Why not white foam board?


T

Tygrr

Member
I keep seeing "do not use the white foam". Since I happen to have a bunch of it from other projects, it sure would save me money. Besides, both Home Depot and Lowes here don't seem to have any "blue" or "pink" board in stock. I have been seriously advised to NOT use florist foam because it disintegrates into an engine clogging dust.

Also, is it OK to do a 3/4" layer over my whole layout (HO scale)? It is approx 110 sq ft in a "C" shape (bent dogbone?) There are many places on my layout that it simply NOT feasible to drill through to run wires. I could just slit the foam board to lay the wires and cover w/ turf. The vast majority of my attempted layout is salvaged stuff from a friends O scale layout he discarded to build a new huge one in his 2 car garage. The last layout I built was a simple S scale oval when I was 10 yrs old, and that was 50 yrs ago .. LOL:p
 
White Foam

I used white foam and apart from the little white beads flying around, all went well.
I quickly learned to have my dust buster hand vacuum close at hand.
I believe that the blue stuff is more receptive to carving and shaping, but as you say, it's a whole bunch more expensive.
I also am in a place where the blue stuff is not readily available.
I used both 1" and 2" glued to 1/2" plywood.
For mountains, I stacked several pieces of 2" carved roughly to shape, then covered with plaster cloth.
I'm quite happy with mine
Good luck.
Mac
 
The pink and blue stuff definitely carves better than the run of the mill white styrofoam and is way less messy but I don't see any reason you can't use it.

If you were gonna use plaster over it then it wouldn't really matter that much anyways.

And if your like me, you'll use stuff that people say you can't use just to show em you can.
​
 
Single guys use whiteboard. Married guys can too if they're careful not to let those little beads get away.
That's how they become single guys.
 
Yeah, the white stuff is messy and not as strong, otherwise there is no reason not to use it. It's just expanded foam beads, where as the blue or pink is closed cell foam and is more solid and easier to work with.
 
You can use beadboard (white "styrofoam"), but like mentioned before, it isn't very strong and doesn't carve into shapes as easily as true styrofoam (DOW blue or Corning pink styrofoam).

I didn't have great success in attaching track directly to my Dow blue styrofoam. I always had issues with the glue sticking properly, picking the right adhesive caulk, or track staying in place.

My new layout will use track on cork and plywood subroadbed. After that, I'll use the Dow stuff again, but won't attach track to it.
 
I used lots of the white (technically "expanded polystyrene") in areas where the beads don't matter: as fill under blue or pink foam board or under SculptaMold. Just don't use it as the final layer and you'll be more than fine.
 
Well, I finally found it locally (Dow Blue), but it is $19 per 3/4 x 4' x 8', which isn't too bad, comparable to white bead board. BUT .. the 3" .. thats $64 a 4 x 8 sheet, thats more than twice as much as the white stuff .. sigh. I think I like N-Gauged's attitude, I've always been one to do things differently .. LOL
 
Hmmm .. what about using the white as a first layer, then using the rolled stuff they put under engineered flooring as a top layer? The local Big Lots has 25' rolls of that for $20. (stick it down w/ contact cement maybe)
 
Tygrr said:
Hmmm .. what about using the white as a first layer, then using the rolled stuff they put under engineered flooring as a top layer? The local Big Lots has 25' rolls of that for $20. (stick it down w/ contact cement maybe)
Click to expand...


What purpose does it serve?
 
OK, I'm sticking my 2 cents in. There's a lot of things to use except Foam Board. How about Celotex Ceiling Tile. It makes an excellent base for a layout, you can stack it & carve it w/an ordinary steak knife & it makes the trains quiet. It's also Toxic w/out wearing a good respirator when only carving. Holds paint real well. You can even make buildings out of it. It glues down real nice w/Elmers glue. Sometimes you can go to Lowes or Home Depot & get the damaged or broken (2ftby4ft)tiles for about 50 cents each. I used it for many years on smaller layouts.
YOU Have to have a plywood base under the tiles.
 
I went for a walk a couple of years ago and came up on about maybe 50 2X4 sheets of the white stuff freshly thrown out from a remodeling job. Went home and got the car and piled it in. Guess what's under my terrain:D
 
A good portion of my layout is salvaged something. Salvaged wood, salvaged wire, and salvaged styrofoam.

I plaster over the styrofoam anyways and there's no place on my layout were track is laid on foam. for me it was just filler for the landscape.

So.... no reason you can't use white styrofoam, just limitations on what you can do with it and how much work cleaning up afterwards.

I'm with the other guy that said, do it to prove those who said you can't wrong.
 
50 ????!!! darn, I only got 15 that way.

(thats why I was asking about white board, and I have a 3" x 4' x 8' extra left from something else I was doing.)
 
Walking is my second favorite exercise (I'm an avid swimmer try for a 100 miles a year)
The rewards for walking can be more than just better health. Over the last few years I've not only found the above installation but also
- a $50 bill
- 4 $1 bills with 4 $20 bills inside ($84 total)
- A Heller model of the HMS Victory totally intact and clean ($250 kit)
I also walk on my lunch hour and I'm always getting handed free samples of stuff. So not a bad way to stay in shape (Sure beats the dreadmill.)
 
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