What is the problem with white styrofoam?

[KenK]

There was a post a few weeks back regarding foam or styrofoam for layout
construction. Everyone recommended the "pink stuff" rather than the "white stuff".
I don't remember a reason given? I'm only considering using it for topagraphy
on a table, not as a structural component. There will be track laid on the foam, but
solid surface under the foam.

[Anonymous]

The white styrofoam is VERY messy when you try to carve it. It comes apart in those little foam balls that stick to everything. with the pink extruded board, the foam is more dense and less messy. The pink foam should not be the sole component of structure but should have some wood support. Another big difference in the foams is the thickness they come in. I think that the thickest I have ever seen white styrofoam is about 1", but you can get the pink foam in 2"+ thick sheets.
Reed

[Anonymous]

Reed makes some excellent points, though the white stuff is actually available in many more sizes/thicknesses than the pink or blue. I have a several different thickness of it that are even greater than 2 inches. You just have to know where to get it (I get it through the packaging engineers at my place of work).

There's really nothing wrong with using the white stuff (I even use some of it along with the extruded variety like the pink) but it is messier and much (but not all) of it is not nearly as strong as the extruded foam. Some of the white variety is as strong or even stronger than the pink, but it's not the type that's readily available to the average consumer. Also, because of the larger cells found in the white variety, it doesn't carve or shape nearly as nicely or finely as the extruded foam. The need for strength or "shapeability" will be different based on your specific needs. Take care.

Greg

[DSchmitt]

The white can be used in areas where it will not be on the surface under the pink or blue. The white styrofoam used for packing televisions, computers, etc can also be used.

[Anonymous]

I am using 2" white foam over benchwork with 1' grids for support. Yes it is messy.
I cut the sheets with a jig-saw. Get the rough shape with a hacksaw blade then use a rasp to smooth out the rough cuts.
After you have the desired landscape paint it with a couple of coats of latex paint and your choice of ground cover.
I built a hot-wire cutter to form the roadbed contour after I laid the track. It worked out great.
If you use a hot-wire tool to do all your shaping the mess factor would be reduced considerably.
There's a photo of the layout in this link.
http://www.the-gauge.com/showthread.php?t=6370

[ClinchValleySD40]

I saw a clinic at a regional and the guy misted (sprayed) the white with water first and had almost no mess. Don't soak it, just enough to eliminate the static and it works pretty good.

[simon1966]

I did not have an unlimited supply of the blue board foam, so used white foam taken from packaging to form the internal substructure of a hill. I then uses coutoured strips of the blue foam to create the external shell of the hill.

[MichaelWD]

To get blue styrofoam check out your local construction zone. They might have some pieces of scrap laying around. I found a ggod sized chunk along side the road going to the transfer station. It was broken and would not work as insulation for the house that was being built
Mike Dickinson

[AntonioFP45]

My wife's cousin in the past year has been slowly building a "folded dogbone" style layout using the blue foam. Very easy to cut and shape and remarkably strong. He obtained some free as he works at a hospital where there's construction going on. The workers let him take the blue stuff home that just had a few chunks missing here and there.

Currently, he tests long freight trains as he wires his main and branch lines. The trains are nowhere near as noisy as on the old traditional plywood layouts with the cork roadbed. [8D]

I was originally planning on using homasote for my new layout, but am now leaning towards the blue styrofoam.

Cheers!

[Sandpatch]

Well, the key is you want extruded styrofoam. The pink and blue stuff I believe is always extruded, but not white. The stuff used as packing material around a tv for example is not extruded. They do however make white extruded styrofoam. My last layout I used extruded styrofoam, but it was white. Prior to that trip to the lumberyard I had never seen white extruded styrofoam.

FWIW

Sandpatch
www.csxnscale.com

[KenK]

I see. Thanks for the help guys.

[twhite]

If you're going to use styrofoam for any kind of structural base, you're better getting the pink or the blue extruded. Like everyone else has said, the white is really messy and not very strong (though it's excellent as a scenery base). Some people get a little shy about the pink and blue for the colors--I used pink for the base and the white Woodland Scenics risers for the grades and the layout looked like a strawberry sundae for a while--but if your neighbor raises an eyebrow and asks you if you 'special ordered' that color, just smile and say, "Why YES, isn't it just SCRUMPTIOUS?" But it does work, and you'll find it's true what everyone else is saying, the trains really run quieter.