General Update

I haven't had a lot of time to work on things this past week. Life has just been way too busy. I did however eek out a little bit of time yesterday to fix/finish off the vibration table. I used some foam and springs to dampen the vibration and things seem to work wonderfully now! I'll have some pictures up soon as well as brief how-to.

I have also switched over to the glass method of scraping the tiles and let me tell you it makes a WORLD of difference. I found some already cut acrylic sheets at lowes for about $3 each that are just the right size for a mold. I picked up 5 of them and plan on getting about 10 more tonight!

I am also now doing a syrenge method instead of pouring from the sides. I bought a bottle that I can squeeze the plaster out of to do this, it isn't an actual syrenge. I plan on going to the restraunt supply store soon and picking up a few more bottles of different sizes depending how much plaster I am working with.

Also I have found that going with a 2 to 1 ratio of plaster to water by volume seems to work out fairly well for overall strength. Now to get to casting a bunch more bricks!!!

Ohh on another note my adsense account was disable because of invalid clicks! Not sure what that is about or how they determine that but I have now switched ad providers and will be looking at finding better ad networks for this blog in the future!

DIY Silent Air Compressor

This article is posted on behalf of Adam and details how he built his silent aircompressor.

After getting tired of not being able to airbrush at night due to a very noisy compressor I set off on a task to build a nearly silent one. I built this compressor about two years ago.

Here is a list of the major parts I used in building my compressor.

Refrigerator compressor (I salvaged mine from a mini fridge that wouldn’t stay cold) (left)

A pressure regulator (110Psi was more than enough for hobby painting) (left)

Pressure cut off switch  (left)

Air Tank (left)

If you are salvaging a compressor from a refrigerator, It is extremely important to properly evacuate all refrigerant from your donor refrigerator's system. Many shops will do this for free.

Cut the two copper tubes coming from the sealed compressor, Make sure to leave as much of the tube as possible. Once cut, avoid turning the unit upside down. Or the oil will spill out.

Follow the power cord into the wiring harness tracing the wires to their separate terminals on the capacitor. Mark both wires and terminals with masking tape or a marking pen to keep their proper configuration. Make note of wires at this location that will go to another set of terminals on 110v sealed compressor module (or "pump"), tape and mark these wires and terminals as well.

Remove the wiring to everything else except the capacitor and pump. Remove the compressor for the donor refrigerator. Save the rubber feet, they will help reduce noise and vibration when you mount the compressor to its new frame. Connect corresponding power cord wires to the capacitor and green ground wire to base of pump.

Gently bend both copper lines on the pump to point vertically. This will help keep the oil from spitting out or making its way down your feed line into your pressure vessel once it’s attached. Make sure the compressor is secured to prevent "lurching" or pulling wires loose from vibrations.

Plug it in and listen for motor sound: If the unit does not run, unplug it at once and check power cord wires. Note, one copper tube may spit oil at first. This is normal mark this tube as the supply line.

If no oil blows out as the unit is running, put a finger tip on the end of one of the copper lines and feel for the side blowing air. The line blowing air is the supply line and should be marked as such. 8

Following the diagram below and using the appropriate brass fittings and air hose connect the compressor supply line to a 3 way tee. On one end of the tee you will have your air tank with safety pressure release valve. On the other end connect air hose to a second tee with the Pressure Switch and pressure regulator. Finally, attach a quick disconnect to the pressure regulator.

Follow the wiring diagram for your pressure switch and connect the wires from the compressor as well as a grounded power cord.

For The air compressor intake you should install an air filter.

Or if you’re in a bind a wiffle ball at the end of the copper intake pipe with a coffee filter wrapped around it. This worked for me for the first few weeks.

Using the original rubber mounts and making it as level as possible, bolt the pump to a sturdy frame or base plate. I decided to make a nice wood box that sits over the 10 gallon air tank.

This compressor won't win any awards for its looks, but it's silent, cheap and fun to build. I plan to use what I have learned from this project on my next DIY, a silent vacuum chamber for investing.

Interview: Itar from Itar's Workshop

This week I talk with Itar from Itars Workshop: http://www.itarsworkshop.com/catalog/index.php. He has some pretty cool and pieces for very reasonable prices. If you need to fill in some gaps in your terrain or don't have much of a budget to buy a large set of pieces all at once he is definately your guy!!! He has also given some helpful insite to the world of terrain manufacture.

[TP] How long have you been in business?

[Itar] We've been open since January 2009. So 3 years.

[TP] What do you use for the inspiration of your pieces?

[Itar] I find inspiration everywhere. If I'm doing a line of products, say torture equipment, I will Google whatever it is and use pictures of medieval torture equipment as a starting point. I've also stopped and looked at the building at my day job and thought "that would make a neat looking building in 6mm". Inspiration can strike anywhere, at any time.

[TP] What types of materials do you use for your pieces?

[Itar] I cast all my pieces in some sort of resin. I will occasionally use Hydrostone plaster for my personal custom pieces and for sculpting.

[TP] Are there any special suppliers you get your materials from? Any suppliers that have perticularly good service?

[Itar] I get a lot of my specialty resins from Smooth-on. I also get supplies from Sil-pak and Aeromarine Products.

[TP] What is your favorite terrain piece?

[Itar] From the ones available on in my store I love the Egyptian line. I don't know why, I just like them even though I don't play any game at all that uses them.

Of my custom pieces my favorite is the working Roman Treadmill crane I entered into HADD a few years ago. It was a lot of fun figuring out how to make it work.

[TP] Looking through your site it appears that all the pieces come unpainted? Are you planning on offering painted pieces? If not, why not?

