Cheap foam

[BlueHillsCPR]

Using heat to seal exposed edges of the white foam should work well, keeping it from "shedding" and helping to avoid chunks breaking off when something collides with the foam.

I always figured the  greatest thing about the extruded pink or blue foam was the fact that you could layer it for elevations and then carve the foam for rock faces etc. without having to put on plaster or sculptamold etc. first.  If I have to make contours in the foam and then lay mud on that in order to sculpt a rock face I might as well just stick to hardshell scenery in my opinion.

[canazar]

I will chip in my.02 cents here..  Take it for what it is worth.

 

My entire layout is made out of white foam.  It's the stuff ment for constrction and come in handy sizes.

 

A majority of it is just painted.  I admit, I use a combation of hot wire cutter, a lighter and propane torch to shape the foam, so everything ends up with a good finish.  (Please, no cracks about saftey..  I know all ready :) )

After 3 years, includeing Arizona summers in a garage, I have NEVER had a problem with loose beads or flaking off foam or any other issue people talk about.  It's cheap and readliy avaible which is what led it to me in the first place.  But now after working with it, and I cant see my self useing anything else.  While you cant carve it like theblue foam, I find that the texture of it is a bit better more freindly to scenery, and I sue Sculpt a Mold for my carving.

And yes, I have used a lot of foam  Mostly 2" thick materail. My guess, the equalivent of 6 4x8 sheets.

Here the center end.  Yup, that white foam, unprotected.  One of these days, I will wrap it with wood.  But, its been sticking out like that for over 2 years.  Its been bumped alot too, maybe lost a little peice here or there, I have never noticed.  Only thing I did was do a qucik "wipe" with a lighter to melt the edge a little to give it a skin.

Here you can see the track, different latex paint and some scenery work.  All the track and road bed is just secured by useing pins to pushed down into the foam. I didnt glue it as some day, I will have ot tear it all up, either due us moveing (we are renting)  or in a pinch, if I lost my shop, I could bring home my tools

That is just white foam under my yard.  All track secured by pins or atlas nails. 

Just another perspective of someone who has had a good success with white foam.

[concretelackey]

they both cut the same and the mess is about the same

 

Well I don't agree with this but if it works for you that is all that matters in the end. 

They don't "cut the same" as white beadboard makes a considerably larger mess due to the way it's made.

And beadboard does not have the structural strength found in Dow's pink or blue foam. It can't support nearly the load, which makes it less suitable for any weight-bearing use. 

While I'm not supporting the use of beaded foam for model railroading I will say that the METHOD of cutting makes a huge difference. Using a knife type edged cutting tool with the white stuff makes a larger mess to deal with than with pink or blue foam BUT using a hotwire/hotknife on the white stuff actually seals (melts) the surface.

[Midnight Railroader]

they both cut the same and the mess is about the same

 

Well I don't agree with this but if it works for you that is all that matters in the end. 

They don't "cut the same" as white beadboard makes a considerably larger mess due to the way it's made.

And beadboard does not have the structural strength found in Dow's pink or blue foam. It can't support nearly the load, which makes it less suitable for any weight-bearing use. 

[concretelackey]

Product costs are affected by several things...

1- volume purchasing by the retailer. Since the foam is lightweight most trucking companys charge a flat rate per mile for that trip regardless of the weight instead of $xx per mile per weight unit. So if your retailer only gets 50 sheets of 2" (the same as 1 stack about 100" high) he is paying more per sheet on the shipping than if he were to get 5 stacks.

2- proximity to the manufacturer. DOW has a few production plants in the midwest, so this also affects shipping.

3- contract pricing- if your retailer fails to sell a high volume thru their chain they MAY combine purchases of the product with another chain to acheive a contracted volume price. Now when that contract expires then the price may change.

4- Most foam is a relative of oil............oil goes up in price and the foam increases as well.

 

[TheK4Kid]

$14  for a 4x8? Is this a 2 inch thick or less? It costs around $20 give or take a dollar or two for 4x8 sheet in 2 inch thickness in my area ( Fort Wayne Indiana)

TheK4Kid 

[60YOKID]

I've used both kinds of foam and I prefer the expensive stuff to lay track on. However, both kinds have worked OK for me to make terrain out of.  As mentioned, you want to cover the soft kind with plaster or something to make it more durable.  They both make quite a mess when you carve and grind, but it vacuums up nicely.

