This page contains information about the various products and materials that I offer for sale.

Castings

The castings that I use in my terrain building are made from Hydrostone which has generally been heavily tinted with either light brown or black oxide.
The oxides that I use are used widely for colouring concrete.
The reasons why I pre-colour the hydrocal with oxides are:

• Should any terrain piece become damaged through rough treatment, any chips that occur are generally not visable as the colouration goes through the casting and is not just a surface paint job.
• When I sculpt the original pieces I put a lot of effort into sculpting fine details, painting the castings can diminish the detail.
  By removing the need to heavily basecoat the pieces a lot more of the detail is clearly seen on the finished piece as they only need drybrushing to bring out the detail.

Hydrocal is an incredibly hard plaster that is almost like stone when cast.

Walls

The walls that I currently make are based on 3 types of castings:

• Drystone Walls - The set of castings consists of three 6" long pieces, one 3" piece, one 2" gatepost piece and two corner pieces.
  Each piece is 1" high and 1/2" thick and were originally sculpted by myself before making a mold for casting.
  Two sets of castings are used to make the "Drystone Wall" sets.
  
• Gates for Drystone Walls - These gates are designed to be fully functional - swinging both ways.
  They are constructed from Epoxy Putty reinforced with two strands of wire in each cross bar, they are made to last.
  The vertical bars are simple round toothpicks.
  The chain and the "padlock" are included as a "cute" factor.
  When a set of the gates are purchased with a corresponding wall set, the walls have hinge posts added to accept the gates.
  The gates are easy to remove and replace.
  If you buy walls without gates, the walls will not be fitted with the hinge posts.
  
• Crumbling Drystone Walls - This set was originally resculpted from two sets of Drystone Wall castings and consists of twice the number of pieces compared to the Drystone Wall set of castings, meaning that only one set of castings is needed to make the "Crumbling Drystone Wall" set.
  Each piece is unique with no duplication and as they can be used with either side facing the front a multitude of combinations and wall effects can be achieved.
  Each piece is 1" high at the highest point and 1/2" thick and they can be combined with the undamaged Drystone Walls to add localised damaged sections.
  
• Ruined Walls - These were originally resculpted from Crumbling Drystone Walls to remove the top row of "stones" and further destroy the walls. The result is a set of wall pieces that definitely look ruined providing both ample cover and also places where the walls can easily be breached by the ememy.
  They were originally created specifically for my son to play "Lord of the Rings" games as his Goblins couldn't quite see over the top of the other wall types.
  They are approximately 3/4" high at the highest points and the standard 1/2" thick.
  I use these wall castings in many more ways than the previous walls and they have become very popular with customers.

With the first two types of walls I generally mount the pieces on 3mm MDF board and sell them as modular wall sets.
The MDF bases have bevelled edges and are painted green and flocked with static grass before affixing the wall pieces with Liquid Nails construction adhesive, I have found it to be far easier to paint and flock the bare pieces of MDF before the walls are added.
The static grass is applied by painting the surface with PVA glue (that white woodworking glue) mixed with water at the rate of 1 part glue to 1 part water. The static grass is sprinkled on using a "gravy" sieve (you know ... the thing that look like a huge tea strainer) as this ensures that the grass surface is even and smooth with no unwanted clumps.

I have been asked why you water down the PVA glue ... simple really, try using the glue undiuted and the answer is plain to see, it is too thick and gluggy and does not flow if you don't water it down.

The walls are cast using Hydrocal tinted with black oxide at the rate of 100g of oxide to 1kg of Hydrocal.

Once dry they are given a firm <not quite> drybrushing with a light grey acrylic satin house paint - by this I mean that the brush is not quite dry enough to be called a drybrushing, the idea is to paint the main raised areas while leaving the recesses black.
When this paint is dry they are then given a very light drybrushing with white acrylic satin house paint to just catch the highlights. This final drybrushing is applied in one direction only - top of wall to bottom of wall, giving the impression of light hitting the topmost surfaces of the component stones.

When I am satisfied with the effect (and if not absolutely happy, I consign them to the belt sander and grind them to dust) I seal the terrain piece with a flat acrylic sealer which protects the paint work and prevents any loose flocking from falling off.

