Hirst Arts caddy for Magic the Gathering decks

An update on Sarid and Theo's wedding and the adventures in Belgium and the Netherlands may be added later, in the meantime here is how the model for their wedding came together.

 

Hirst Arts produce silicon molds for making plaster casts of bricks and architectural features for wargaming scenery.  I had been thinking of trying them out for a couple of years, but never quite had the enthusiasm, or the ideas, to try them.

A few months ago inspiration hit me - during a game of Magic the Gathering I thought it might be an idea to make a deck caddy to hold the cards during a game. Also, with Theo and Sarid's wedding coming up this gave me an idea for a unique gift for them.

#54 Gothic Church
#55 Bell Tower

#50 Wizard's Tower Mold

#40 Basic Block Mold                   

I'd originally picked up the first two, as each is a neat project in it's own right, but for what I wanted I thought the elements of the two models would be easily modified to fit the design I had in mind.
After a weekend casting with those two, I ordered the #50 and #40 molds to help bulk out the basic bricks.

I had some fun finding a source of the plaster here in Toulouse, partly due to translation issues and partly to find a decent quality material that was recommended.  Fortunately, I found just the place, and then promptly spent the best part of two weekend casting bricks...

These are (still) sorted into piles on the floor of my spare room, although I have a few ideas to use them up.

With the bricks ready, I could start designing the caddy.  My first prototype was using simple bricks to check the scale.  This included two sections, one for the 'library' and one for the 'graveyard' discard stack.

Dry-fit prototype to check sizes and layout (each basic 'brick' is 1" long, by 1/2" high and 1/2" deep)

Boring plain wall, but it's to get the scale right!

View of cards inside:

Dry fit seemed to work, so these were glued together.  The interlocking seen above was ignored; the prototype was made in flat sections then assembled - although not as strong, the glue is good enough to not need the interlock strength.  Using this approach allows each section to be made using Lego formers to ensure everything is square.

My original idea for the final model was that the long wall would be one side of a church nave, with the end walls also having some arch designs.

Some dry-fit planning:

Short wall (end piece)

Long wall:

On the day I started assembly the wall sections using this design, I had a game of MtG with Theo (without telling him what I was doing, of course!) and realised I had made a slight error in my planning...

As well as the two bays already designed, I also needed a third for exiled cards.

D'oh.

I modified the design so the 'church' covered only one of the bays, to hold the library stack.  The other two bays would be small walled areas, like a graveyard or similar.

The modified wall sections were easy to make, as shown below:

The model base will be 3mm polystyrene plastic card, and PVA glue.

The library stack area has a plastic card base added.  This holds the cards at a slight angle, and is sized to make it easy to draw cards:

With the assembled walls I found a few large unsightly gaps that the glue had not filled.  These were filled with milliputt (a two-part epoxy putty) that can be sculpted like clay, and dries hard.

With the assembly complete, time to paint.

Undercoat:  Since the plaster is white, any areas not covered would show up on the final model. The undercoat was black acrylic paint, thinned slightly to ensure it ran into the deep gaps.

Base coat: Using the same acrylics, a 50/50 mix of black and white was used, with a touch of blue to simulate granite.  This was applied using the dry brushing (more a "wet brushing" as I wanted a fairly good coverage of everything except the deeper recessed areas). 

Dry brushing is a quick way of adding an exaggerated light shade of the base coat.  Most of the paint is wiped off the brush (so it is dry, geddit?) and then lightly brushed on.  This means the paint is only applied to the outer surfaces, not the recesses.  By applying successive lighter coats (both in terms of shade and brush pressure).

I used a 25/75 black/white mix (again with a little blue) which was dry brushed over, followed by a lighter coat using more white in the mix.

A final very pale grey highlight was added on the sharp edges.

A couple of grave stones were also added, painted in the same way.

The "grass" is Games Workshops static grass flock material, scattered over PVA glue.
Finally, I added a sheet of cork to the underside to protect the table top.

My original plan was to add some suitably Gothic miniatures in the window arches; however I was unable to find something I liked the look of, and instead printed some stained glass windows, trimmed to fit and glued in place.
 

Of course I had to check the cards fit...

Phew.

Except that, as both Sarid and Theo play Magic, one wasn't going to be enough...so I made a second in a different colour (and slightly different architecture trimmings)...

The last-but-one job was to varnish the model with a coat of varnish, then to finish I made a box to put the models in to transport them to the wedding!

Postscript:
Both models made it to the wedding in one piece, and Theo and Sarid were pleased with them.  I'm already planning the next model - a tile holder for Carcassonne pieces

Eurotour 2012 - Part Two - Blighty and Beyond

Right.  Yes.  I realised there was a Part One to my trip report from the summer, but I never completed it. So this is the second part of the journey.  (Part One can be found here)

Last time, I had just arrived back home in Somerset.  I spent a week with Mum, catching up with friends in the area and taking Beaky up to Bristol for a well-deserved 6k service (although closer to 8k on the mileage!).

From here, I left to meet up with friends in Petersfield on the way to the Eurostar, catching u with James, Gemma and little Reuben.

The Eurostar crossing was as fast and efficient as before, and I passed the 30 minutes chatting to some other bikers heading to Italy.

A quick run through northern France into Belgium, and finally arrived at Trish and Neiks.  I spent a few days here, catching up on news and playing Settlers of Catan and enjoying the local beers. Great fun!

One place I wanted to visit whilst in the area was Waterloo - I hadn't realised how close it was, and it made an easy day trip from Deinze.

The battlefield has a pretty good tourist centre, which explains the background to events, and runs a bus tour around the site.  Having watched Sharpe, it was interesting to see a slightly less -UK bias on events!

View across to the Lion's Mound from the East, along the British lines.

