Easy to use for linneside buildings

Hi All. Trevor the scratchbuild King from down under, has suggested this,” new to me” build material, that good and if I find a friendly picture framers I could get off cuts to do the job. I noticed today an estate agents for sale board, could this be the material in question??? I would never dream of running off with one though, I cannot run to save my life!  Best wishes Kevin 

Kevin
To save you tealeaving all the local estate agent boards im sure either one of these shops are in the Peckham area.

The Range or Hobbycraft  they both sell the foamboard and it is not that expensive.


Brian

Hi Brian. Thank you . But I have no intention of doing any such thing, plus the fact that I cannot Run to save my life. It was just the realisation of how tough foam board can be if indeed , it is used for estate agents for sale boards .Best wishes Kevin 

I do not think estate agents use foamboard - it wouldn't stand up to the British weather.  I think they use a sort of corrugated plastic.  (Although I have seen this board used to make ladders and the like).  Foamboard is much softer and very easy to cut.

Michael

Hi Michael.   Thank you for your reply. One estate agents board was Corrugated, but I have seen different materials used in their manufacture. And I would knock them off.  Best wishes Kevin 

Hi Kevin,
The "Corrugated" boards are called "Core Flute". Externally Foam Core looks similar except that the surface of foam core is a lot smoother because it is fairly solid but easily cut through.  

It probably is similar to the foam we have for supermarket meat trays in consistency and will come in either 3mm or 5mm thickness and picture framers will have an abundance of offcuts they cannot use.

I think I made a point to you that foam core is hard but that is because the foam molecules like plastic are molecularly harder than steel - the bonds between those molecules are loose which is why you can cut the stuff - which is why you blunt cutting blades fairly quickly and lose the sharper edge but for the inside of the box, covered by building paper as I suggested, it won't matter if the edges do get a little torn. 

Hope this helps - and no I am not a scratchbuilder as such but I take my hat off to the patience of friends of mine who are! Most of those buildings take less than an hour each -  you can see what one in particular looks like on https://sites.google.com/view/stagnesrailway21 from the underside!

Cheers

Trevor

 

Hi Trevor’s.   Thank you again. I am sorry if I caused any offence. Of course I am going to have “ free standing buildings “ , but also “ low profile buildings “ in the background. But I have a lot to learn about scenery in general instead of just “ playing with trains “ . Best wishes Kevin 

Kevin,
Absolutely No Offence Taken!  In fact I felt quite flattered!!!

Cheers

Trevor

Hello all
This is what Foam Core looks like



A foam "sandwich" in between two layers of paper  as distinct from core flute (or commercially "corflute" which is more than likely the board at the estate agents which can corrugate a bit…



Cut thinly enough, you can make scale ladders from thin slithers of corflute and it makes good bracing inside some of the buildings such as between the long sides of the Reginald Bridge station on the web page,

Cheers

Trevor

Whatever you do, do NOT get the foam core stuff that is self adhesive as it is difficult to work with.

White foam boards used for school project displays is coated with white clay. Hot glue joints will fail after a few months as the glue sticks to the clay not the board.

Nigel

Hello Nigel, Would the outer surface of the pic of the foam core I put in be a clay base?  It seems to be a paper to me but there you go! 

Cheers

Trevor

Most papers contain a percentage of clay, the shinier the surface  the more clay it has in it.

Hi Q.   I cannot get over wanting to “ Cut Corners ? “ by not replacing the blades sooner. Very bad of me, I know.But I must get into the habit, but what about a “ Sharps Safe “ and disposal of the blades?  How do you get get rid of yours ?    Best wishes Kevin 

Sharps. Empty large medicine pill container. Glue a small magnet on the bottom. Cheaper than a medical sharps container.

Clay. The more there is the sooner hot glue will fail. Use white glue.

Nigel

The model railway club and where I work both have sharps disposal boxes, so that's what I use at the moment.
Should I have to dispose of them myself them probably a cardboard box in the workshop, and when full put in the Rubbish bin for Disposal. the metal will rust away and cardboard will rot..

Hi Q.  Thank you. I went to the pharmacy today, but the lady said that she would give me one on prescription, otherwise it would cost £2.95 I said thank you and departed.  Best wishes Kevin 

Hi Kevin,

They are 50p each from Amazon. Your chemist would be paying around 25p. Any plastic container with a lid would be fine. My sharps container at the moment is an empty aspirin bottle.


Nigel

Hi Nigel.  Thank you. I have empty tablet bottles “ coming out of my ears “, but generally they are full of screws etc.That’s handy as it saves me purchasing screws??   Best wishes Kevin 

"…Cut thinly enough, you can make scale ladders from thin slithers of corflute…"

Trevor,

 Ping! Lightbulb moment, thank you.

 OLd dog learnin' new trick.

Hi Kevin,

When you went to the chemists what did you ask for? A sharps container? The price you got quoted is about right. If you go in and ask for some empty pill containers because you are going on a trip and want to take the right number of pills with you the pharmacist may prove more accommodating.

Just remember to keep a few aside next prescription, cheaper than a sharps container (which is not not meant to be opened once in use). Empty Pringle tubes are also useful for keeping sharp but used blades in. Along with plastic drink bottles. yogurt pots with lids, empty jars of jam….

Nigel