Hi pal. Great videos. Can't believe I've only just found these. Can I just ask you to go into more detail on how you textured the building sides? I know you said about the resin master but couldn't really see it or how you done it. Thanks Great work
Hi thanks for the comment. Yes I had to come up with something new for them. I did not really want to cast them from resin as each biulding had to be different. I made the walls from the plastic sheet as shown and then made the masters larger enough for the largest wall section. Making up a textured plate from a polyurethane tooling foam block. I sculpted the block work with a general textured pattern. I them made silicon moulds of these and came up with a new casting technique which I am calling float casting. Which is basically pouring the urethane resin into the mould first in a fine layer and then dropping the wall section over the top or floating them inside the shallow mould. Once set the pieces are textured and ready for assembly. Hope that helps. :)
+Battleboards.co.uk awesome thanks man. I think I know what you mean lol Would love to see a video tutorial if you ever get time. I myself build terrain although am still quite new ( there's some of my stuff on my channel). I just love learning new techniques, and what you done looks like it could save a lot of time! Would you ever consider filming a video showing in detail the way you built the buildings?
Hi Great tree video. I would love to do some more videos as its been some time since I've uploaded any. Super busy at the moment with lots of projects and work, so not sure I am going to get the time any time soon unfortunately. I still have loads of footage from past projects to get through. But I will never say never :)
Outstanding work. I'm really impressed with making all the buildings from resin (and mounting the rocks with resin to boot!). I was curious however. At around the 3:40 mark you mention a master mold for the wall texture and placing the wall sections in it to cast the texture onto them. It sounds like when you place the styrene wall sections into the mold and pour the resin, the resin flows under the wall styrene section, bonding the sheet to the texture. Does that mean your pouring an extremely thin cast so you don't fill above the styrene and entrap it in the cast? If so, its an ingenious way of casting. I've never seen a technique like that before. :) Really impressive work. Looking foward to seeing it painted up. :)
Oh, I was thinking about it more. **grin** If the resin flows under the piece, how to control the thickness of the wall? Do you float the styrene backing on pins or similar? How do you control bubbles remaining under the styrene? As I said, I've never seen that method (assuming I understand it right) so its a bit baffling. :)
No, no pins, and not much in the way of air bubbles, although they do occur. Most of the structures I make are war torn so you can add these in as damage and pick them out with a scalpel. The thickness will vary but as I am using a fast polyurethane resin for these the thickness is only about .5 to 1mm thick. Its not as perfect as casting but certainly uses less resin. I pore the resin in first about 2mm worth and then float the plastic on top with a little wiggle. trim up after it set approx. 30sec to 1min - You can then repeat the process for the back, but I have also been casting thin sheets and just glueing these onto the plastic sheet, this also work pretty well. I have done this on the bridge I made yesterday as the bridge sides were to large to fit into the mould. I think i will add a final update showing the bridge and the remaining boards when I complete them.
Battleboards.co.uk Interesting. It's a very creative approach, and I appreciate conserving the resin. Plus it affords a simple way to control the dimensions from a single larger mold (trimming to the styrene edges). I have been considering doing something sort of similar for rock casts. Making a large mold, casting it in plaster and then trimming to fit an area with a dremel. It would make a much better face, rather than 'stitching' together smaller pieces. I really appreciate you sharing your process and I'm very impressed with your work. Looking forward to future videos. :)
+Christina Chandler Hi Christina glad you liked the movies, they take an age to put together and we are particularly busy currently working on projects, so my time is limited to what I can do with movies on RUclips. I don't think I can make a tutorial on moulding, if you can scan a though the moves many pick up on some of the moulding techniques we use. You want to see one of the first ones I made about the Mordor rock work as that does go through the process in more detail. Thanks
Would you be able to create a video about your process with the molds and resins? How do you make the mold (the "imprints"?) What mixture do you use for the mold itself, and what mixture for the resin? It looks like it's an important part of your process, so I (and I'm many others) would love to hear about it in more detail.
+Jonathan Brouwer Hi, thanks for the comments. I have created a movie about how the mould making process is achieved, you want to look at the movie about the rock face for Mordor. This explains the process in detail. Unfortunately I cannot give away too much detail as I do this for a living so have to keep some of the techniques and materials close to my chest as its taken years to master and come up with the right combination of products. I am also hoping one day to bring the materials together to be able to be purchased so unfortunately I tend to keep these materials as trade secret. I hope you understand. The imprints or masters are all sculpted from various materials such as clay, and sculpty. These form the masters which can then have the rubber poured over them to make a silicon mould ready for casting. If you check out the movie for fantasy football dugout you again can see in detail how I sculpted these types of features. I hope this helps?