Close up of the Lion's Mound.

On the way back to Deinze from Waterloo, I wanted to stop at the Atomium, as last year I hadn't gone inside.

Where's Beaky?

A better view of Mini-Europe...without Beaky.

 Good to see an A380!

A few familiar sights from the UK...

 Time to move on again, this time to Halsteren again and a stay at Theo and Sarid's. I spent a few days here, catching up on news and playing Settlers of Catan Magic and enjoying the local beers. Great fun!

I also had a chance to meet up with Lily in Zaltbommel again - just so the Hobblings didn't start to feel left out.

Whilst in Haslteren I explored the coast to the west, and also the De Biesbosch National Park. Very, very flat land as expected, and a chance for Beaky to have her first boat ride on the ferry across to Dordrecht.

The lure of Settlers of Catan games was strong, and so I stopped at Deinze before beginning the journey home.

A quick stop on the way through Luxembourg for a photo - not enough time to explore on this trip.

I stopped for the night at Luneville in France and found a little camping ground near the Chateau de Luneville.  First night in the tent on this trip, and yup, you guessed it - thunderstorms overnight.  The tent held up well, and everything stayed dry, although Beaky was looking soggy in the morning.  A quick breakfast in the local patisserie, and on the road again.
 
Neik had recommended the town of Riquewihr in France as worth visiting, so I aimed for here on the way  south.  Well worth the visit, and a nice place for lunch.

 

Next stop...Switzerland!  Crossing the border at Basel, it transpired I needed a vignette to use the toll roads.  Since I had entered on one of these (and a man with a gun was insistent...) I ended up shelling out €30 on this, despite not really wanting it.  Next time, I'll plan the route to avoid needing one.


The other thing not helping my mood at this point was the rain.  It was like riding through Wales. Nice views, I think.  Hard to tell with heavy rain and a low cloud base.  I decided I needed somewhere warmer and drier than the tent, and checked into a hotel in Lucerne.

Next morning the rain had eased a little, and I was able to see something of Lake Lucerne (although the rain meant no photos!)

My original plan was to head east to Lichtenstein, and cross into Austria just to say I'd been there.  With the rain as it was, and with a planned stop in Geneva I decided to leave that for another time.  Instead, there were two places I did want to visit - Altdorf and Meiringen. 

I decided to head over to Altdorf  first (Warhammer players will understand why), and found a little town with the famous William Tell statue. I'd forgotten this was where the story was from, obviously the RNG in me was telling me something.

Looking at the map and plotting a route to Meiringen I decided the wiggly road across the Sustenstrasse looked far more interesting than the autoroute back to Lucerne and around.

"Interesting".  Right.

In terms of a gnarly road over a mountain pass, it was great fun.  I was even ready for the drop in temperature (having planned something like this whilst in Switzerland) and had a few warmer clothes to put on under the jacket.

As I climbed up, I found some amazing views of snow covered mountains.  Snow?  Yup. In August.

Below is the road ahead from the same spot, with the now-familiar Beaky.

 

What I hadn't reckoned was that the temperature would drop to -3 degrees and that the rain would turn to heavy snow.  This was a little more than I was prepared for, and wiping the snow build-up from the visor whilst winding around narrow roads with minimal markings or barriers on a mountain was tense.

I was also starting to get cold.

Bloody cold!

Luckily I crossed over the pass without incident, but was not able to find somewhere to stop until I reached Meiringen and stumbled into a cafe looking pretty miserable.

Once I warmed up I was ready for the reason I came here - Reichenbach Falls. This is the location for Sherlock Holmes fight with Professor Moriarty, in The Final Problem.

To reach them there is a little funicular railway, and as we climbed up the mountain, the falls appeared out of the rain.

The falls themselves - the location of the fight is said to be to the right, about halfway up.  Yeah, right!

Onward again...this time to Geneva and another Hobbling. Nadine had offered to have me stay over on the way past, so I found her flat just out of town but over the border in France.  She and a friend took me to a Swiss restaurant for fondue - very nice!

My final day, and the longest stretch yet.  420 miles from Geneva to Toulouse.

I left at 10am, expecting the trip to take about six hours (well, a little more with fuel stops etc).

Unfortunately Beaky had other ideas.

A problem with the remote sensor on the key fob meant that every time I stopped, it was a while  before the system decided to accept the key and allow me to continue.


To cut a long story short, we limped home and I arrived home close to midnight.

Still, not to let a downer like that spoil the trip - it was great and so much fun to catch up with a variety of friends old and new.

Total distance covered was around 3,500 miles.

Map of my route:


View Larger Map


Post script:
Beaky's electrical problem resolved itself after the battery drained overnight (the lights would stay on even with the key removed!), and BMW were unable to find a fault.  Apparently some fuel stations have a device that somehow upsets the security chip in the key. A ccolleague at work had seen a similar problem, although for her the problem goes as soon as the bike is pushed away from the pumps!

A Beaky Adventure - Beaky and the Pont du Diable

Back to a trip report today, folks.

After a few weekends of fairly wet weather, looking out and seeing sun this morning meant I didn't hang about getting out on the road.

I wanted to head down to the reservoir Etang du Soulcem, one of my favourite spots in the Pyranees.  I wasn't surprised, however, to find snow in the area, and in the end turned around just before reaching Auzat - some snow on the ground still, a wet road and temperatures dropping to below freezing.

On the way home I took the D88 that follows the route of the newer N20 dual-carriage way for a more itneresting road.  I spotted the sign to the "pont du diable" just before Saint-Antoine, and was glad I did.

Apparenetly the bridge was built to house a mill wheel, hence the building at one end.

 

The approach to the bridge

 View from the bridge upstream

  and downstream...

 Another view over the bridge

View of the bridge with the building remains