Well - 2009 is well under way now. Both boys were relly hapy with their Hirst Arts castles, so that was time and effort well spent.

I havenow started a project for myself. The Fantasy Trip / Melee / Wizard arena for use with Deth Test 1&2. There is still quite a bit of work to be done to it, but it is certainly getting there.



I need to give it a nice paint job, and finish the outside area aroun dit, and it will be up and ready to play on.

TOP SECRET - Christmas Presents

Sorry I cannot post pictures of my latest 2 Hirst Arts builds at the moment. They are both Christmas presents. Both are, in my humble opinion, the best builds I have done to date. Each is a larg-ish, single roomed, single floored bulding with a 4" round tower. I did the first for a cousin, and when my wife saw it, she said I would have to build one for my eldest son as well..... I can see I will also have to make a smaller one for my younger son as well - But I need more plaster!

I will post pictures AFTER Christmas.

as well as the buildings, I am also painting a small unit of knights / men at arms, to go with each one - (Probably about a dozen 1/72 scale figures for each.)

Last night I was up till 1.am casting the final blocks required - I am however still a couple short, so will be doing a final cast at work this lunchtime. By the weekend I should be finished with the builds and can work on the painting.

Busy, busy, busy.

The Elven Hall - update

No pictures yet.

I have built up the basic layout, and glued the panels for the Elven Hall. It has curved walls at one end - (using quarter 4" tower mold.) and squared corners at the other end. This has a short extension to one side, which may or may not accomodate an external set of steps.

I've also re-based the ruined cottage (due tot he original card one warping). I've removed the secton of rubble and scraps, which can now be used anywhere. I've also painted the first coats onto the roof covering. It's all coming together quite well.

Ooooh - Pictures at last!

Yep - That's right. I have once again dusted off the camera to take a handful of shots.





At the top is my newer fountain, whihc appears to be reasonably realistic water tight. I have filled it 3 times due to shrinkage, but it appears to have settled to a good level now. My original fountinan which is the last photo was not so watertight, and the original filling was lost out of the bottom. I then sealed it with PVA glue and tried again. This one is stil settling and has a further 4 fills I hope that this is the last one.

I have started working on my Elven Hall. This is the 2 end panels, but I have changed my mind from doing curved sides, to sticking with straight walls. Very much a work in progress.




Finally, last night I put the covering over the Goblin encampment. (No photos' yet.) This is a ruined cottage base, with sundry sticks and twigs making up a rough framework roof. Finally covered in kitchen towel soaked in a PVA / water mix, hopefully this will represent animal skins / leather / or similar found roofing material.

I have been trying to work out the best way of doing this for a while, and the inspiration came from the Hirst Arts community where they have been discussing the best way of making windmill sails.

I think once it is painted it will work.

UPDATE ON The Fountain

OK...OK. I know it looks as if the only thing I have done with Hirst Arts blocks at the moment is make this fountain....Well, in some repects that is true.

It is the first item I have that is a water feature, so the first opportunity to use the Woodland Scenics Realistic Water.

The bottle does suggest that ther may be some shrinkage, and boy were they right. It is also very important to note the following PLEASE ENSURE that there are no small gaps in whatever you are pouring the water effect into!. My first fountain did have a couple of tiny holes, and all the fluid just ran straight out! The second version I had sealed with PVA Glue, so the single part fluid stayed in place. However, the shrinkage on the first filling did give more the effect of a rather thick coat of varnish than a fountain filled with water. I have since sealed the first fountain, and filled both the more times. The results are now looking far more the way I had anticipated.

the fishing line streams with a little coating of water work well, and the slight magnification caused by the nice clear water is an excellent effect which would not be possible by painting techniques. So although not quite as straight forward as initially thought, this stuff works OK.

I hope to add a couple of photos soon.

More terrain pieces made.

No pictures today though.... Sorry.

I took out all the cast pieces last night, to make a copy of the fountian I have up for sale. That has come out looking really nice, so I'm looking forward to painting it.

I let Ryan rummage through the blocks, take out whatever he wanted and build a set of ruins himself. Some time over the weekend we may try to paint it. Design wise it looks really good, and would certainly make a fitting piece of terrain in many games. He really thinks about where elements are going, and why they are going there. (It may not be the way I would do something myself, but that is after all the whole point.)

I've also started a small ruined building which will form the basis for my goblin encampment. I think a collection of natural twigs and matchsticks etc will form a suitable framework over the stonework, then I will have to experiment with making durable coverings.

Finally I have assembled the front section to my elven great house. I think that will turn out to be my largest structure (even though I have only fully planned small segments for front and rear of the building,a nd have a vague idea of how the side turrets should be). At this stage I have no idea how I want to tackle the roof!

What colour should GOBLINS be?

The Caesar Goblins have arrived. I still think the Orcs are the best from this collection, but the Goblins are pretty good. Originally I had planned to make my goblin flesh green, the same as the orcs, but having seen them, and noticing that a couple of the poses would work very well as orc children playing - I was left with a dilema.

I'd like to paint a few of the goblins as Orc Children, playing with a ball, or with a stick, I might even use a little imagination and green stuff to make other suitable 'toys'.

This however presents a problem. That being, how to differentiate between orc children and goblin adult warriors.

I'm considering painting the goblins grey, light brown or possibly even blue? But would welcome any views. Perhaps a different shade of green?????

I will also be doing a couple of them red, to make them into little devil / imp type creatures.