I am going to have to borrow a truck to get the foamboard used for scenery forming. I don't want to make more than 1 trip. I am guessing one 4x8 sheet should do it. What has been your experience?
Is this to be just for scenery, or a layout base as well?
Without knowing how much you plan to do, it's impossible to say how much you'll need. If you get 2-inch foam, you will have 5 1/3 cubic feet to work with. If you get 1-inch foam, then you've only got half as much.
The pink foam comes in 2x8 sheets, not 4x8. Does that make transportation easier for you?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
If you are going to use it for scenery only, you can cut it up and throw it in the back of your car. If it is to be the platform for your layout then try to leave it in one piece. Although if you cut a larger sheet it will go back together quite well with a little glue.
A while ago I went down to the U.S. to pick up something at Home Depot and when I saw the foam, realized I needed another sheet (2' x 8') for landforms. I didn't want this thing sticking out the back end of my pickup all day, so I bought a knife for a dollar, scored it and broke it over my knee in the parking lot and chucked it in the back. A little foam goes a long, long way for scenery. I suspect you will be cutting it up into chunks for the scenery anyway.
Great stuff that foam.
"> I used a lot of foam for my layout as I wanted it to be an easy move if necessary. My kid use to ask me, "Dad, how come every time we go to Home Depot you come home with one sheet of foam. My answer was "because your Mom won't notice a bill with one piece of foam on it, but would notice $300.00 of the stuff". Holy pink prairie. ">
I used a lot of foam for my layout as I wanted it to be an easy move if necessary. My kid use to ask me, "Dad, how come every time we go to Home Depot you come home with one sheet of foam. My answer was "because your Mom won't notice a bill with one piece of foam on it, but would notice $300.00 of the stuff".
Holy pink prairie.
">
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Hi Moses,
Your question can't be answered yes or no.
It all depends on the size of your layout and the type and depth of terrain that you want to have.
So it is all variable to those things.
Right now I'm using up a big part of a sheet just building a rock cut before the track goes into the mountains.
Johnboy out..................................................
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Don't forget to take some weight along with you. Foam sheets will blow right out of the truck bed on the way home.
Alan
Freelancing the LK&O Railroad
If there is home construction or renovation going on in your neighborhood, drop by and see if they are throwing out foam scraps. For the purpose of building scenery, scraps are fine.
And, when you're at Home Depot, look for broken or dented pieces of foam, and ask for a discount. They may give you a few dollars off on a sheet. They do for me.
Holy Moses!
it depends on how much you want to do.
If you are using it as a base for say, a 4x8 and only want a "plywood {foam} Prairie" then one 2" sheet will do it.
If you want hills, and mountains, then at least a second sheet of 1" is needed if you want to use that for scenery.
If you are building more than a 4x8, then you might need uh, 2 or 3 sheets.
If you are using IT only as a base over open grid, you might want to get the 2" variety, if not, get at Least 2 sheets of 1" {for one on top the other to make a 2" base glued together} IF this is the case, then you will need additional sheets for your mountainous scenery.
If you want to carve deep ravines in your foam base, then you will want at least a 2" sheet OR two 1" sheets to carve out the terrain depressions.
Have we confused you yet?
Think Carefully and calculate how many you will need!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
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
Foam is available in 4x8 sheets in areas that have winter.
Home Depot foam sheet
CTValleyRRThe problem is that foam boards don't come in 4x8 sheets, but 2x8.
That applies to the Corning product (Foamular the pink board). The Dow product (Tuff-R in blue or green) can sometimes be found in 4x8 sheets without the foil backing. Also, there are the "off" brand products which might be available in 4x8, for instance Pactiv Extruded Polystyrene Insulated Sheathing available at Lowes.
Also, the commonly available 11/2 inch thick Corning Foamular product has a rabbit (edge grove to accommodate furring strips of studding), which could impact the effective width (or sq ft) depending on your application.
