Foamboard update...

Hmmm ! Never thought about that. And no cracks opening up in the ground , maybe no derailments. Got me there :-) And all this time I could have been having more fun .

Ken Day

~snip~

Well, you've got me there: the weight of plywood would >When I lived in the Dallas area, I did

Good idea. I hadn't thought about special orders. I checked this out yesterday at both Home Depot and Lowes. Results are sketchy: both places said that they can't get anyth ~snip~

Lol! If you've enough good stories you could probably write a book and make a nice profit. Vintage or traditional Halloween is growing in popularity and lots of folks enjoy hearing about how it used to be. It's sort of a backlash to the look of so much of modern Halloween which tends to either be too cutesy or all blood and gore with some demonic imagery mixed in. I'm in my 40's now and can see how much better the holiday was when I was a kid.

Thanks. If I end up us>Hey, let'em have California from Madera

Ummmmm.... I don't think so. :/

As far as I know this is not code anywhere. This has been on houses built out in the county where they aren't inspected. They did use ply or OSB on the corners, but that's all. Boca code requires some sort of solid sheathing a min of 1/2" thickness covering 100% of exterior walls.

I know it's a G Rated group , but I was talking about 4-8-8-4 :-)

Is that like an 0-5-0 and a 3-5?

Dang it ! You got me ! But then again , how would YOU know :-)

Try looking in the yellow pages for insulation contractors...."cold storage" or "low temp".

For the most part they will have tons of scraps on jobsites that you can have for free.

Dow's blue board that is thick enough to build a layout on is usually called SE ( square edged) or SM ( smooth material) and comes in 2'x8' sheets( some plants are putting out 4 x 8 sheets, but not all) from

1/2 inch think up to 3" thickness.

I can't remember the PSI of the SE but is was higher than the material used in homesites.

The best of the best is the grey board by Dow that is used in cold storage warehouses and depending on the floor load and how high they going to build pallet racks will determine whick PSI greyboard the contractor uses.

< scratching head and trying to remember>

I think: SE blueboard is 30 psi HL 60 is 60 PSI HL 120 is 120 psi

They might have different types out now but when I was involved in cold storage design those were the most common psi's.

Again, look for low temp or cold storage contractors or "industrial" insulation suppliers in the yelloow pages.

While you're there check to see if they have hydrocal.....our "cost" on it was usually about 6 bucks for 80 lbs sack of B-11. It's used for making insulated fittings for industrial insulation on pipes usually in petro chemical plants. The B-11 is mixed and used as a glue to bind the pieces together to make the fittings.

Hope this helps

I'm in the process of landscaping my layout now. I used 1x3's for the table frame, 3/8" plywood on top and then 1" white styrofoam on top of that. Though it is messy to cut(I have no hotwire), it's excellent for applying scenery, building up mountains, cliffs...etc. Any glue will stick to it( that i've tried). I mostly use Elmers and Hobetac. Acrylic paint will be fine but i'd avoid latex base, it will peel. For building mountains or hills, break pieces to shape, pad with some newspaper or cardboard strips and then hit it with plaster clothe. HTH, dAN

Gabriel (?) posted:

Sounds cool! I've tried some more sources and that extruded foam stuff just isn't used around here. The one home building site I found was using the white foam and the guy at Lowes said he'd been in the area for

20 years and never got a request to order any of it. So, good or bad, it looks like I'll be trying the white board. I think I'm actually looking forward to the challenge of using something a bit more unusual to work with (for some reason). And thank you especially for the acrylic good, latex bad note. There's a pitfall I can avoid. :)

I bought a small piece today to pin flex track on and check different radiuses and curves. I know I can get away with 6-8" with the On30 0-4-0 and stubby car kits (like Boulder Valley & International Hobby makes) but will check with some old HO standard boxcars hooked up to see what happens. Forward and reverse. Full speed. See what it can take.

If you come across anything interesting while working with the white board, please let me know. Have you tried a mini torch for forming shapes into the foam? I've only tested it on some really cheap foam used as packing blocks in a shipping box but it seemed to work nice without burning the surface. And no mess. If you try it, have an extinguisher or something close by just in case as I've only tested on a small area so far.

~Brad H.

This maybe a dumb question...Did you check your local mom & pop hardware store? Even if they don't stock it, they can probably add it to an order from one of their suppliers. You may have to wait a short while until they get an order to justify shipping. Also check your area lumberyards and concrete suppliers...more and more foam is used for foundations and as a light weight filler. I check with my sources frequently to purchase at a reduced price sheets that were damaged. Usually anything less than a half sheet doesn't sell, I get it for cents on the dollar...I break or cut them up anyway, so why not save a few bucks in the process. Also check with manufacturers in your area, sometimes they receive shipments that are packed with insulation foamboard to prevent damage in shipping. Doors and window contractors are a good source for foam used as packing material. I've also scored some great deals at a distributor where I get my 4x8 sheets of styrene. It comes sandwiched between sheets of foam to them, cheaper than plywood and lighter. Just a thought.