The Ruined Wall castings are again based on 3mm MDF board but I don't limit myself to making wall sets. These pieces are much more versatile and as can be seen on the wall "sales" pages, I make them into a variety of terrain pieces resembling old ruins as well as selling them as a set.
Depending on the size of the base I either just paint them and apply static grass or sometimes I will add bare sandy areas.
Having said that, if you are buying terrain pieces you can choose whatever basing/flocking you want and I will make them to your requirements.

Hedges

info to be added shortly

Trenches

Full detailed info to be added shortly

I will detail the construction fully with photographs in the near future and perhaps add it to the "Projects" section.

I started making trench pieces using timber strips but strangely they didn't look like real wood planks so I made several molds and started casting.
The cast wall pieces are done in a brown oxide tinted Hydrostone and all I need to do to them is plunge them in a black ink wash (made from one part black poster paint to three parts water) then (when dry) lightly drybrush the edges and the plank faces to bring out the grain.
The pieces are based on 3mm MDF with 45 degree bevels on the embankment edges.
When making the walls out of timber I had straight edges to the embankments and basically it looked too fake and sterile so I changed to the wavy edges which work really well.
The embankments are made of polystyrene foam with very careful hot wire work to ensure vertical walls and snug meeting up of pieces - all pieces can be positioned either way round and they still have a flowing wavy edge that matches its neighbouring pieces.
The raw foam is attacked with a wire brush before "flocking" with sand/gravel.
The first flocking is done using 50/50 PVA/water with a little brown oxide mixed in, this allows me to ensure that all the foam is clearly coated with glue and it also soaks into the sand and colours it.
The first flocking is just fine sand. When dry I recoat the sand coated area with PVA/water (no oxide) and apply a fine gravel to the lower edge with a light sprinkling further up the embankment. Any loose excess gravel is tapped off then the whole area is flocked with the fine sand.
When dry (yet again) I again coat the whole terrain piece with 50/50 PVA/water to seal and secure any loose sand.
The floor of the trench is flocked with "earth" mixes that I have developed, I use a black mix and a brown mix and when finished it looks better than I could ever paint it.
My earth mixes consist of equal parts by volume of fine sand, MDF dust and ground tinted Hydrostone - raw oxide is too overpowering so I grind up Hydrostone wastage and use that in my mixes. The earth mixes have a very fine texture and really look like dirt.
I expected the final sealing with PVA to leave the pieces too glossy but was pleasantly surprised at the result, the porous nature of the plaster and the sand and earth mixes nullifies any shine.
The three seperate applications of PVA and two coatings with sand make the pieces incredibly strong, so strong that I have walked on them (accidentally) and caused absolutely no damage except a twisted ankle.

Wall piece castings are available for sale.

Bunkers

info to be added shortly

Fuel Drums

The fuel drums are cast in light brown tinted Hydrostone and are supplied as raw castings, however each drum has had a base individually carved to allow the drum to be positioned on its side with the base visible.

Should you want the drums supplied with a flat base (as they come out of the mold) please let me know and the price will be reduced to $1.00 per drum.

Wooden Crates

The wooden crates are cast in light brown tinted Hydrostone and are supplied either as raw castings or as a "finished" product.

Please look at the "Oxides" section further down the page to see how I stain the crates with oxide prior to sealing the crate with PVA glue to create the "finished" product.

Finishing the crates using my method is not a difficult process and should you want a reasonable number of crates I would suggest buying some black oxide and raw crates and having a go yourself ... it's easy.

Should you want the crates cast in a colour other than brown, simply ask and it shall happen.

Hills

When I make hills I tend to make a batch of similar styled hills but don't make standard sets that I can sell as Hill type ... whatever.
For this reason I will always photograph each individual hill that I have available for sale and what you see is exactly the piece that you will get.

My hills are crafted from expanded polystyrene foam that has been cut, shaped and sanded to shape with or without "rocky outcrops".
Rocks are generally carved from the same foam which is coated with wall filler to which sand has been added for extra texture.
Once dry the filler is "painted" with a mixture of oxide and water to ensure any recesses are as dark as possible before being sealed with watered down PVA glue and painted and drybrushed with satin acrylic house paints.
The terrain piece is based on 3mm MDF board that has a 45 degree bevel on the edges, the use of a hot wire cutter during the shaping stage allows me to perfectly marry the bevel to the slope of the hill so that no MDF board is visable in the end product.

