only 6 weeks is great.Best to ya Mike.
Mark

Thank you Mark, some of them were longer than 8 hour days, lol, Michael

 

[mikemiller1955]

I'm just going to post a ton of finished castle and diorama photos in the next several threads. No particular order, just random shots of everything. I think the castle scale fits the 60mm pretty well.

 

[mikemiller1955]

More photos

 

[mikemiller1955]

More photos

 

[mikemiller1955]

Some more photos.....

 

[mikemiller1955]

Still more photos....

 

[mikemiller1955]

Almost finished....

 

[mikemiller1955]

Just a few more....