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Remove paper from foam board


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Hi all,

 

 

I'm aiming to scratch build some buildings using foam board as the carcass.

 

I want to remove the paper from the outer skin of the board so that I can press/stamp detail into it, but I recently bought some board from my local Hobby Craft shop and found the paper is nigh on impossible to remove - even soaking it doesn't help much (plus I only want to remove the paper from one side, so wetting the board isn't ideal).

The board is labelled Westfoam and is 5mm thick.

 

I have read elsewhere that all foam board isn't the same, and some allow easy paper removal and have a finer foam density to give a better finish, so I'm wondering if anyone has any buying advice about foam board, and in particular the brands that allow easier paper removal.

 

Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

 

All the best,

Tony.

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The last lot I purchased in Hobbycraft in 2009, no information on manufacturer, 6mm thick. This could have the paper peeled off dry, but it wasn't wholly reliable, sometimes taking great chunks out of the foam. I resorted instead to scoring through the paper layer then cutting it away with a razor blade in a holder following the inside surface with the whole piece laid down on a board; somewhat akin to filleting flatfish! This only allowed me to remove the paper from a piece about 2.5" wide cutting from each long edge in turn, and was rather time consuming. (Thankfully I only needed small pieces to show some possible surface finishes on a building model otherwise constructed from the plain foam board.)

 

One caution. With only a single layer of paper, anything glued to part of this paper - I used PVA - did sometimes cause a minor, just visible, deformation of the material. Didn't matter in the context in which I used it. Cannot comment on longevity as following its intended use, some children played with it to destruction.

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I use a electric paint stripper to heat the cardboard top be carefull not to over heat it. You could also use a  hot clothe iron to heat the cardboard and pull it away.

 

Henk.

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  • RMweb Gold

Some is easier than others. I have more expensive Peterboro board that is an exercise in frustration, but the really cheap stuff is just a case of grab a corner and pull.

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  • 6 years later...

Hi 

By far the best way to get backing paper of Hobbycraft foam board, and I have tried everything, (for model aircraft), is to sponge it with warm soapy water, keep it wet for at least half an hour, and you can just roll it off with you fingers. Works a treat.

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I have tried many times to strip the paper surface from Hobbycraft 4 for £10 sheets of foamboard. Water, hot, soapy or any other combination was poor. In the end, I covered the sheet in a tea towel ( because my wife advised it, she used to iron my trousers that way!) and used an iron on low heat. By gently heating and moving the iron it was possible to melt the glue and peel the paper bit by bit, with great success. The only problem was that when one skin was removed, the whole board curled up. Three weeks with heavy weights did very little to straighten it.

 

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