Kingspan insulation boards as the basis for land formations.

[18B]

Evening, 

 

just wondering about using two sheets of Kingspan insulation as the basis from which to cut cuttings and embankments. Has anyone had any success with this medium and any pictures of the results? TIA  

[Chrisr40]

I tried with a 009 layout I built for my son but gave up as it was a nightmare to try and pin or glue track to. Then there was the question of mounting point motors etc. Its probably great for landforms on a traditional baseboard but I wouldn't use it again as a baseboard itself.

[18B]

12 hours ago, Chrisr40 said:

I tried with a 009 layout I built for my son but gave up as it was a nightmare to try and pin or glue track to. Then there was the question of mounting point motors etc. Its probably great for landforms on a traditional baseboard but I wouldn't use it again as a baseboard itself.

I wasn’t so much thinking as an actual base board, more that size wise I’ve only room for a traditional 6 or 8 by 4 or 5 feet board and was thinking of using two pieces to and the line nominally being set at the middle of the two. With some of it on an embankment and other in the cutting to give the impression that the line literally cuts through the land formation rather than building up from a flat board 

[shipbadger]

If you are adding it to a baseboard as an alternative to the chicken wire and paper mache method you should have no problem.  If you intend to lay track on it then that requires some different techniques.  I have made a lot of scenery from expanded polystyrene, often scrap packaging.  I usually glue it together with a low melt glue gun but of course other adhesives are available, but don't use solvent based ones.  One of the advantages that I like is that it is possible to carve/sculpt the landforms in situ and further removal or addition is easy.  You will need a vacuum cleaner hose in one hand and something like an old bread knife in the other.  A small sized surform is also handy.  

 

Nowadays I tend to give the foam a hard shell with a product from DeLuxe, sorry the name escapes me as my pot was a trial sample and the name was changed when it went on general sale.  If you are going to cover the foam with something like static grass give it a good covering of acrylic/emulsion paint first or you will have whatever colour the foam was glaring through.  If you want to give it a thin skim of plaster, ready mixed wall skim or repair plaster is ideal, paint a layer of PVA on to the foam first.  This helps adhesion and helps the plaster resist knocks.  

 

As a final comment if you really want to use it to lay the track on you really need extruded foam.  In the US this is the blue or pink stuff you may see them using.  In the UK it was blue but is now changing to grey.

 

Tony Comber

[Alister_G]

I have used it deliberately on a couple of layouts to form quarry faces, made up of layers of the 25mm variety.

 

I think it's a good medium to model landscape with, it can be cut, filed, shaved and sanded to get the shape you want. However, you must wear respiratory protection and eye protection when you do this, as the dust can be harmful.

 

It's also worth noting that to glue layers together you need to use a non-solvent based adhesive.

 

 

 

Al.