Novice styrene/foam board builder looking for tips

[Iceblue106]

Hello all, a handful of you may know me, some have seen my 1/100 scale hanger deck build from another site, however most don't even know of my existence. Regardless of that fact, I have decided to open up a post to ask for tips and ideas as to working with styrene and/or foam board products since I honestly have never worked with either. I am planning on making another hanger diorama (this time on the 1/60 scale) for a buddy of mine and was wondering if any of you could assist me with ideas as far as details in the fabrication process. I have seen many posts here for 1/48 single bay dioramas and have decided to use those as a reference.

Any help and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Blue

Note: below picture is one of many pictures of my finished Hanger deck composed of balsa wood,

plastic, metal, and computer parts and can be seen on The Lost Universe site.

[EXO]

Hmmm... Stryrene is relatively easy to work with, but with anything there's advanced techniques than can be difficult also. But mostly it's simple.

First off is using a styrene solvent cement. It looks like water and comes in a bottle with a brush. It'll melt the plastic and bond it with another piece. It's very effective and you don't need to use a lot. Careful though, use it in a room with good ventilation and don't breathe in the fumes and for goodness sakes never ever drink it... lol. You can't use the solvent for really thin sheets, it'll either wrinkle it up or dissolve it. Superglue will adhere it to other surfaces.

Cutting Styrene is pretty easy also. Depending on the thickness, most of the time you just need to score it and then you can break it or even use a scissor sometimes.

You can sand it pretty easily.

You can also put thicker parts in hot water (faucet water works sometimes) to soften it up to bend it into shape.

It's easy to clean.

Try to use thin sheets to detail stuff and only use the thicker sheets for structures. Cutting the thicker stuff is sometimes more difficult if you don't have the proper equipment.

Its pretty simple to paint.

It's waterproof and non-porous, so it's ideal for recasting.

That's pretty much the elementary stuff I can think of, I'm sure others can give you more tips.

[Iceblue106]

Hmmm... Stryrene is relatively easy to work with, but with anything there's advanced techniques than can be difficult also. But mostly it's simple.

First off is using a styrene solvent cement. It looks like water and comes in a bottle with a brush. It'll melt the plastic and bond it with another piece. It's very effective and you don't need to use a lot. Careful though, use it in a room with good ventilation and don't breathe in the fumes and for goodness sakes never ever drink it... lol. You can't use the solvent for really thin sheets, it'll either wrinkle it up or dissolve it. Superglue will adhere it to other surfaces.

Cutting Styrene is pretty easy also. Depending on the thickness, most of the time you just need to score it and then you can break it or even use a scissor sometimes.

You can sand it pretty easily.

You can also put thicker parts in hot water (faucet water works sometimes) to soften it up to bend it into shape.

It's easy to clean.

Try to use thin sheets to detail stuff and only use the thicker sheets for structures. Cutting the thicker stuff is sometimes more difficult if you don't have the proper equipment.

Its pretty simple to paint.

It's waterproof and non-porous, so it's ideal for recasting.

That's pretty much the elementary stuff I can think of, I'm sure others can give you more tips.

Thanks for the tips >EXO< granted they may seem elementary, but good to know for a first timer with the stuff. every little bit helps and your info gets me one step closer to building.

[MechTech]

Welcome Ice Blue to MW. If you're using foam core, test the ends with whatever glue you are using. Like EXO said, solvent based glues are bad on thin plastic and will dissolve most foam cored materials weakening the material. Superglue is good but will still dissolve some foam cores. A good hobby shop will sell superglues that are foam safe or sealers for foam. I know Hobby People stock it. - MT

[leading edge]

Welcome Ice Blue to MW. If you're using foam core, test the ends with whatever glue you are using. Like EXO said, solvent based glues are bad on thin plastic and will dissolve most foam cored materials weakening the material. Superglue is good but will still dissolve some foam cores. A good hobby shop will sell superglues that are foam safe or sealers for foam. I know Hobby People stock it. - MT

At the moment I can share a number of discoveries which will enable even the most frugal model builder/scratchbuilder make their projects that much more satsfying there is something called styrofoam board specifically blue styrofoam it's used in home insulation. It's manufactured by dupoint DOW extruded styrofoam it is coarse yet fine and denser than the average foam found at stores like Michaels. Now understand it's in your best interest if you have to buy something do it with a friend or a very large project otherwise you'll be spending $400 on a piece of 12-14ft foam that will sit forever in your garage. Usually if it's a foot or so it would be $5 or so a square foot depending on the supplier. Mechtech when working on the Daedalus mentioned a mixing of talc powder and paint applying it to cardboard. I tried some of his techniques on this stuff and of course it works there are a few advantages and disadvantages. Styrafoam is better at shape and holding the paint /talc together create a good binder and color to shape vehicular form. I use terracotta not very strong but makes form clearly and cleanly by mixing an appropriate amount of talc and colored acrylic paint you get a pliable yet shapeable shell. To bind the two pieces of foam use Elmer's school glue paste as long as no moisture is present you should be able to stack and bind the materials together. I've seen some very interesting use o this in the following sites.

http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=36990

http://advancedtautactica.com/viewtopic.ph...7b&p=175840

http://staff.bath.ac.uk/ensajg/tg/TG4foambuck.jpg

http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/146899/1629219.aspx

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=prod...cts&Ntt=DOW

Edited January 2, 2010 by leading edge

[Iceblue106]

Thank you all for your helpful Information leading edge I have a slight disadvantage...I can't seem to find either kind of polystyrene (pink or blue) anywhere within the area of Southern California of which I live. So I guess i will have to resort to shopping at Michaels for the foam board stuff. With that said is there any advice in using it? shaping it etc? Edited January 2, 2010 by Iceblue106

[tundrayeti]

Hey Ice I finished my custom cnc panels, I posted some quick pics on the other thread, but i'll post a quick one here. I used sheets of PVC for this. cheap and routed rather easily.

[David Hingtgen]

I wouldn't be surprised if pink and blue foam is now banned by California, especially SoCal. "Everything and anything contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause birth defects and/or harm"

[eugimon]

I wouldn't be surprised if pink and blue foam is now banned by California, especially SoCal. "Everything and anything contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause birth defects and/or harm"

you laugh at us, but when I moved to soCal in the early 80s, the sky was permanently orange from just how foul and filthy the air was.