Here's an update on the project so far. Below is a photo of the finished test hill.
I cast this out of dental stone so this hill weighs 3 pounds. If you cast it out of something such as "Woodland Scenics extra light weight Hydrocal" then it would probably only weigh 1.5-2 pounds instead.
Allow me to give you a quick overview of the cost and process of doing this. The cost of the silicone is expensive so this may turn off a lot of people from using this method. Here's a photo of the test mold.
This mold is a double sized mold compared to our regular molds so the price would be double as well. It would count as two molds when shipping but would also count as two molds when figuring the discount. The double sized mold allows me to fit extra pieces in the wasted space between two normal sized molds.
I also found that I had some wasted space around the outside edge. If I put the pieces closer to the edge, I can sacrifice four of the 1/2 blocks and add three full blocks onto the mold.
For this project I only used the half blocks to fill in under the full blocks (where you wouldn't see them) and had a bunch left over.
As for the half and quarter blocks, these would be used if you wanted to end the grid in a straight edge without sanding or cutting. This shows an example of their use.
For those not familiar with the casting process, you pour plaster of Paris (I used dental stone) into the molds, scrape off the top and 25 minutes later you pop out the blocks.
Here's a photo of the unpainted hill.
To make the straight cliff edges not so "hexy" I used pliers to break off some of the sharp edges.
I thought the really deep cracks looked a bit unnatural so I used putty (wood filler) in them hoping it would help. I've circled some of these on the photo below.
This photo compares the bare rock tiles stacked against the ones filled with putty. I'm not sure that either looks that good. I may have to work out the technique of filling in order for it to look better. Perhaps smearing in the putty and using a toothbrush to remove the excess from the surface. Maybe I'll have to rethink the method of making the rock faces in general.
In all I have mixed feelings about how this came out. This sucker weighs three pounds so it won't be moving around on your game table. The process of casting, filling and painting is not difficult for the average hobbyist (with the proper instructions of course). However, it is time consuming and messy - just like any scratch-building projects.
Please let me know what your thoughts are about this project. Is it worth it? How can it be improved?
Thanks,
Bruce Hirst