Wow looking fab!!! I am really interested in model making for set design purposes rather than battle boards, however after seeing your videos, your detail is incredible. I wondered if you had an email that I could contact for maybe some more advice?
+Aketon SMP Hi Aketon, yes no problem its what I also do for a living making full size sets. Not for film more visitor attractions and museums. I have personal website with portfolio here - www.rich-creativedesigns.co.uk feel free to get in contact you can email at rich@battleboards.co.uk or rich-creativedesigns@live.co.uk glad you like the movies :)
Hey, first of all well done i really like this project and saw all 5 video's so far but i have 1 questions please. I didn't understand how you add texture to a piece of plastic sheet using the silicone rubber mold. I know how you do the mold but what i don't know how you add texture to a small part of your build using the mold. Kindly can you explain it a bit more in detail please?
Hi Ziffa, I think I have created a bit confusion on this one, as it not a normal technique so think I have stumbled onto something new. I may have to do a small movie showing it in more detail. The texture is part of the original master, a small sample wall section made in the normal way you would craft a piece, no windows just wall and cracks showing through the plaster work. I made mine from polyurethane sheet. Moulded this using silicon... now the new bit.. pour in resin into the mould just a thin coat to cover all the detail, then when still wet gently drop in the plastic sheet (scoring first to create key), which has windows and doors already cut out. leave to set and then remove from mould and whilst resin is still soft, remove resin from door and window holes. I'm basically using the plastic as a former to give the building more strength so I don't have to cast the whole building out of resin, which would create the same building over and over. You will get a repeat pattern, but I made several mould to mix them up a bit, and made sure that broken corners matched on different moulds. :)
Battleboards.co.uk Hello and thanks a lot for your reply. So you will have a mold for each size you have? I think i have understand how you do the last part which i do not know is how many mold you need to create for a project like that and how you can see the bricks from behind is that part of the mold or a layer below. PS. if you will do a small video i will be very thankful however. Looking forward for that.
Hey man awesome video, but i'm at a loss. I am working on a D-Day map and I am using polystyrene for the bored. But I do not know what to use for the hill coming off the beach, almost like a mountain. Do I use polystyrene for that to?
Ah mountains are tricky, I do not use any polystyrene (or very rarely) in my board construction, as I think my terrain has to last and be very high quality. Poly is not really suitable I feel for my clients, I think you can make it work for you though. My mountains, cliff faces and other large features have a plywood & black mesh substructure and then finished off with some resin cast rock work. I have produced a few movies showing the method. If you check out my Channel (click the battleboards.co.uk title above this will take you to my channel) and view the Italy boards movies, that will hopefully give you a better idea of what I do... its a lot different from using poly and a lot heaver but much more robust. thanks for the comment :)
I know this is 3 years old but if you want to see some hills and mountains done in foam insulation board check out TheDMsCraft Scotty does some relaly large mountains in the foam did great detailing with a piece of cinderblock came out quite nice.
Hello again I found myself watching your videos again for some much needed inspiration when it occurred to me to inquire if you would be willing to cast up a set of buildings similar to what you made for this table for me to purchase?
Hi Jason, All ways willing to look at extra work Jason. The tricky thing is these are not a simple cast job. Each building was made individually, and put together by hand. Each component is pieces together and has paint textures and resin applied to the buildings before they are painted. This does take a fair amount of time compared to a simple reason cast building. It does however mean each building is completely different. Having the building able to be dismantled also adds to the complication. I am willing to look at it for you but the price will unfortunately be expensive as each building would takes a couple days to make. By all means email me with details and I will see what I can do for you, rich@battleboards.co.uk
Very much so, but as you will see from the constructions I make they take a huge amount of time to produce, not to mention the extra work it takes to film a project unfolding, which believe me really effects productivity. I try and do as much as possible, but these things do not come out on a conveyer belt so I afraid I can only do so much. More films will be added as soon as they are made. Thanks for watching them :)
Hi All, well that got you all thinking. Thanks for taking a look and I will certainly keep updating the play list until the projects completed. :)
You know what you need!!!
A padawan!!!!
Hint hint lol
great to see some new videos ... this project looks to have the makings of an awesome board, I hope you keep us updated with its progress. Cheers
awesome work so far! looks a treat! thanks for posting the WIP
That looks stunning already, great job
Best table I’ve ever seen
looking really good bro
Awesome terrain
Just subed
Wow! Well done! I really enjoyed watching this, and the board looks great! What material do you cast with? I missed that. I am loving your work...