The non-rocky parts of the hills are coated in watered down PVA glue before being heavily sprinkled with fine sand which once dry is painted with green acrylic house paint before being finally flocked with static grass.

The finished piece is finally sealed with a flat acrylic sealer.

The use of the sand layer adds great durability to the hill while at the same time any unnatural knife or carving marks are hidden.

The current set of hills that I have for sale are much more detailed and incorporate home made flocks and trees and prominently feature Hydrostone cast "rocks".

I intend to fully detail the construction (one day) and explain just how to make the flock, trees and rocks ... but time is limited.

Barricades

info to be added shortly

Graves & Graveyards

info to be added shortly

Gravestones - Raw Castings

This set of castings consists of 13 different gravestones which are cast in Dental Plaster.

Dental Plaster is used as it is easier to carve than Hydrostone and it is expected that the terrain builder will want to further age and distress the gravestones through carving.

Should you wish to have your gravestones cast using black tinted Hydrostone, please let me know and it will be done.

info to be added shortly

info to be added shortly

I began using oxides to pre-tint Hydrostone prior to casting pieces originally to save time painting the pieces with a basecoat. I quickly found that tinting the Hydrostone had greater benefits, more detail is retained and the colour goes throughout the whole piece.
It is not easy to chip the Hydrostone but if it happens the tinting will make any chip barely noticable.

When using the oxides with Hydrostone I premix the powders rather than try to mix the oxide with water, it is far easier to work with the dry materials.

As well as mixing oxides with Hydrostone I have found other uses:

• Mixing a teaspoon of oxide with about 1/2 a cup of water makes a great "paint" for applying really intense colour to terrain.
  I use this for applying deep colour to such things as rocks made from foam and filler - the oxide stains the colour better than any paint and it obscures zero detail. I find using this oxide "paint" (especially black) ideal for painting the deep recesses on "rocks".
  This oxide "paint" is also perfect for painting a basecoat on white plaster castings such as building made from "Hirstarts" blocks, the only thing you have to ensure is that the glue that joins the blocks is applied very neatly as the oxide will not stain the block where the glue is visible ... although a dab of black paint will easily hide any glue spots.
• The wooden crates shown on the accessories page have been treated with oxide "paint" as a wash to bring out the joins between the planks and to show off the wood grain.
  To apply the oxide "paint" to the crate castings I have found that it is best to immerse the casting in water first (only for a second) then plunge the casting into the "paint". Only hold the casting in the "paint" for a second then quickly transfer back to a bowl of water and GENTLY wipe off any excess oxide with an old SOFT toothbrush working across the grain.
  Immersing in water before the oxide "paint" is done to stop too much oxide being sucked into the casting - these castings are very porous and soak up water (and oxide) rapidly.
  Once the oxide washed crates are dry simply seal with watered down PVA glue and they are done.
• Another use for the oxides is to add a very small amount to water that is used to water down PVA glue used for applying sand to terrain pieces, this has two benefits:

1. 
   Firstly the coloured PVA mix allows me to ensure that I have totally covered the terrain area with glue, especially useful when working on white foam. When using white PVA glue on the foam it is difficult to see spots that have been missed, resulting in having to reapply the sand to hide the spots - with coloured glue the bare spots are easily seen.
2. 
   By choosing or mixing different colours of oxide with the glue you can change the colour of the sand, the oxide enriched glue soaks through the sand giving dramatic (or subtle) changes in colour.
   This is great when working with sand of varying particle size as the smaller particles take on more colour while the larger ones retain more of their original colour.
   This gives a similar effect to painting and drybrushing the sand but takes none of the work and produces a much more natural effect, especially when working with the sand that I use as the particles have a random assorted colour and are not sterile looking sand grains.
   
   I haven't yet experimented with applying MDF powder directly to surfaces painted with oxide coloured PVA glue but I will definitely try it out.

My style of terrain building involves the use of as little paint as possible as I strive for a natural finish.

Rather than apply sand and paint it to get the appearance of earth I decided to create my own earth mixes.

Sand generally does not look like dirt, when you compare the size of most grains of sand to the size of your miniatures the "earth" would be very stoney and I think it just does not look right.

My earth mixes are curently available in four colours - Light Brown, Black, Dark Brown and Red.

