Introduction

I have recently reviewed 3 silicone rubber moulds from Diorama Debris and in this review I will be taking a look at the consumables that they supply for use with their moulds. In this review I will be looking at the hard casting plaster, Iron Filler, and Liberon earth pigments that they sell.

Contents

The hard casting plaster is supplied in a plastic tub in which 1.25 kg Hard Casting Powder is supplied;
1.25 kg Hard Casting Powder - £4.49

Liberon Earth Pigments are supplied in a clear plastic tub with a screw top and a foil seal.
100ml Earth Pigments – 13 colours - £5.41

The last item Iron Filler I only have a sample of but it is also supplied in a plastic tub with a reseal able lid.
Iron Filler 1kg - £4.99

Review

I am going to start this review in an unusual way by supplying the information that Diorama Debris supply on each of the product.
1.25 kg Hard Casting Powder
A very hard, strong and fine casting plaster.
High strength for precision moulding
Excellent fine detail reproduction.
Setting time 12 - 35 minutes.
Mix ratio: 3.57g plaster to 1ml (1g) water.
Compressive strength (dry) 9000 psi.

Liberon Earth Pigment

• Use to colour plaster, filler and paint etc.
• Mix with water to create washes.
• Made from natural earth from around the world.
• Wide range of colours available
• All colours are intermixable

The colours available are;

• Earth Pigment: Brown Umber
• Earth Pigment: Burnt Sienna
• Earth Pigment: Burnt Umber
• Earth Pigment: Cassel Earth
• Earth Pigment: Mexico Yellow
• Earth Pigment: Raw Sienna
• Earth Pigment: Raw Umber
• Earth Pigment: Red Ochre
• Earth Pigment: Red Oxide
• Earth Pigment: Titan White
• Earth Pigment: Van Dyck Brown
• Earth Pigment: Vegetable Black
• Earth Pigment: Yellow Ochre

Liberon Earth Pigments are natural earth powders for colouring paint, putty, cement, French polish, filler, plaster and grout. They do not dissolve, but are held in suspension and can be used to colour anything with a thick or paste consistency. Intermediate shades can be obtained by mixing with other earth pigments.

Iron Filler
Mix with plaster or general purpose Polyester Resin to produce rust effects.
We often add Iron powder to plaster when making stone items such as stone wall block, stone lintels and road setts.
The 8x4 sets in one of the product images have had different amounts of Iron powder added to them. The effect can be as subtle as a few brown specks to something that looks like a solid lump of old corroded iron, these sorts of effects would be almost impossible to achieve with paint or pigments alone.
When mixing with general purpose Polyester Resin you need add a minimum of 5 to 6 parts iron powder to 1 part resin (by weight).
I am unable to provide better information than has been supplied by
Diorama Debris
and so I will leave that portion of review.

Most modellers should be familiar with plaster and pigments with the iron filler being the only product you may not have knowingly come into contact with. The only information I think needs to be passed on about the plaster is that you should add the plaster to the water rather the other way around as this reduces the amount of air trapped in the resulting mix and results in better castings. The iron filler you most likely came into contact with as a kid, I say this because a popular toy when I was a kid was a bald head with a black powder that you moved around with a magnet to create amusing pictures. The iron filler behaves exactly the same as the black powder that was in this toy and if placed in a plastic tray with a magnet below it shows the magnetic field that is created.

Now to cover what I have done with these products in order to try and show just what effects can be achieved with the products.

In Use
Firstly I measured out a cup of the hard casting plaster; (a cup is a measurement familiar to Americans in the belief that most of us know how to cook) and added to that two level teaspoons of the Yellow Ochre pigment, I then added two level teaspoons of the Iron Filler. These products were then mixed together thoroughly before being added slowly to a container of water, now as this mix was not going to be used for a specific purpose I did not measure the water and the plaster slurry was very wet. I poured the slurry into a fast food container to set which took about 45 to 50 minutes due to how wet it was.
When cured I removed the block from the container and left it in the airing cupboard for a couple of days to insure it was completely dry as it is a fairly large block of plaster. The casting when fully set and dry looked very much like the first picture, the pigment having produced a solid colour with a very light variation created by the iron filler. The cured plaster block was then left for a couple of days over a container of water to really get the iron filler working, the results can clearly be seen in the two other pictures which clearly show the iron filler oxidization and the resulting look that is achieved.
Now you can of course alter the amount of pigment and iron filler used to alter the finished result and that is something that you will need to decide depending on the result you want to achieve. The result I have here is I believe about right for concrete castings used with a different pigment colour of course.

Conclusion

I really like these products and will tackle them here one at a time.
The hard casting powder does make for very strong cast parts as indicated by the previous reviews I have written on the Diorama Debris moulds. The plaster mixes easily with water and it will catch you out as to just how little water is required. I also like the fact that the plaster sets up hard even if water is on top of it which does make it ideal for the fine castings that Diorama Debris supply it for.
The pigments have strong colour and are supplied in decent quantities which should last you quite some time, and of course can be used for other purposes than just to colour the plaster.
The iron filler is a product that really appeals to me due to the interesting results that can be achieved with its use. I am also toying with the idea of adding it to some paint for use on tank tracks to see what result I can manage to achieve.