Foam for scratch building

[bilge]

Hi all,

Total Sub newbie here. I read Mylo's scratch build of the Type VII and just have to give it a shot!! (Fantastic work Mylo!!) I ordered the plans and have started tooling up and buying supplies. Problem is I cant find blue or pink foam anywhere!!! I have found 1/2" blue stuff at Lowes and Home depot, but nothing in the 2" to 3" thickness. Wonder if they dont sell it in Florida? Anyway, I had hoped not to start off by asking a bunch of DFQ's, but if anyone can tell me where they found this stuff or a brand name, place to order, etc, I would appreciate it. Working on my Revell Type VII conversion in the meantime.
Thanks,

Robert

[boss subfixer]

Robert,
Thats strange your local Lowes

Robert,
Thats strange your local Lowes or Home depot doesn't have 2", I can get it here in Rhode Island. Maybe try an internet search or talk to some of the contractors in your area and see what they know. They may even let you have some scrap if they have any.
By the way the only DFQ is the one you don't ask so fire away.
Don

[mylo]

Robert,

I bought all my

Robert,

I bought all my foam at Home Depot. I would imagine you have to insulate from the heat in Florida ? Not sure why Home Depot where you're at wouldn't have the stuff.

DFQ's ??..... don't kid yourself, building these things is quite technical and the wrong product/technique can cost you HOURS and BIG $$$. I believe I had to ask what extruded insulation foam board was, so, ....you're a step ahead of where I was when I started. I'm currently working on the r/c internals for my sub, ...and am asking a bunch of questions......still.

I'm glad my VIIc/41 build has encouraged you to do a project, that's why I posted it. I'm sure you will be able to see that I was new at everything as well. Until you try, you will never learn or accomplish. I'm 16 months into a project that I thought would take 6 and I'm far from done. Expect and plan on delays.....even if it means hunting around for extruded foam.

Best of luck on your build.

Mylo

[mylo]

Robert,

I just remembered that

Robert,

I just remembered that I recently bought a piece of this stuff at Home Depot. This particular piece is pink. Here is what is printed on the back:

CELFORT 200 (BIG letters).
Extruded Polystyrene Insulation
2" R10
50.8 mm RSI 1.76
CCMC # 11246-1
CAN/ULC - S701 Type III
CELFORTEC
Owens Corning

The bar code is still on it, with this number:

7 74911 22003 0


Hope this helps.

Mylo

[bilge]

Thanks guys.
Mylo, I checked

Thanks guys.
Mylo, I checked for that material with the info you posted.
I went to both Lowes & Home Depot and was told the same thing: " we used to carry it, but stopped about a year or so ago"....sigh.. Guess contractors in Florida dont like scratch builders....I looked around and found a couple of local places that use Expanded polystyrene foam for building. Is that just a fancy name for styrofoam or is epf ok to use? Home depot did have 8'x4'x2" white styrofoam sheets for insulation. Will that work? Maybe if I used a hot knife to cut it smooth between the MDF hull ribs? Just looking for an alternative. The search continues.
Thanks again,

Robert

[KevinMC]

Hi Robert

While you certainly can

Hi Robert

While you certainly can use white polystyrene as a building material, blue or pink is definitely preferable, the reason being sandability. If you're only using the foam as a filler material between ribs and you're hot-wiring to those ribs you'll never know the difference between white and any other foam. If you're going to be cutting sections of foam to shape, then assembling and sanding them down together just be careful how you sand it. Always work the sanding block in the same direction, and with a light touch. This will help to prevent tearing the foam away in pea-sized beads.

Good luck!