Co-owner of the proposed CT River Valley RR (HO scale) http://home.comcast.net/~docinct/CTRiverValleyRR/
Doc in CTThat applies to the Corning product (Foamular the pink board). The Dow product (Tuff-R in blue or green) can sometimes be found in 4x8 sheets without the foil backing. Also, there are the "off" brand products which might be available in 4x8, for instance Pactiv Extruded Polystyrene Insulated Sheathing available at Lowes.
You are trying to CONFUSE the poor LION. ALL foam comes in 4x8 sheets. Owens-Corning is ONE company, they make pink foam, the color is their "trade mark" as is the use of the Pink panther. Dow Chemical makes extrude foam that is BLUE.
There is also Dow-Corning which makes specialty glass such as is used by touch screens.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
CTValleyRR I have never, ever once found anywhere that carried a Tyvek, Dow, or Corning board in anything other than a 2x8.
LION has never seen it sold in 2'x8'; only in 4'x8'. Him look in Menards and in Loews, but him not find that. Him also looked in HD, but that was a long time ago, in Bismarck they have been gone for almost five years. The dorks tried to open a store right across the street from Menards! At lease Loews opened in a different part of town.
CHECK THE LUMBER YARDS if you can not find 4x8 in the big box. And the lumber yard will deliver it too.
Hi Lion
Not sure what HD or Lowes you go to, but the ones in Enfield, Bloomfield, Southington and Waterbury, CT only carry the 2x8 sheets.
The 4x8 DOW sheets have foil on both sides (great as moisture barrier, but not so great for MR.
CT line NY is a UNION state. Workers are paid and paid and paid by the hour, so it behooves them to make twice the work for themselves.
ND is a Right to Work State, and mostly we do the work ourselves, and so it behooves us to buy the bigger sheets, put them up and go on to the next job.
(Just in case you were wondering how the LION could mix partisan politics up with a sheet of foam.)
As for the LION, we keep our foam between the rails.
Have only seen 4X8 sheets in East Texas.
The form factor for extruded foam boards varies regionally according to local practices and demand. Around here, you can get it both as 2x8 and 4x8. Other places, it seems like it's one or the other.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Mr LION, you are getting confused by all these joint Ventures....
Owens Corning was formed as a joint venture between Owens-Illinois and Corning Glass but spun off as a separate company way back in 1938.
Dow Corning was formed as a joint Venture between Dow Chemical and Corning Glass in 1943 to commercialize Silicones and remains a 50/50 joint venture (i.e privately held corp) today. They don't make glass, they make Silicones such as sealants, rubber etc. You would find their products in Model railroading if you buy DAP Silicone caulk (we OEM it).
Corning Glass was at some point renamed Corning Inc and makes the Gorilla Glass that you get on touch screens.
sjhenryDow Corning was formed as a joint Venture between Dow Chemical and Corning Glass in 1943 to commercialize Silicones and remains a 50/50 joint venture (i.e privately held corp) today. They don't make glass,
Maybe LION is wrong. HIm get information from Dow Corning website.
Which foam is available in what sizes and thicknesses depends on the retailer and the local area.
I just today bought (in Virginia) a 4'x8' sheet of blue 2" foam ($35.50 incl tax). The same foam was available in 1/2", 3/4" and 1" thicknesses.
Elsewhere in town only the pink foam was available, in 4'x8' sheets 1/2" and 1" thick.
In Louisiana I have found only the pink foam, in 2'x2' 1" sheets, or in 4'x8' sheets 1/2" or 1" thick.
I have yet to see a 2'x8' piece of any extruded foam, but I know from above comments that in some localities it's all that's available.
MisterBeasley If there is home construction or renovation going on in your neighborhood, drop by and see if they are throwing out foam scraps...
If there is home construction or renovation going on in your neighborhood, drop by and see if they are throwing out foam scraps...
i got all the foam and plywood framing for my layout from construction dumpsters. And a scratched bathroom vent fan/light to put above my spray booth, as well.
Sean
HO Scale CSX Modeler