What type of plaster

My wife recently ordered some Hirst Arts models so that we can build some decent looking terrain. We've made a bunch of castings using plaster of paris but it's just too fragile and we'd like to make something a bit more durable. Their site recommends dental plaster but I'm having a hard time finding it at a reasonable rate mostly because I can't think of anywhere local that would sell it and shipping is pretty high on that sort of thing. Any recommendations on what we could try for a plaster like material that might be easier to come by? Perhaps something from like Lowe's or a craft store?

Well, any place selling plaster should have different hardness grades on offer. Just get the hardest kind they have. Art & craft stores might have some resin plaster variants, that should be a lot sturdier.

If the major problem is chipped paint, I recommend pigments. If you just add a little bit of black pigment when mixing your plaster, the result will be dark grey, so any dents and scratches will be pretty much invisible.

Best of luck!

http://www.clintsales.com/ This is where I order Merlin's magic from. Looks like it is still 39.95 for fifty pounds which you can get a lot of casts out of. I have been using Bruces molds for years and this is the plaster I prefer. Clint sales sells all kinds of plaster.

If you ask around on the Hirsts arts forum you will learn all about every plaster there is , if it's out there someone has used it and they can tell you where the best place to get it is.

As you have found out plaster of paris is not good at all especially if you are going to use what you build for gameing.

I live in NW Ohio ( I'm assumeing your in the states ?) and I think it was $58 to get fifty pounds of Merlin's sent to my house.

I would also suggest looking at bonding agents. Bonding agents (milky liquid) allow for mixing into most plaster types as well as increasing the strength and durability considerably without interfering with the chemical setting process. I mixed "permabond" into my "cretestone" (interior wall plaster) which I buy in a huge bag. We use a mix like this to clad ply structures for film sets that allows for durabilty.

If it is only the chippped paint some varnish will help you out! I found at a local paint store some very cheap matte varnish that is rock hard. I add a layer of the stuff to all my buildings now and works the best.

Plaster I order from this online store: http://www.zwolsmangips.nl/
It is a dutch webshop for dental plaster but has therefore a very wide variety of plaster. Relatively cheap bags of 30 kgs for already very sturdy plaster. You can really go to extreme measures but you pay a price of course.

Another positive point is that these dental plasters have very low dry times and very low shrinkidge.

I've already casted about 60-70 kgs of plaster with hirts arts moulds and I am a definite fan!