Hi,

Just some terrain I’m working on.

First the Watchtower (made with Hirst Arts blocks), still needs a base some weathering and vines.


A close up of the door.


Bird’s eye view with carved in trapdoor.


Second some small practice pieces (casting and building Hirst Art blocks).
A Forge, Fireplace and Tombe.


Third a small cottage. (scratch build with foamcore, balsa wood and cardstock).
Cardstock model that I used as reference. (The Hovel)


Bird's eye view (base and roof are removable for easy game play).


Front view (miniature as reference to scale).


Back view


That's it for now folks

looks good, did you hand carve the bricks?

Looking very nice.

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http://noddwyr.wordpress.com

Great work especially the watchtower. I might look into some of those blocks.

One tip though perhaps you should have just had one thread for both topics instead of two. The mods maybe able to combine them for you if you asked nicely and if thats what you want. Just my opinion.

Looking forward to seeing some more.

Cyndra the Grey

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{aD}??? wrote:

Procrastination. A favourite pastime of mine
Exaggeration. Also another pastime.

My General WIP

Yes I did, just taken a blunt pencil.

Very good work. I like your scratch built door on the tower. The cottage is very well done as well. The ground work and paint are first rate.
I just received the tower mold and I do not have enough of some of the arrow slits and roof support parts to make one yet. The small brick mold looks very useful. You did a good job with your alignment. How did you keep the bricks so square? I see the broken barrel. Would you show us some of the detail pieces you have made from the detail mold?

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

What a cute little cottage! Simple design, but well executed and I really like the extra details from the door hinges to the rain barrel.

Looks all very nice and good but I think it is not Lotr enough maybe some weathering may help with that.

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"There are only 4 things you need in life: Lasagna, beer, a girlfriend and of course a gondor army."

Hirst Arts blocks are a great source of inspiration.
But don't be fool't, it takes a lot of work to build something decent + it weighs a ton.

It takes a lot of casts to make the tower (don't now exactly how many, but if you cast full moulds there gone be a lot of spare blocks).

The trick to align the blocks perfectly sits in the casting of the blocks, make sure the mould fills perfectly to the top.
If not you have to sand them till they are all the same thickness.

If you can give me a number of the mould ( or moulds) you talking about (and I have them) I am gladly show you some more detail pieces.

Looks great!

How did you make the trapdoor and the tower door? Are they balsa wood or Hirst Arts "wood" blocks or bought somewhere else?

Did you have difficulties casting the decoration blocks? They look like something that would break or get air bubbles very easily.

-- Pasi

It has some weathering (on the wood, stucco and roof shingles) just doesn't show up that good on the photo.

The trapdoor is a recast in plaster from the Mines of Moria box set.
The door in the tower is made from balsawood (scratch build).

Casting the decoration blocks can be a bit tricky, I make the plaster mixture thinner and pour not straight in the indentations.
Also be more careful when you remove the pieces from the mould.

I meant mold # 85 the cavern accessory mold. I have a number of molds myself. I try to cast all of the molds at least once a day. It is still going to take a while to build up a supply.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

Lovely job Jan, especially on the house!

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Hmm... what would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?

Here are all the pieces that came out of mould 85.
Painted all the pieces with a black wash, so you can see the fine detail.



Closeup of a chest.

ah yes I had my eye on that one, wasn't sure if it's worth it. Got a better way now tho

I am looking forward to see how you use them

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

A great WIP thread and an instructional on Hirst blocks to follow - fantastic. I think we could do with some more instructional work of this type and also to show just what can be done with the molds.

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That is a good idea. I will include more detail about how I use the molds in my WIP too.

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"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"