The mixes are made by mixing equal parts by volume of MDF powder, Fine Sand and powdered tinted Hydrostone. The powdered tinted Hydrostone is created by grinding (with a belt sander) blocks of cast tinted Hydrostone. As the Hydrostone has already been cast it will no longer act as plaster and the oxide that it contains has been "fixed" so the colour will not run.
The MDF powder makes the finished texture more realistic and I have a feeling that all those wood fibres combined with PVA glue really bind the mix together making a very durable finish.
Fine sand is included to add a little texture to the mix and it all seems to work well for me.

A good example of the earth mixes in use can be found on the trench floors of my trench pieces , the trench floors have been sprinkled with black earth and light brown earth to give a better effect than I could achieve by painting.

I first considered using MDF powder after cleaning out the dust accumulated in my bandsaw, the powder was very fine in texture and it seemed a waste to throw it away.
It took a while for me to find a use for it but I now use it so much that I deliberately create MDF powder specifically to use.

Previously when trying to create a "concrete" effect I had been mixing fine sand with paint creating a textured paint, but I was never satisfied with the apparent scale of the texturing. Sand grains are just too large to look right compared to 25-28mm miniatures and I imagined that the concrete had big sharp stones embedded in it.

What I now do is paint the terrain piece that needs to look like concrete a suitable grey colour, then when dry I apply PVA glue and sprinkle an even coating of PVA powder over it.
Once the excess is shaken/blown off the result is a velvety surface that looks just the right scale for concrete.
When dry I seal the piece with more watered down PVA and end up with a very durable effect that has a smooth velvety matt finish.
Weathering and stains can be applied before the final PVA sealing, I generally use a little oxide mixed with plenty of water to add weathering.

When I was trying to create suitable soil mixes I added MDF powder just to see the effect and stumbled onto my second use for this previously waste product.

The important lession learnt is to never throw anything away until you have thought about whether it can be used.

Quite simply - games workshop sand is too sharp and sterile looking, it definitely needs painting to add any degree of realism ... oh, and the price of GW sand is a joke (but not funny).

I use fine sand, fine gravel and coarse gravel in my terrain building and a good example can be found on the embankments of the trenches .
The embankments were painted with watered down PVA glue which has had a little light brown oxide added then coated with fine sand applied with my trusty gravy strainer.
Once dry I then recoated it with watered down PVA glue (no oxide this time) and applied fine gravel to the bottom edge with a light sprinkling further up the slope. The excess gravel was tapped off and the whole embankment was then coated with fine sand again.

This gives the effect of heavier lumps of earth/rock falling naturally to the bottom of the embankment.

The whole surface is finally sealed with watered down PVA which ensures that no sand is loose and it brings out the natural colours of the sand/gravel.

This is the static grass that I use exclusively on all areas of green grass on my terrain pieces.

It is applied by painting the surface of your terrain piece with watered down PVA glue (50% water) and liberally sprinkling the static grass over the surface. I use a kitchen gravy strainer to sprinkle the grass as this prevents any unwanted clumps forming and gives a very even coating.
Excess grass is tapped off before allowing the piece to dry.

It is best to paint the terrain area with a green paint before applying the grass as this will ensure that no white foam is visible - my method is to coat the whole area with sand before painting and then flocking with static grass, the sand and the extra PVA glue followed by paint then more PVA glue and the static grass certainly give a great durable finish. Afterall, these terrain pieces are to be used in games, not just looked at and need to be as durable as possible.

Hydrostone

When I first started casting "Hirstarts" blocks I used Dental Plaster to cast the blocks.

Dental Plaster is many times harder than Plaster of Paris and is fine to use if none better is available.

I changed to using Hydrostone when I started casting pieces that I had sculpted myself, the Hydrostone is a much finer and harder plaster compound that retains maximum detail and is able to be used for small or thin parts that could break if cast in Dental Plaster.
Rather than cast in both Dental Plaster and Hydrostone I simply stopped using Dental Plaster.

Hydrostone takes longer to cure than Dental Plaster and it is best to leave the mold undisturbed for a minimum of 30 minutes before de-molding the pieces - the longer the better.

I started tinting the Hydrostone with oxides originally to try to cut the time involved in producing terrain pieces for sale - time is money and I strive to keep the cost as low as possible.
Once I started I found that the oxides give a great natural finish to any piece of terrain and I have continued to experiment and develop my use of oxides.