[Itar] That's something I go back and forth with. I would love to sell pre-painted terrain but the amount of work to do one would be a major pain. I will probably do some pre-painted terrain at some point. I still have to figure out how to produce it in a mass production environment

[TP] Are your pieces all solid cast or glued from original bricks? If they are solid cast how did you go about creating the casts? What did you have to consider before making a cast?

[Itar] All of my pieces are solid cast. I think I only have one that requires assembly by the customer. A lot of my pieces require 2 or 3 part molds to cast solid. To do so I have to consider how I'm going to get the resin into every part of the mold and be able to demold it easily. I also have to be able reliably produce the piece on a daily basis. If there's any problem spot that tends to collect bubbles then it doesn't make it into the store. I usually make a mold of a single piece and cast that a few times to make sure it'll work before making mass production molds.

[TP] I am curious how you do a 3 piece mold? Never heard of doing that only a 2 piece molds.

[Itar] Here's an example of a 3 part mold. This one casts the Egyptian Pylon as a single piece that is hollow inside and about 1/8" thick. To make the mold I had to glue the master pylon down and cover half of the piece with clay and pour silicone. Then take away the clay and pour the second part of the mold. Once that is done I rolled out clay to the desired thickness and put it inside the 2 parts of the mold and poured the last part of the mold. It's cast by filling the mold up to the required level and then placing the 3rd part inside (similar to the plate method of casting) and displacing the liquid resin until it slightly overflows

[TP] Any plans to offer sets of pieces that go together

[Itar] Nope. No plans to do sets at all. There's plenty of great people out there that do sets so I don't need to.

[TP] Are you seeing much of a profit in creating this terrain?

[Itar] The first couple years everything we made went back into the business. We're making a nice profit. Not enough to retire from my day job but enough to pay my gaming expenses and then some. It keeps growing so it'll get there eventually.

[TP] Which wargames do you play? Which one is your favorite?

[Itar] I have played Warhammer 40k, Flames of War, Battletech, and any number of RPG games. Right now I'm only playing Battletech on a regular basis. Battletech is probably my favorite game. I've been playing it since the late 80s and I've always really enjoyed it.

[TP] Any special terrain techniques you use when creating terrain?
[Itar] I use plaster pieces to sculpt masters. I use a wire brush against balsa wood to make a nice wood texture. Sometimes I just make it up as I go.

[TP] What is your favorite material to work with?

[Itar] I really don't have a single favorite material. I use all kinds of materials to make my pieces. I've used balsa wood, polymer clay, plaster, and once some paper towels I swiped from the bathroom at work (it had a great texture).

[TP] Tell me about a mistake you made in creating terrain and what you learned from it.

[Itar] When I first started I made this really large stepped pyramid model. It looked great but after I poured the silicone for the mold I realize it was just slightly too big to fit in my vacuum chamber. It made it difficult to make duplicate molds. In the end I just discontinued the piece and I'll have to remake it later. I learned to measure my mold boxes BEFORE I pour the silicone.

[TP] Any final advice or thoughts?

[Itar] Never pet a burning dog. All kidding aside. If you're going to start a business then be prepared to eat, sleep, and breathe terrain for the next few years. It's possible, but you're going to be working hard and you're not going to get rich. On the up side it can be really rewarding.
As a hobbyist. Always try something new with each project. It may not work, but you're bound to learn something from it

WIP: Ruined Castle Gate Update 6

So I borrowed an air compressor so I could get some air brushing done. I did 2 coats one of the base black and one of the first color I would normally dry brush on. I cranked the air pressure down a bit and reduced the flow out of the pot so that it would stay mostly on the higher parts.

Here are some pictures!

Shopping list for the day

Need to pick up some silicone baking mats from the restraunt supply store as well as more poly bins. I may also pick up some silicone RTV but will probably wait on that.

I have found that the baking mats make for a great worksurface cover. The plaster does not stick to them at all really which is really handy for cleaning. I want to get at least 2 more but maybe 3 or 4 to cover the areas where I do the casting and drying.

Success!!!

So the problems I was having with the UltraCal30 seem to have been solved. I made the mix incredibly thick, a little bit thicker than pancake batter and the pieces were able to be demolded without breaking the details!!! Awesome Sauce!!! I still have some issues with air bubbles but nothing I am not also experiencing with the Merlins Magic. Also some of the pieces I cast earlier with the UltraCal30 have gotten incredibly hard. So it looks like I just need to refine the curing process to get the results I want. I am thinking about using some heat lamps in my paint booth to cure the blocks faster.

With all that said I realize that trying to do this project at my hobby desk in my home office is just not possible. So I will be cleaning up and re-organizing my shop to make this process better.

Marble Technique

http://www.hot-lead.org/advance/texturing_marble.htm

That article demonstrates how to do marbling for a terrain piece. It looks to be a fairly simply technique that produces some very dramatic effects. Once I get further along in some projects I will have to try it out.

Importance of Dry Time

So as I mentioned yesterday I started building a couple things using the hirst arts molds on sunday. I was running into problems with the detail face pieces cracking at the top. I did some reading online and found that this will happen if you don't let things dry enough. So yesterday evening I did another cast. This time I let it dry overnight in the mold (Probably overkill but I was kind of busy with other things). When I popped the pieces out this morning I had no problems removing the detail pieces.

Another important aspect of the dry time is painting... The octagon tower I built on sunday I painted almost immediately. This seems to have trapped the residual moisture in the pieces and it now can't dry entirely. Granted this was just me being anxious to build something but it is good to know the after effects of rushing the dry time.