Modelling Mates review
I recently bought a set of Modelling Mates moulds from TerraScenic, they looked like a bargain at £21.60 so I thought I’d have a go.
The photo above shows what you get for your money. Three moulds, each one 6 1/2 inches square. One is of cubes, the other blocks twice the size of the cubes, and the final miscellaneous pieces.
The variety is great and the sheer number of pieces you get per mould means you won’t be casting as often.
The moulds are made from EVA foam, which to me is the stuff on my golf trolley handle, but you may know it in other ways! It’s a dense, flexible foam which seems rather sturdy. The base is a softer material which is glued to the main body.
A comparison with a basic Hirst Arts block is shown above. As you can see these blocks are much bigger and therefore not interchangable with HA. Based on the number per cast though I could see you building a small tower with only two or three casts of each mould.
The texture is very different. HA blocks are sculpted and very detailed, but the pattern on MM blocks comes from the foam itself. It reminds me of a fine concrete. Texture is on sides and bottom just as with HA blocks.
The casts require a small amount of cleaning. It appears the moulds where sliced to form the cavities, and in doing so there has been a small amount of over-cut. So each cast brick will have a few mm of plaster on each corner which can be removed with a single pass of a sharp knife.
Above is a photo of my current assembly, I’ll get a complete photo when done. This is going to be the lighthouse of Stadtheim bay. The misc mould has three different radius curves on it, which will work nicely for me and offers good flexibility.
Overall I’d say they offer a cheap alternative to HA and will provide nice variety of texture for the terrain builder. I doubt these will last anything like as long as HA moulds (the base seems to deform slightly at each demoulding and I’m worried about tearing the foam at some of the weaker points), but for pure value for money you can’t argue. Three moulds for the same prices as only 2/3s of a Hirst Arts one seems like too good a deal to me.
I’ll post a finished model when I’ve got one, and let you know how I get on with the long term survivability of the moulds. In the meantime though I’d recommend giving them a look.