Hi, Thanks for the comment, yes I use a two part epoxy resin. Very fast set time of around 20sec
Hi pal.
Great videos. Can't believe I've only just found these.
Can I just ask you to go into more detail on how you textured the building sides? I know you said about the resin master but couldn't really see it or how you done it.
Thanks
Great work
Hi thanks for the comment. Yes I had to come up with something new for them. I did not really want to cast them from resin as each biulding had to be different. I made the walls from the plastic sheet as shown and then made the masters larger enough for the largest wall section. Making up a textured plate from a polyurethane tooling foam block. I sculpted the block work with a general textured pattern. I them made silicon moulds of these and came up with a new casting technique which I am calling float casting. Which is basically pouring the urethane resin into the mould first in a fine layer and then dropping the wall section over the top or floating them inside the shallow mould. Once set the pieces are textured and ready for assembly. Hope that helps. :)
+Battleboards.co.uk awesome thanks man. I think I know what you mean lol
Would love to see a video tutorial if you ever get time.
I myself build terrain although am still quite new ( there's some of my stuff on my channel). I just love learning new techniques, and what you done looks like it could save a lot of time!
Would you ever consider filming a video showing in detail the way you built the buildings?
Hi Great tree video. I would love to do some more videos as its been some time since I've uploaded any. Super busy at the moment with lots of projects and work, so not sure I am going to get the time any time soon unfortunately. I still have loads of footage from past projects to get through. But I will never say never :)
Cool cause I like your work !
Outstanding work. I'm really impressed with making all the buildings from resin (and mounting the rocks with resin to boot!). I was curious however. At around the 3:40 mark you mention a master mold for the wall texture and placing the wall sections in it to cast the texture onto them. It sounds like when you place the styrene wall sections into the mold and pour the resin, the resin flows under the wall styrene section, bonding the sheet to the texture. Does that mean your pouring an extremely thin cast so you don't fill above the styrene and entrap it in the cast? If so, its an ingenious way of casting. I've never seen a technique like that before. :)
Really impressive work. Looking foward to seeing it painted up. :)
Oh, I was thinking about it more. **grin** If the resin flows under the piece, how to control the thickness of the wall? Do you float the styrene backing on pins or similar? How do you control bubbles remaining under the styrene? As I said, I've never seen that method (assuming I understand it right) so its a bit baffling. :)
No, no pins, and not much in the way of air bubbles, although they do occur. Most of the structures I make are war torn so you can add these in as damage and pick them out with a scalpel. The thickness will vary but as I am using a fast polyurethane resin for these the thickness is only about .5 to 1mm thick. Its not as perfect as casting but certainly uses less resin. I pore the resin in first about 2mm worth and then float the plastic on top with a little wiggle. trim up after it set approx. 30sec to 1min - You can then repeat the process for the back, but I have also been casting thin sheets and just glueing these onto the plastic sheet, this also work pretty well. I have done this on the bridge I made yesterday as the bridge sides were to large to fit into the mould. I think i will add a final update showing the bridge and the remaining boards when I complete them.
Battleboards.co.uk
Interesting. It's a very creative approach, and I appreciate conserving the resin. Plus it affords a simple way to control the dimensions from a single larger mold (trimming to the styrene edges). I have been considering doing something sort of similar for rock casts. Making a large mold, casting it in plaster and then trimming to fit an area with a dremel. It would make a much better face, rather than 'stitching' together smaller pieces.
I really appreciate you sharing your process and I'm very impressed with your work. Looking forward to future videos. :)
Great diorama, it looks very good. Could you make a video on making the molds? Once again, Great video.
+Christina Chandler Hi Christina glad you liked the movies, they take an age to put together and we are particularly busy currently working on projects, so my time is limited to what I can do with movies on RUclips. I don't think I can make a tutorial on moulding, if you can scan a though the moves many pick up on some of the moulding techniques we use. You want to see one of the first ones I made about the Mordor rock work as that does go through the process in more detail. Thanks
+Battleboards.co.uk thank you
Would you be able to create a video about your process with the molds and resins? How do you make the mold (the "imprints"?) What mixture do you use for the mold itself, and what mixture for the resin? It looks like it's an important part of your process, so I (and I'm many others) would love to hear about it in more detail.
+Jonathan Brouwer Hi, thanks for the comments. I have created a movie about how the mould making process is achieved, you want to look at the movie about the rock face for Mordor. This explains the process in detail. Unfortunately I cannot give away too much detail as I do this for a living so have to keep some of the techniques and materials close to my chest as its taken years to master and come up with the right combination of products. I am also hoping one day to bring the materials together to be able to be purchased so unfortunately I tend to keep these materials as trade secret. I hope you understand. The imprints or masters are all sculpted from various materials such as clay, and sculpty. These form the masters which can then have the rubber poured over them to make a silicon mould ready for casting. If you check out the movie for fantasy football dugout you again can see in detail how I sculpted these types of features. I hope this helps?
