I have been using The Dow Blue foam as well as white bubble polyurethane foam, mountains in minutes other wise known as insulating foam sealant in a can and all these can be glued together with liquid nails. not only will it glue all foam together when it dries it sucks the pieces together in a very tight bond. in fact Liquid Nails was originaly designed as a FOAM BOARD ADHESIVE and cleans up with soap and water until it has dried for more than 5 hours after that your not going to remove it from anything including your hands.
For the best bond spread a very thin layer on the two pieces you want stuck together and then stick the two pieces together and align them where you want them to stay come back in 8 hours and they are as one piece even gluing 4x8 foot sheets edge to edge or end to end.
Rio Grande Dan
For years, I used the "Liquid Nails for projects" blue-labled, for FOAM, when it came in a tube for use in a caulking gun......... was useful for all sorts of modeling, paper to wood, wood/wood, etc.,dried in a couple hours, no smell, and cost about $2 a tube....... then they changed the packaging to a tooth-paste sized tube, and raised the price to about $4 bucks........ I don't use it any more!
Trainman
if it meets your needs............trying using a hot knife for cutitng and shaping your foam.........sawing it can be a big mess. Use a heady duty foam knife and not those wire ones...............they can't handle the dense foam............
Larry
There are adhesives designed for Foam. The come in standard caulk gun tubes and are easy to use. Most will clean up with water. Liquid Nails for Foam Projects and PL3000 are two brands I have used with good success. If gluing foam to wood or masonry I use one of these, or equivalent. Get a good caulk gun, and get a cap to seal the tube after it is opened.
For foam on foam, or for track on foam, I use latex caulk. If you cap the end of tube, they sell caps at Home Depot, or tape it to keep out air, a partial tube will keep for a long time. I have kept some tubes for several years. Be sure to spread the caulk in a thin layer, I use a piece of plastic milk jug for a spreader. The thinner the layer the faster it dries and less likely it will eat the foam.
Doug Harding
I'm surprised no one has mentioned spray adhesive. As with other adhesives, one needs to check that it's appropriate for foam. I prefer a spray adhesive such as 3M Super 77 for several reasons:
I use Polyseamseal All-Purpose Clear latex acrylic adhesive caulk, the same stuff I use to fasten my track down.
Adhesive caulk works better than white or yellow glue since when dry, it's slightly elastic. Especially for those of you with modules, if you use white/yellow glue and your module gets bumped around, one good jolt can knock your foam base loose. With caulk, the seal absorbs the force of the jolt.
I have used the foam tack glue and it works well. I use that to glue down Homasote. The nice part of using Foam Tack is that it stays a bit flexible. Of course it is expensive.
I have looked for alternatives but I have yet to find one that stayed flexible like the foam tack, caulk it close but the downside of that is it is hard to keep around if you do not use the whole tube.
Doug
Ordinary Latex caulking compound. Comes in tubes for a caulking gun. Sold at any builders supply place, Home Depot, Lowes, hardware stores. Get the stuff that dries clear, it becomes mostly invisible when dry. The stuff sticks foam to foam, foam to wood, foam to cork, plastic tie strip to cork, foam or plywood. and a lot of other things too. Will not eat foam. Takes over night to dry enough to hold the foam in place and probably a couple of days to reach full strength.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Bill, all I've ever used is PL300,for the layout and as a contractor, when working with foam.
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
cwhowell2 Thanks... I'll check Lowes. Here's a picture of the progress so far. I'm thinking about glueing the foam pieces together and then removing the entire thing for carving in another room to cut down on the foam chips. - Bill http://cwhowell2.com/modelrr/modelrr.htm
Thanks... I'll check Lowes. Here's a picture of the progress so far. I'm thinking about glueing the foam pieces together and then removing the entire thing for carving in another room to cut down on the foam chips. - Bill
http://cwhowell2.com/modelrr/modelrr.htm
Check your local Walmart (if you live in the states). I've found 4-packs of latex caulk for less than $4.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Steel ManIf you look at a brand like Liquid Nails there will be one labeled "foam safe" or "projects with foam", something of that nature. I just recently used glue by DAP that is called "Paneling and Foam. It come in a tube like caulking and is found in paint departments. I bought mine at Home Depot and Lowes but most hardware stores have it. Just make sure it say safe for foam and the brand does not matter
I wasn't able to find Liquid Nails or DAP "foam safe" at my Lowes (Vestal, NY) but they had something called PL300 which was only $3. Worked pretty good. The upside is that it is blue and matches the Dow foam that I'm using. The down side: The drying time is listed as "depends". (Big help). Although they recommend clamping for 24 hours. That'll work for me. Now I need to borrow my wife's hot wire cutter. :-) - Bill
That's what I use but on the west coast it costs about $2.35. So much easier to fix mistakes when you glue the track down with caulk!
Bill,
I like and use DAP Alex Plus Acrylic Latex Caulk Plus Silicone. Why?
I've been using the DAP caulk for 2 - 3 years now and have been very happy with the results. Hope that helps...
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I hope that doesn't mean you're thinking of NOT gluing the foam pieces together. Even though you'll most likely cover it with sculptamold, plaster or some such, they need to be glued together to keep them from moving while you apply the top coat.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
Low Temp Hot Melt Glue. I have tried all the others and they all work, but may take several days to dry. If time is not an issue, fine, but if you want to carve and shape as you go, LOW TEMP hot melt is wonderful.
Cheap latex caulk. Yellow or white Elmer's glue. These all work well and are foam safe.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
DO NOT use Superglue! I made that mistake :P On the plus side, I know now what cyanoacrylate does to insulation foam! Cheers!
Anyplace that sells home supply stuff will have it. It's glue homebuilders would use when working with the blue or pink foam insulation sheets.
I'm using blue (Dow) foam on my layout for the first time. Most articles I've been able to find about the subject, recommend "foam compatible glue". Unfortunately (so far) nobody explains what that means or offers any brand names. Any suggestions? Thanks - Bill