"Plaster Miniatures and Terrain" Topic

Hi. I've been thinking. For simple things like vehicle hulls, buildings, and simple terrain and the like do you think it would be possible to use high grade, high strength plaster as a material rather than resin in order to cut costs (and pass the savings onto the consumer) without adversely affecting quality, durability, and detail?

Yes, been done, Timecast??

For buildings and terrain, which get handled less, I don't see a problem with that.

I'm a bit concerned about vehicles though, which will presumably be handled a lot more.

Hulls cast in something like Excalibur or Merlin's Magic plasters should, I think, be amply strong enough.

Doug

@sillypoint
I think they use Resin.

@Mako11
I was thinking the larger, more solid parts like vehicle hulls, turret bodies… anything that's mostly a block of mass without much in the way of fiddly detail.

@elsyrsyn
Seems a bit heaver than resin, but if you're like me and plan to ship using fixed rate boxes that's hardly a problem. Holding up to damage is my main concern.

Should also be easier on the molds and less toxic to work with…

I enjoy making and using plaster terrain. It works very well and I prefer working with plaster to working with resin. I think there would be problems using it for vehicles.

I had buildings, terrain and ships hulls cast in plaster (ironstone)dating back 15 or 16 years. Plenty of chips and rounded corners over the years but no serious damage. Providing everything is based and a bit of thought used when painting they are sturdy enough for gaming.
Only downside is the weight. Size for size they are 4 or 5 times as heavy as resin.

Good point about basing. Having a solid base would be important to minimizing damage.