Balsafoam Carving Material

I recently bought some of this stuff along with some blue styrene foam board to build some scenery from Antenociti's Workshop. It's called balsafoam and comes in 3 grades. I am using balsafoam 2 as it can be used to produce masters. This medium is very light weight, easy to carve, and can be sanded. I have found that you can sand and machine it to quite accurate dimensions. I used all sorts of tools from mini saws to dental tools with great effect. I have yet to produce a mould from it but I am confident that it might work. I bought a 2 sheet pack (6" x 9" x 1/2") for £7.60 which, if it works will be quite a saving compared to other materials. Just to show you how easy it is to use I created some pieces for my hybrid game which I've posted elsewhere for you. I have also carved a small wall section and practiced some different rock textures on it. Have a look for yourself:



Try it yourself.

BillyWiz

Well I have finished the wall section and have mounted it on an MDF piece to begin making it more scenic. I hope you like it, let me know. I will post more pictures when it's done. This material is so versatile.


BillyWiz

If I could work out how to post a piccie I'd say snap .......... well apart from the fact mine's in plaster and they're different scales.

I sense a little dissatisfaction with the available stone moulds???

As me old Gran used to say 'great minds think alike'....

All the best,

Jon

Already seen yours and their great Fox, This is an all-in-one piece though, not sepparate blocks. I like your ones as you have scope to change the layout etc and make adaptations i.e. Aarklash (see Rackham) swirls etc. The fieldstone blocks are ok but if you look around there are not many fieldstone walls in the UK or Europe, they are more drystone (like your ones and the piece I've made). The fieldstone blocks are ideal for farm, and hamlet type buildings. As for the cut stone block, I have never seen sandstone (the most adaptable geological rock available to masons) with chip marks. hey ho never mind. The scale I work to is 28mm so I can use them with my warhammer figures as well as my Rackham minis. I will place a miniature next to my pieces from now on so you can see the scale more accurately.

Cheers

BillyWiz

My trouble with 'fieldstone' is that it more accurately resembles 'riverstone', as can be seen from a simple 'google'.

The HA fieldstone is a great 'Fantasy Art' product which is very versatile - give Bruce his due credit. But it just doesn't hack it for me.

The 'chipped stone' is something I've never seen in full size real life, but there again it is 'Fantasy Art' and fills a purpose for it's intended market.

Linka stone pieces are a much more realistic representation of ONE type of stonework - a bit like a flatter version of Cardiff Castle. But the scale is all wrong for 28mm. BTW I wonder when they intend using silicone instead of rubber for injecting - Now that would solve the 'tabs problem'.

One thing that I didn't realise until my wife got here is that Americans just don't understand Castles or stonework. We live in an environment littered with Victorian terraces faced in stone. We also have Castles all over the place. The nearest most Americans get to this 'immersion' is Hollywood or 'doing Europe' on vacation. Please don't take this wrongly it's not an attack on America, just an explanation of the difficulty.

When my wife got here I took her on a drive down to the centre of Cardiff to see the Christmas lights. The main road in passes by Cardiff Castle. As soon as she saw it there was a shriek of amazement 'A CASTLE!!!'. She still can't really get over the fact that it's slap bang in the middle of the City. This was the first Castle she'd ever seen close up.

There is a difference in the way we look at things. However much someone who hasn't lived with stonework tries to envision a size reduction they find it very difficult to understand the way light falls and the variation of shadow. Particularly the of **White** mortar in real life castles.

We have been very lucky to have grown up living amongst this history.

I recon you could adapt that stone wall for casting.........

All the best,

Jon

Cheers for the comments Jon. You are quite right about our benefit of having a wealth of historic heritage on our very doorstep. My wife is from Trinidad and I've only made the embarrising mistake about asking all about her family's history once. Everything was fine and dandy until we got to the slavery part. We seem to forget about our history and are almost ignorant about it. Your wife probably finds it quite magical. Wales has some of the best castles in the UK. Kept the English feeling safer in those parts me thinks. I am from Scotland myself and have quite a few castles as well. But all we really got to keep us out was a great big bloody wall . never mind.
I am thinking about making some pieces to make a mould from so that I can make different variations of this wall piece. I have now painted and detailed this piece for my Confrontation table at the local wargaming club. I think it turned out quite well so another one to make a mould from is on the cards now.



Keep getting plastered!!!

BillyWiz