Playing with expanding foam insulation.
- Thread starter jerobins
- Start date
In expanding my layout i decided to try the expanding foam in a can. I think this may work for small hills and mountains. Seem a little expensive to do a large area with. What do you think?
Looks good. Dave Frary did an article in MR a while back (mid 1990s??) about doing scenery with the white styrofoam ("beadboard") and expanding foam. Seems very effective, and possibly cheaper than layers of extruded (pink or blue) foam.
Isee you have covered the foam with (plaster soaked?) paper towel. Have you tried carving and/or painting the foam directly?
Andrew
Isee you have covered the foam with (plaster soaked?) paper towel. Have you tried carving and/or painting the foam directly?
Andrew
foam
I used some of that expanding foam quite a few years ago and it worked good. Some of it varies, and the top gets smooth. I carved a little bit off and the foamy holes looked like pitted rocks. Some looked like rounded rocks on the side of a hill and only needed a little strata carved in to be ready for paint/stain/ink wash.
Lynn
I used some of that expanding foam quite a few years ago and it worked good. Some of it varies, and the top gets smooth. I carved a little bit off and the foamy holes looked like pitted rocks. Some looked like rounded rocks on the side of a hill and only needed a little strata carved in to be ready for paint/stain/ink wash.
Lynn
I've thought long and hard about using some of that stuff to do a layout. It's light when it dries, cuts easily with a sharp knife, and takes paint well.
I think the trick would be to remember that this stuff expands as it dries so you only want to fill about 50% of your area. Of course, you could always cut away the excess but you could damage level foam areas.
I think the trick would be to remember that this stuff expands as it dries so you only want to fill about 50% of your area. Of course, you could always cut away the excess but you could damage level foam areas.
As long as you can find the cans "cheap" it's a very easy and very good looking scenery aid... Of course, it's kind of useless in "F" 
My mountains are actually twice the height of real speed bumps 
It takes 4 cans to do a small hill 
As long as you pay serious attention to Cannonball's comment
It Expands as it dries/hardens - only fill about 50% of the "volume" of the area Ex.: if your area is 2" X 3" high by 4" long - - only fill the "Bottom Half" of the 4" run - the foam will fill it all in 
Also you have to remember - it's like concrete - the stuff in the tube and nozzle WILL harden too... you either have to immediately clean out the tube (Wire or pipe cleaner) and the nozzle.. or, like I do.... Map out all the areas you want mountains or scenery and spray them all at the same time to empty the can
It works great in HO - it's a bit rough to try in N --- but I have never had any problems after the "learning curve" is over goldtoth1goldtoth1
"Learning Curve" A.K.A -- Shoot!!!! Well, the wife won't care about that spot on the rug, she knows I'm messy!!! I'll just move this box over it and "Cool!! It's gone!!!
My mountains are actually twice the height of real speed bumps It takes 4 cans to do a small hill As long as you pay serious attention to Cannonball's comment
It Expands as it dries/hardens - only fill about 50% of the "volume" of the area
Ex.: if your area is 2" X 3" high by 4" long - - only fill the "Bottom Half" of the 4" run - the foam will fill it all in Also you have to remember - it's like concrete - the stuff in the tube and nozzle WILL harden too... you either have to immediately clean out the tube (Wire or pipe cleaner) and the nozzle.. or, like I do.... Map out all the areas you want mountains or scenery and spray them all at the same time to empty the can
It works great in HO - it's a bit rough to try in N --- but I have never had any problems after the "learning curve" is over goldtoth1goldtoth1
"Learning Curve" A.K.A -- Shoot!!!! Well, the wife won't care about that spot on the rug, she knows I'm messy!!! I'll just move this box over it and "Cool!! It's gone!!!
I used the foam in a can on my layout to fill a gap between my backdrop and the back of the layout (my backdrop is angled back from the layout) While it worked pretty good I didn't realize the true expanding qualities of the foam and ended up cutting about half of it off when I trimmed it to size. I also stuck to my backdrop and the paint came off when it was pulled off.
I use a lot of it on the layout. When dry its easy to cut and shape, takes scenery, paint, scenic paste. Remember that it does EXPAND... about twice the size you sprayed....
This is one corner with most all the scenery having a "Great Stuff" base...
DocGeoff
This is one corner with most all the scenery having a "Great Stuff" base...
DocGeoff