Foamboard

[Old Goat]

Right hopefully someone can help me here.

Foamboard, having seen the beautiful quality of peoples work on the forum and my son having a project to build a Tudor Manor I thought I's grasp the nettle and have a crack with foamboard. 

I went to my local Hobbycraft and bought a few sheets and then once back at home proceeded to look up a few techniques.  First of all peel off one of the sides of paper and then proceed to score with a sharp pencil...

Dis-as-ter, I mean the homework got done but it looked awful, just awful.  The foam didn't take paint very well at all, the only way I found I getting any kind of purchase in the FB was to score with a craft knife then finish with a pencil...

Please, please, please any advice, point me at tutorials you know that've worked but I'm sat here gnashing my teeth in impotent fury on bloody foamboard.

Many thanks, OG.

[Svennn]

What you describe sounds exactly like what I do. I can only think that there are different types of foamboard but I have never seen any that does not work.  It does take a bit of effort to paint and I use household emulsion to undercoat it first.  Never had any trouble scoring it though, if anything I have more of a problem with over doing it in sections.

[Old Goat]

Hi Svenn,

I even struggled with getting the paper off of one side, used a craft knife and my goodness, the horror.  Uneven lumpy nastiness.  How do people do it?  I've just been looking at Thunderchicken and pappa midnight and while I am a realist I'd have hoped I can at least prep the materials even if the final result isn't up to much...

You undercoat with an emulsion before painting?  Hmm will try that.

Is there some voodoo of which I know not!

Arrrgh.

My best as always, OG

[Major_Gilbear]

Agreed; you seem to be doing the correct thing...

Any chance of some pix so that we can see for ourselves? It may be that you're missing something obvious and we can steer you once we see the issue.

[Old Goat]

I'm going to have another crack today and see how I go.  I will borrow Mrs. Goats camera and see what I can do...

Remember the noise that Muttley used to make on Catch the Pigeon, well that is the noise I made all day yesterday and for a fair amount of today.

Thanks, OG

[Major_Gilbear]

Also, just as an aside:

- Use a sharp (new) blade, as the foam tears if the blade is blunt. Also, the foam can dull the blades fairly fast, so keep an eye out for that.

- Use a hard (2H or harder) pencil. It should be sharp, but not too sharp... You can also sharpen a dowel instead, and then smooth the end off slightly with some sandpaper to make your own scribing tool if you prefer.

- Peeling off the outer layer of card/paper can be slow, so take your time with it and do it carefully! It is after all what will give you that final texture that you want (I mean, besides the masonry that you're scribing!).

- For small areas, I dig out the foam along with the card outer face and pack a little Milliput back into the hole. This is then sculpted, and texture is applied later when it's half-cured and firmer using either a dampened stone or dampened coarse sandpaper. This looks great for small areas, but is too much work for bigger areas or whole wall sections.

[fastolfrus]

Possibly cut the board to the size you need before peeling off the paper.
If some of the paper doesn't come off leave it as a rendered section.

You might try scoring with a biro. I've found that the scoring sometimes "snags" but it just makes the brickwork look old and irregular.
Don't make the bricks too small.
I undercoat with craft shop acrylics - fairly big bottles for about £1.

[Svennn]

Definitely peel the paper on pre cut pieces. If you do whole sheets they warp more easily and it is a lot easier also.

[Thunderchicken]

To be honest I take the easy way out and stick embossed plastic to my foamboard, its not he cheapest method though. I am tempted to give scoring a go as I'm going to work on some arches soon. I think I might use bluefoam for mine as I'm too impatient to do the peeling thing.

[Major_Gilbear]

@ Thunderchicken:

Maybe try Depron? It's stiffer than the blue foam, and comes in sheets like foamcore.

Jed at Antenociti's sells it, but I'm led to believe that signwriters and such use it (and you may be able to get it more cheaply from them if you need a lot).

[Pappa Midnight]

I use cheap 6mm thick foam used for underfloor heating. A lot cheaper than buying small bits and no need to do messy "peeling".
Just type 6mm insulation on eBay and look for blue or pink foam.
A large sheet is normally around £3.50 and some sellers do free delivery.

Regards
PM

[Belisarius]

I d,ont take the paper off , I score heavily with a pencil , coat with a light coloured emulsion then score again if I think it needs it. Recoat emulsion if neccessary it dries quickly and keeps the foamboard from regaining it,s shape. Then apply your brick colour on the raised surfaces, keeping the colour out of the indents ( mortar), sprinkle fine sand spareingly on the brickwork and give it a second coat when dry , it works for me. Try it wih a small section.

[fastolfrus]

Recently found this one on ebay with blue foam in assorted thicknesses from 1.5mm to 50mm:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220940948099?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

[Old Goat]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your tips and advice I will now go to the Evil Bay and buy some blue foam and leave the Foamcore as exactly that the core of my buildings.

If I can ever get the camera to work I wil post my efforts.

Thanks all and best regards as always, OG.

[fastolfrus]

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