[mylo]

Kevin,

I had ZERO luck

Kevin,

I had ZERO luck with polystyrene, not enough patience maybe. I have no doubt that you are more skilled with the material than I am, but I just couldn't get the stuff to work for me. (I used it by accident thinking that 'foam was foam'). As much as I thought I could get away with just hot wire cutting, I ALWAYS needed to sand to some degree. Robert, you mentioned that you could get the 1" extruded stuff, I would work with that instead of polystyrene. Glue the pieces together, but don't use 'white' glue, as white glue needs air to dry, and there will be no air in between the two pieces. Make sure you don't use anything that disolves the foam either. (this stuff is kind of sensitive to that....eg. CA will NOT work). Test whatever glue you are going to use on a scrap piece. I use 'Tacky Glue' to glue foam together. I get it at Michael's Craft supply stores. It sets up pretty fast, is flexible, and seems to work for me.

Take a drive to North Dakota, ....whatever.....but if it's me, I'm going to use extruded foam.

Mylo

[Guest]

Pink and blue foam tends

Pink and blue foam tends to be fairly dense, but it's just a colour. For instance I've used white foam which has the same characteristics as pink and blue foam.

I've built a couple of plugs with foam, one with white polystyrene foam, one with yellow polyurethane foam.
To be honest i prefer working with wood- less mess, cheaper (I salvage most of my wood) and I find it more 'controllable' than foam.

You can use 5-minute two part epoxy to glue the foam together, or foam safe Cyano.

Andy

[bigdave]

Hi Robert,
One thing I

Hi Robert,
One thing I would suggest to you is get the Steve Neill book on building with foam. Here is a link.

http://s181686668.onlinehome.us/phpBB2/viewtopic.php5?t=6859&highlight=dumb

One thing I found out do not use epoxy or a hard glue to bond the foam boards together if you intend to hot wire the foam. You will find the wire will not want to cut through the glue. I use a mist of 3M-77. BD.
I just tried the link and it does not work. I am not a computer Geek. Just go the the new products section of this web site and look for Steve Neill's book on sub building for Dummy's. Excellent book. It worked for me, and I am a Dummy!! Ha!!


<edited by JWLaRue - fixed web link>

[chuck chesney]

Hi Bilge,
The difficulty with finding

Hi Bilge,
The difficulty with finding blue or pink foam may well be due to the fact that your in Florida. When I lived in California, neither Lowe's or Home Depot had the foam. I moved to Idaho (cold weather country), and EVERY one of their stores has it in several thickness'.

[Guest]

One thing I found out

One thing I found out do not use epoxy or a hard glue to bond the foam boards together if you intend to hot wire the foam.

Fair play. I slice the foam with a bandsaw, and finish it off with a rasp- you can't hotwire polyurethane foam.

Andy

[bigdave]

I guess that is why

I guess that is why I don't use the poly foam. Ha!! BD.

BTW- Thanks Jeff!!

[bilge]

Thanks for all the info

Thanks for all the info guys. Now I am beginning to wonder if the 1" blue isnt really styrofoam LOL. I will go back and check.

Bigdave, after I read through Mylo's build, I went and bought a copy of Steve's book as well. He left out the chapter on Florida home improvement stores not liking scratch builders !!!

My family lives up north and they will be wanting to come and visit sunny Florida. I should make them bring me some foam!!!

Really appreciate the info and tips.

Robert

[kazzer]

Try this board, a bit

Try this board, a bit more expensive, but really worth the money as it carves perfectly!

http://www.caswellplating.com/models/renshape.html

[captain nemo]

Foam Blues

Robert,

I've been through the same thing searching for extruded polystyrene foam here in Hawaii's Lowes and Home Depot stores.

Story I got was, It's not worth it to them to ship it in because so few contractors use it in tropical and semi-tropical environments. And right]Thanks for all the info guys. Now I am beginning to wonder if the 1" blue isnt really styrofoam LOL. I will go back and check.

Bigdave, after I read through Mylo's build, I went and bought a copy of Steve's book as well. He left out the chapter on Florida home improvement stores not liking scratch builders !!!

My family lives up north and they will be wanting to come and visit sunny Florida. I should make them bring me some foam!!!

Really appreciate the info and tips.

Robert[/quote]