Contact Adhesive for Foam on Foam Terrain Boards?

[Atheling]

Hi,

I've decided to go with 50mm thick Craftfoam as sold by Panelsystems and I need to glue them to a flat mdf base which will be 9mm minimum.

I would prefer to avoid using PVA to glue the foam to the mdf so my question is, what sort of contact adhesive do you guys thing I should be looking to buy.

This was suggested to me a while back but I cannot for the life of me find the thread or even remember which fora I got the info from.

Any ideas please?

[PhilB]

I don't use foam for building construction, and when I do use foam for terrain, I generally find that latex-style PVA is sufficient for my purposes. For a more robust solution, with a few toothpicks stuck into both foam pieces (or a hole drilled in the mdf or CD base) to reinforce the bond.

However, several of the video terrain builders I watch on Youtube swear by the hot glue gun. Apparently it makes a strong, quick and easy bond, but the bond sets fast, so there is little margin for adjustments.

I'll be following this thread if somebody comes up with a better option.

[Eric the Shed]

Interior grab adhesive from B&Q plus (very important) skewers. Glue them in like a nail bed and 'push' on the foam

[Cubs]

Yeah, I've used various cheapo versions of 'No More Nails' and the like, as well as wood glue. But unless it's an instant set, the surfaces have a bad habit of gliding about on each other (sometimes evilly slowly, so you can't see it and then come back an hour later to find it an inch or two out), so pegging them somehow with skewers or the like sounds like a good move.

[Captain Blood]

Uhu ‘Por’ is purpose made for sticking foam, and used to be my go-to terrain building glue. Takes a while to go off but works very well once set.
However, now I mainly use a hot glue gun, which is basically a molten plastic dispenser and works extremely well for bonding foam to foam. I imagine it would handle foam to MDF as well. It does melt the foam to some extent, but that’s kind of the point - melding pieces of foam together... and sets rock hard within a minute or so.

And yes, as Giles says, also use plenty of pieces of cocktail stick as pegs thrust through layers of foam. Or lengths of bamboo barbecue skewer if you’re using thick slabs of foam.

[Atheling]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Uhu ‘Por’ is purpose made for sticking foam, and used to be my go-to terrain building glue. Takes a while to go off but works very well once set.
However, now I mainly use a hot glue gun, which is basically a molten plastic dispenser and works extremely well for bonding foam to foam. I imagine it would handle foam to MDF as well. It does melt the foam to some extent, but that’s kind of the point - melding pieces of foam together... and sets rock hard within a minute or so.

And yes, as Giles says, also use plenty of pieces of cocktail stick as pegs thrust through layers of foam. Or lengths of bamboo barbecue skewer if you’re using thick slabs of foam.

I'll give Uhu 'Por' a shot on one board and see how it turns out. Cocktail sticks and all. I assume the cocktail sticks are pushed into holes drilled in the mdf?

Then I'll give the hot glue gun a go.

Cheers.

[Captain Blood]

The cocktail sticks are just for helping peg layers of foam together, but I suppose you could drill them into the MDF too 

[Atheling]

The cocktail sticks are just for helping peg layers of foam together, but I suppose you could drill them into the MDF too 

I was thinking that one might as well make all the components as strong as possible.

[traveller]

I always use pva interior wood glue to attach foam to mdf and it works perfect, especially if you use clamps to hold it together during the drying process. Just curious, why do you not want to use pva?

[Eric the Shed]

I assume the cocktail sticks are pushed into holes drilled in the mdf?


Cheers.

correct

[Atheling]

correct

Thanks mate