MILLSTONE HOBBY PRODUCTS – DIORAMA ACCESSORIES
- Details
- Published on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 Peter Buckingham
MILLSTONE HOBBY PRODUCTS – DIORAMA ACCESSORIES
1/72/1/48 and 1/35 scale accessories in Hydrostone and Resin
- 35037 1/35 Modern Barricade Set - Hydrostone
- 35038 1/35 Shop Front - Hydrostone
- 35029 1/35 Diorama Accessory Kit - Resin
- 48008 1/48 Graveyard Set – Hydrostone
I will have to plead ignorance here as I was not previously aware of Millstone Hobby Products who hail from Australia, but when Jim Hatch forwarded me some review material which arrived today (the parcel took a week to get to me – a distance of 250 miles – mind you there was a bit of snow about) there were four small Millstone Hobby Products packages with some intriguing names.
I visited their website (www.millstonehobbies.com) and was impressed with the range of diorama accessories they have in their catalogue. I was particularly taken by the 1/72 and 1/48 Wartime Posters and National Flags – very nice indeed. And then there were the ruined townscape accessories. It is just your imagination that is needed.
First of all, what is ‘Hydrostone’? Google says it is a very strong gypsum based cement used in sculpting and craft workshops and therefore ideal for making items used in a diorama setting. It can be painted with water based paints for some stunning results (check out #35038 Shop Front on their website) and glues can either be good old fashioned PVA or superglue. PVA obviously takes longer to cure but is much more user friendly, especially if, like me, some clumsiness does creep in from time to time. Any excess of gluing materials must be immediately dealt with otherwise they will show up in any paint washes. If there is a problem it can be easily rectified. Some accessories are in resin. Resin? Well we all know about that material I would think.
#35037 1/35 Modern Barricade Set – Hydrostone – A$7.50: This consists of four ‘concrete’ tapered square bollards and two, what I would describe as motorway reservation, ‘concrete’ barriers. Very nicely moulded with a surface that is almost scale concrete! A few paint washes and it will be ‘job done’ and something that will enhance a suitably attired diorama similar to those I have witnessed at the Euromilitaire Show each year.
#35038 1/35 Shop Front – Hydrostone - A$7.50: This is exquisite. Again please check out the finished item on the Millstone Hobby Products website – it is stunning and would not go amiss in any World War I, World War II or even a Balkans conflict diorama. The Hydrostone material somehow looks and feels just right for this type of setting.
#35029 1/35 Diorama Accessory Kit A$5.70: Now we are back to good old resin and this pack contains a random selection of articles that could add even more realism to your masterpiece. I know that many of you love a tank diorama and there are two flattened fuel/oil drums that could very easily be placed underneath the tracks, a cart wheel, a car wheel (both these items are ‘half cast’ so they be shown flat in mud for example, a grandfather clock(!), a panelled door, a window surround with architectural features, a five(?) gallon fuel can and some broken RSJ’s. Plenty there for devious minds to think of something. A great choice of items.
#48008 1/48 Graveyard Set – Hydrostone - A$4.00: My review package for this set was without a Millstone label and was in a small plastic envelope simply marked, ‘Sample 1/48’. It contained just two crosses, four headstones and two long slabs. When I checked out this item on their website it shows a total of eighteen pieces in the set, so I guess that I just have a representative sample of the product. This is a fascinating subject for Millstone to model and it could well be unique to them. I wonder if it is? Again, the imagination of dioramistes knows no bounds, and neither does war! It does not excuse graveyards from being part of the battleground so the possibility of something unusual is there for the thinking modeller to take.
So what do we think?
I like these items very much. Hydrostone certainly has a nice feel to it and the surface is very realistic in scale to the full sized article. The photographs of the finished items look superb. Millstone Hobby Products are to be congratulated for the range of items in their catalogue. I can see a gap here though! How about some 1/32 sized airfield accessories for the fast growing number of aircraft available in this scale. Hydrostone slabs for airfield aprons? Food for thought? Can I pre-order now please?
Overall: 10/10
Our thanks to Millstone Hobby Products for the review samples
Millstone Hobby Products, PO Box 721, Biloela, Queensland 4715, Australia
Peter Buckingham
