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Foamboard vs PVC foamboard

aardvark
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aardvark

aardvark

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Hello all!

 

I'm a beginner, and contemplating construction of a collection of scratch-built buildings for my 1950's Banff layout, and I have a beginner's question.

 

I have learnt about the use of foamboard as a carcass for a building.  Ordinary foamboard has styrene in the middle, covered on both sides with good quality paper.  I've found I can only buy 5mm foamboard in local art shops (which I think is too thick), but can get small packs of 1 and 2mm Tamiya B4-sized foamboard from the internet.

 

Conversely, I'm recently seen that PVC foamboard can be had in 2440 x 1220mm sheets in 1 and 2mm thicknesses from sign suppliers.  I've not seen it yet, but I'm assuming that PVC foamboard is styrene covered in PVC rather than paper,  PVC foamboard is used for exterior signs.

 

My question is whether PVC foamboard can be used for model construction.  What would I glue it with?

 

many thanks in advance

aardvark

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Roger Sunderland

Roger Sunderland

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We have built all the buildings on our "Bournemouth West" layout using a product, which is called over here Foamex. This is used by sign manufacturers and unlike foamboard is solid. It comes in 2,3,4 and 5 mm sheets and can be cut with a craft knife. In my opinion, easily the best, most user friendly material there ever was for making building carcasses. Any good quality glue will fix, although not liquid plastic glue. It appears to be unaffected by solvent based glues but we use cyano glue on one surface with a spray of accelerator on the other, or you can mate the two pieces together and spray the joint. Very strong and doesn't warp.

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Arthur

Arthur

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I think it's Foam-X, not Foamex, Roger, certainly if it's the same as the type I use. Rather than an expanded polystyrene core it uses a polyurethane core. It's more dense and is a cream colour.

 

As you say, it cuts very cleanly and the core doesn't dissolve away if exposed to solvents. It's also available in 10mm thickness too.

 

.

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Alister_G

Alister_G

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I've always known it as Foamex, Arthur, sorry.

 

It's a PVC close-cell foam covered with a paper outer skin.

 

I've found that PVA glue (white wood glue) is adequate for joining it, or for cladding it in embossed styrene sheets.

 

Al

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JohnGi

JohnGi

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When I looked into this myself there seemed to be three types of product being used by modellers.

 

1) Closed cell PVC sheet. Brand names Forex, Palight and others. There is a thread on this

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/70240-modelling-in-foamex/

 

[the OP of that thread  referred to it as foamex, although the trade name was actually Forex, which might

cause some confusion]

 

2) Card and foam sandwich with expanded polystyrene core. Common name foamboard.

Widely available in craft shops etc, various trade names.

 

3)Card and foam sandwich with polyurethane core, Brand names Kapa and Foam-X 

 

As Arthur said the polyurethane core has advantages compared to the more common 

expanded polystyrene. Some of the work done by David Neat (linked by earlier poster)

used the Kapa Line product. I have some of this myself and its definitely got a denser core

than ordinary foam board. But not as dense as the closed cell PVC board.

 

John

Edited by JohnGi
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Roger Sunderland

Roger Sunderland

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Hi all

 

Yep there is a fair bit of confusion and a number of different products here. Just to clarify, the material we use is definitely of the closed cell type, making it rigid and much more suited to building construction. It has no paper or card on the outside, but can easily be marked up with pen or pencil. I don't know the brand name(s) just that it can be had from sign makers.

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aardvark

aardvark

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Thanks to all: I feel much more informed about foamboard now!

 

The PVC foamboard sheets that I referred to are called “Titan PVC Foam Board”, are listed as “Rigid Substrates”, and come in 1, 2, 3 6 and 10mm thicknesses.  I have no idea which of JohnGi’s types they might be.  Google has been of no assistance in identifying the manufacturer, although I would be willing to bet that they are Chinese.  Seems most things are these days.

 

On a more positive note, it does seems that PALIGHT, Ex-cel, Foamex and Forex are all available in Australia.

 

The 1 and 2mm comes from something I read somewhere which suggested 2mm for walls and 1mm for roofs.  A 2440 x 1220mm sheet will give me a lot of walls :O

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kandc_au

kandc_au

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Didn't realise you were here in the land of Oz.

Mulford plastics sell it, BUT if you search about you can by it in smaller pieces from places that make signs etc, which is where I got mine in Geelong Vic.

 

Khris

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ColinK

ColinK

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I've been following this thread as I will soon need to make a low relief G scale station building. It needs to be light weight and is for an indoor layout. What type of foamboard would be best?

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aardvark

aardvark

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I've been following this thread as I will soon need to make a low relief G scale station building. It needs to be light weight and is for an indoor layout. What type of foamboard would be best?

 

Sure hope you're not looking at me for useful information :dontknow:

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aardvark

aardvark

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Hopefully someone can advise. I've not used foamboard before.

 

Me either, but let's take a swing at it based on previous comments above.  I suspect, in order of preference:

  1. Card and foam sandwich with polyurethane core (Kapa and Foam-X)
  2. Closed cell PVC sheet. (Forex, Palight)
  3. Card and foam sandwich with expanded polystyrene core. Common name foamboard, widely available in craft shops etc under various trade names.

I suspect the Tamiya product is #3, and that the Titan product could be #2.

 

For G scale, I would guess 5mm would be fine.  My OO scale will use 2mm. (I hope).

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aardvark

aardvark

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You may find this website of interest, not so much for the types of foam board, but the differing techniques you can use to achieve realistic finishes:

 

https://davidneat.wordpress.com/tag/textures-in-foamboard/

 

This from David Neat:

 

I can’t imagine what quagmire I’d still be in now if I hadn’t found out about and played around with Kapa-line foamboard or foamed Pvc sheet! It’s not just that I am enabled to do things with these materials which would either be impossible or impractical with others. It actually needs far less technical expertise to get results with them than with the others, and they suggest new ways of working that I wouldn’t otherwise have thought of. I’ve got to the stage where I can comfortably make almost anything imaginable from either foamed Pvc, Kapa-line foamboard, blue Styrofoam, strip styrene, obeche wood sheet and Polycell ‘Fine Surface’ polyfilla.

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Bill_J

Bill_J

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Another modeller to look at for inspiration on working with foam-core board is Emmanuel Nouaillier. A standard,  I believe, we all aspire to.

Edited by Bill_J
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