Styrofoam

[thenamelessdead]

I have been watching some videos on making dungeon tiles with Styrofoam. I like the look of this but have a couple of questions.

1. Is Styrofoam that people model with the same thing as insulation board?

2. Where might i procure some in an actual shop? It seems fairly easily available online but please indulge this old fashioned shopper! If you think online is pretty much the only way to go feel free to tell me though. I just like to see things in the flesh before buying.

[gamer Mac]

I have bought some stuff in Wicks before and I have also see it on sale in art shops but a lot more expensive

[Captain Blood]

You're quite unlikely to get it in a shop in the UK, other than in specialist architectural modelling shops like 4D Modelshop in London. Where it is very expensive to buy in small pieces, but you can get in all sorts of thicknesses and cut to size for you.

Panel Systems Ltd is the go to online supplier, but you really need to buy a box of several sheets to get the best value. If you don't want or can't afford a whole box, maybe split a box with a friend?
http://www.panelsystems.co.uk/products/modelling-foam

B&Q and Wickes both used to sell 1200x500 sheets of styrofoam for loft insulation under the name 'space board', manufactured by Knauf, which made great baseboards and were dirt cheap. Unfortunately now discontinued...

The type of loft insulation with silver foil cladding is not proper styrofoam and won't serve in the same way.

[Rich H]

Builders merchants usually have it and it does show up in B&Q now and then.

[thenamelessdead]

I'll have a quick look in Wickes when i get a chance but looks like I'll be going online. Thank you for your responses. Polystyrene doesn't look like an option as the texture wouldn't work.

[Eric the Shed]

Builders merchants usually have it and it does show up in B&Q now and then.

I can confirm that the Knauf Pink Board is discontinued in both Wickes & B&Q - rather fortuitously I picked up 8 sheets in a clearance at the beginning of last year

The yellow celotex referred to by Captain Blood is not strong enough for modelling

[Supercollider]

I made some tiles using foamcore, with one side stripped so I could scribe some texture onto it.  Then fix the foam board to a self adhesive floor tile to give it some weight and stiffness.

[tomrommel1]

In Germany it is called Styrodur ( Brand name) and can be bought at builders centers. Maybe if you google that name you might find that round your place too . Or look for extruded Polystyrene that is the chemical name.

[Hammers]

Are we talking about styrofoam as in Expanded Poly Styrene (EPS) or Extruded  Poly Styrene (XPS)? Both are available in single 25 to 50mm sheets in any old DIY here in Sweden. Are they really that hard to come by in the UK?

[sukhe_bator]

I've been using 25mm thick offcuts of pale blue Floormate 200 Styrofoam by DOW...
I see it is stocked by Jewsons.
It's a tad denser than the pale green/pink stuff so probably good for terrain tiles

[Charlie_]

Panel Systems Ltd is the go to online supplier, but you really need to buy a box of several sheets to get the best value. If you don't want or can't afford a whole box, maybe split a box with a friend?
http://www.panelsystems.co.uk/products/modelling-foam

I'd second the recommendation for Panel Systems - they come in perfect 2ft squares, more or less any thickness you could need.
You do need to buy them in bulk at £46, but how many boards (or whatever you're making) you will get from it depends on the thickness you want. For example I wanted 20mm thick sheets for my terrain boards, so got 15 in the box, which is probably all I'll ever need. If I was making thicker terrain boards and had gone for 50mm, I would have only got 6 for the same price.

http://www.panelsystems.co.uk/product/craftfoam-blue

[pocoloco]

Are we talking about styrofoam as in Expanded Poly Styrene (EPS) or Extruded  Poly Styrene (XPS)? Both are available in single 25 to 50mm sheets in any old DIY here in Sweden. Are they really that hard to come by in the UK?

Yes, it seems so. Maybe they don't usually need to insulate their houses and ground plumbing etc like we do in the Nordics

Here in Finland we have Finnfoam, cheap as dirt and readily available in every DIY store in various thicknesses.

[cram]

Its also worth giving ebay a look. You can often pick up some at decent prices there.

[Coronasan]

On the subject of foam, anyone used expanding foam on a terrain project?

[Captain Blood]

Yes. Not an unqualified success... see pages 7/8 or so of my Cave Wars table build thread... http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=76576.90