I get a bad itch to run trains after a session of scenery work, and so, I have run them without really cleaning up very well.  Even with considerable foam beads and shavings laying around, I have never had a mechanical or electrical problem caused from sucking up foam.  It just didn't occur to me the stuff could cause much of a problem inside the works of an engine.  (Sometimes ignorence is bliss.)   I will plan on being a bit more careful in the future.

[loathar]

And I thought $14 for a 4x8 sheet of blue foam was high!  This was at our local lumber yard.

Wow! I can get the 1" pink 4x8 for $10 and the 2" for $22.

[BlueHillsCPR]

they both cut the same and the mess is about the same

 

Well I don't agree with this but if it works for you that is all that matters in the end. 

[ham99]

And I thought $14 for a 4x8 sheet of blue foam was high!  This was at our local lumber yard.

[Hobojim]

Hi well for me at least the white foam is 8.50 for a 4x8 the bkue is 25.00 a 4x8 sheet they both cut the same and the mess is about the same.. i will never go back to blue foam.. not worth it to me..

[BlueHillsCPR]

To each his own I say.  If the cost of the foam is an issue by all means use the beaded stuff.  If you wnat the best foam for the application use the extruded foam that carves so much better than the beaded type.

[ARTHILL]

I get my foam at construction sites. Have picked up the equivalent of more than 20 full sheets of both 2 and 1 inch material. It takes a little looking, but it costs me nothing and I have met some nice construction forman in the process.

[ndbprr]

All the criticism aside some of us are limited fixed incomes and need to save anywhere we can.  I went to Menards and handled the stuff.  It is a fairly tight foam and has good rigidity.  At less than 50 cents per foot of railroad it is still a good buy and nothing is perfect.

[loathar]

If that's the white stuff, you really DON'T want to use it on your layout.

Loathar:

When you advise someone against using a product, it would be more usefull if you said why.  It would help people extrapolate to other products that might have similar shortcomings.

Sorry...Didn't mean to sound short. The white bead stuff is a real mess to work with. It's very hard to cut and carve accurately. You HAVE to cover it with plaster instead of just painting it.
It tends to melt a bit easier too. I got a small piece to try in the hopes of saving money, but it was too much of a pain. Just my

[ham99]

In my limited experience, the white foam is messy to cut, flies and sticks everywhere, and breaks down in time.  My first mountains got shorter over a few years.  Since I have been using the blue foam, no problems.  We're not talking a major expenditure here.  One ruined locomotive more than offsets the savings.

[concretelackey]

I suppose it really depends on the quality of the foam. While I think all white bead style foam is made the same I sure manufacturing enviromental factors affect how the foam holds up.

I've worked with white foam (not in a modeling situation) where if you touched it you had white beads coming off, and have worked with the same type with little debris coming off.

Also, if the foam is well encased in a material that seals it (paint, spackle, various modeling molding materials) this will limit the debris once final clean up is done.

[Hobojim]

Hi well i use that cheap white foam and have not had any problems .. after all if you vacum up all the loose stuff before your engine hits that track you have no worries.. well thats just two cents from an old hobo...

hobojim 

[concretelackey]

I beleive the horror of using the white foam is that the beads tend to assist Murphy in performing his law of "Anything that can go wrong WILL go wrong at the exact point in space and time as to cause the most trouble to set correct." In this scenario, it would be a foam bead getting lodged in your prized loco in the middle of your longest section of unreachable track (this covers the space, now for the time) and that lodged bead would jam it so that it would generate enough heat to cause the loco to begin to smoke, all while you are displaying your prized loco to a potential buyer. Keep in mind this loco is not equipped to create smoke.

[Phoebe Vet]

If that's the white stuff, you really DON'T want to use it on your layout.

Loathar:

When you advise someone against using a product, it would be more usefull if you said why.  It would help people extrapolate to other products that might have similar shortcomings.

[loathar]

If that's the white stuff, you really DON'T want to use it on your layout.

[ndbprr]

Menards is having a sale until the end of the year on polystyrene foam.  Buy one get one free limit of six for free.  The polystyrene foam comes in 3/4" and 1 1/2" thick slabs 14.5" x 48" and six pieces to a package for under $6.00 for both.  That means you could do a 29" wide by 12' section for under $6.00.  Thought somebody might want to stoick up.