Totally understand!
: )
I'm glad you can make a living doing something so fun and creative. I'll check out the videos you mentioned.
Wow looking fab!!! I am really interested in model making for set design purposes rather than battle boards, however after seeing your videos, your detail is incredible. I wondered if you had an email that I could contact for maybe some more advice?
+Aketon SMP Hi Aketon, yes no problem its what I also do for a living making full size sets. Not for film more visitor attractions and museums. I have personal website with portfolio here - www.rich-creativedesigns.co.uk feel free to get in contact you can email at rich@battleboards.co.uk or rich-creativedesigns@live.co.uk glad you like the movies :)
Hey, first of all well done i really like this project and saw all 5 video's so far but i have 1 questions please.
I didn't understand how you add texture to a piece of plastic sheet using the silicone rubber mold.
I know how you do the mold but what i don't know how you add texture to a small part of your build using the mold.
Kindly can you explain it a bit more in detail please?
Hi Ziffa, I think I have created a bit confusion on this one, as it not a normal technique so think I have stumbled onto something new. I may have to do a small movie showing it in more detail. The texture is part of the original master, a small sample wall section made in the normal way you would craft a piece, no windows just wall and cracks showing through the plaster work. I made mine from polyurethane sheet. Moulded this using silicon... now the new bit.. pour in resin into the mould just a thin coat to cover all the detail, then when still wet gently drop in the plastic sheet (scoring first to create key), which has windows and doors already cut out. leave to set and then remove from mould and whilst resin is still soft, remove resin from door and window holes. I'm basically using the plastic as a former to give the building more strength so I don't have to cast the whole building out of resin, which would create the same building over and over. You will get a repeat pattern, but I made several mould to mix them up a bit, and made sure that broken corners matched on different moulds. :)
Battleboards.co.uk
Hello and thanks a lot for your reply.
So you will have a mold for each size you have?
I think i have understand how you do the last part which i do not know is how many mold you need to create for a project like that and how you can see the bricks from behind is that part of the mold or a layer below.
PS. if you will do a small video i will be very thankful however.
Looking forward for that.
Hey man awesome video, but i'm at a loss. I am working on a D-Day map and I am using polystyrene for the bored. But I do not know what to use for the hill coming off the beach, almost like a mountain. Do I use polystyrene for that to?
Ah mountains are tricky, I do not use any polystyrene (or very rarely) in my board construction, as I think my terrain has to last and be very high quality. Poly is not really suitable I feel for my clients, I think you can make it work for you though. My mountains, cliff faces and other large features have a plywood & black mesh substructure and then finished off with some resin cast rock work. I have produced a few movies showing the method. If you check out my Channel (click the battleboards.co.uk title above this will take you to my channel) and view the Italy boards movies, that will hopefully give you a better idea of what I do... its a lot different from using poly and a lot heaver but much more robust. thanks for the comment :)
Battleboards.co.uk or check out the Shattered Dynasties mountain project as that was a huge mountain over 2ft tall :)
Battleboards.co.uk Ok looks like I got a lot of work to do. Thank you so much for the help!
I know this is 3 years old but if you want to see some hills and mountains done in foam insulation board check out TheDMsCraft Scotty does some relaly large mountains in the foam did great detailing with a piece of cinderblock came out quite nice.
Hello again I found myself watching your videos again for some much needed inspiration when it occurred to me to inquire if you would be willing to cast up a set of buildings similar to what you made for this table for me to purchase?
Hi Jason, All ways willing to look at extra work Jason. The tricky thing is these are not a simple cast job. Each building was made individually, and put together by hand. Each component is pieces together and has paint textures and resin applied to the buildings before they are painted. This does take a fair amount of time compared to a simple reason cast building. It does however mean each building is completely different. Having the building able to be dismantled also adds to the complication. I am willing to look at it for you but the price will unfortunately be expensive as each building would takes a couple days to make. By all means email me with details and I will see what I can do for you, rich@battleboards.co.uk
Is this channel still active ?
Very much so, but as you will see from the constructions I make they take a huge amount of time to produce, not to mention the extra work it takes to film a project unfolding, which believe me really effects productivity. I try and do as much as possible, but these things do not come out on a conveyer belt so I afraid I can only do so much. More films will be added as soon as they are made. Thanks for watching them :)