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Hi, I was thinking of making a table (ash wastes sort of tank battle sort of thing) and I heard that foam board was a good matierial to use but I can't find any in sufficent size (thinkness mainly) and quanitiy.

So, does anyone know where to find some of this mythical foam board? I'd like it to be able to get a thinkness in exess of half a foot (6").

I hope you guys can help and thanks for any replies

Try a DIY hardware store.. it normally lairs near the Insulation area, and (at least in the USA) is blue or pink. I have bought it in 2x4 foot sheets, as well as full 4x8 foot sheets..

I made a table a long time ago, but was able to get the foam (I think 1" thickness? possibly even 2"...) in a 8' x 4' size at the hardware store (Home Depot or Lowe's).

I can't remember if it was pink or blue... I believe they used to carry one and had replaced it with the other.

So yeah... the same stuff porkuslime is talking about

You should be able to get it from B&Q. I noticed it there while looking for some hardboard for a DIY project a week or so ago but I didn't think to check the price.

It was the blue high density insulation foam. As far as I know they keep their store layouts pretty much the same, so you should find it at the Trade end of the store where all the wood, MDF board and bulk supplies are.

Yeah, sometimes its called polystyrene sheet insulation. Don't be put off if the DIY shop guy doesn't know what you're looking for, just browse. Maybe you can ask folks in your local game store where they got their DIY supplies and what they use?

If you're looking for really thick stuff (like 6 inches) you might be better glueing three 2 inch thick sheets together with pva. Just make sure to lay them flat with some weight on top (like books or something) so they stick well together.

Also, using foamboard stuff for scenery can leave it very weak underneath. Maybe you can glue it to some hardboard or thin mdf sheets? then it'll have support underneath.

Good luck! and post photos if you do get this project off the ground!

Thanks guys, also, any tips on how to work with it?

6" wide or 6" thick? I imagine you're refering to long thing strips because 6" thick would be expensive and a pain to work with. You should be able to find it in 4' x 8' sheets, but in Britain I don't know where you'd look. Plenty of big box home improvement shops in the states. I've seen it as 2' x 8' too, which would be fine (You usually cut them into 2' x 4' chunks because they're easier to manage.)

I almost like 1/2" thickness better than 2". The 1/2 is very easy to work with and you can cut it with a hobby knife. The 2" is nice because you can make bigger pieces faster, but you can always glue several pieces together to get more depth.

PVA (White) glue works well for sticking it together. It takes a long time to dry though (Think days, not hours), so you need to be prepared to wait.

I use a combination of hobby-knife, power saw, dremel and a soldering gun to cut and shape the stuff. It's decent to work with, just be prepared for a LOT of styrofoam "Powder" to clean up. It's sorta nasty.

Oh, and plan on gluing any large pieces to MDF or 1/4" plywood or something to strengthen it up.

It also likes to slide around when you put weight on top of it whiel glueing, so make sure everything lines up like you want.

Menelker's lava board tutorial will probably do everything you want. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/243963.page

Thanks 1-up. I meant 6" think but maybe 3" will do.

Also thanks for the link

When gluing together layers to build up height, I find that pins help solve the sliding-on-a-glue-slick issue. Toothpicks, bits of wire, or straight pins all work equally well to hold things together. Once the glue dries, you can pull out the pins (thinner and smoother pins are easier to remove than big, rough skewers but they don't hold as well if the piece will be under stress; they'll just tear through) and patch the holes if you're going to carve up the area or you can leave them in for strength.

B&Q have everything you need. They also have some thin 120x60cm wooden boards to base the foam on, which is pretty cool as it ensures all your boards are the same size, and they can be easily cut to make 60x60 cm tiles, which is a good size for modular terrain (B&Q will do 4 cuts for free if you don't have any saws at home ).

I went with the insulation boards made from compressed beads of foam, rather than the pink insulation foam. It is both easier and more difficult to work with than pink foam.

Makes a fair bit of mess, but there is no dust like you get with pink foam. It is also slightly lighter than pink foam, not that is really much of an issue unless you are moving it around all the time (like I seem to have to do ).

It deforms under pressure, but springs back into place fairly well. Pink foam is harder to deform, but if you do stab it with something sharp, it stays there and is really obvious.

You can cut it with a regular knife fairly easily, you can also shape it with your hands (in terms of crumbling bits off fairly easily).

It is also significantly cheaper. I think I got enough to make 3 120x60cm sections (which had about 5-6 120x60cm blocks of 2 inch thick foam on to build up height from 0 to 6 inches) for the same price as a single sheet of pink foam of the same size (and 5 inches thick).

I also used really cheap (about £1 for over 300) wooden tooth picks to pin it all together with PVA sticking it together as well.

I would also advise that if you are going to use sand to texture it, you get the kiln dried sand. I got the regular builders sand, and because it is slightly damp throughout, it is a real pain in the ass to get it to stick properly.

Also, measure, then measure again, then MEASURE!

I had to cut all my stuff in the entrance of the shop (I had to take 2 massive foam boards home on the bus, so they had to be cut before hand) and really suffered when I then came to put it all together, as my cuts were not accurate and I had to try and fill in non-straight gaps and all sorts of other problems, which is not easy

I've had similar problems finding pink/blue foam as the soft white stuff (looks like its made from lots of balls) just isn't hard enough. Heres a few things I have found out;

If you ask in a UK diy store for pink or blue insulation foam they look at you like your crazy.

What you want is called Extruded Polystyrene (xps). In the states it is called stryofoam but that is a brand name not the product.

It doesn't always come in pink and blue, it can come in any colour.

B&Q sell this http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9374253&fh_view=detail&ts=1265037105310 if you go to the Knauf site it does describe it as XPS and its meant to be dense enough to walk on but by the time I found it I was stuck into other projects so haven't had a chance to try it out. If you do let me know how it goes. the pack is 4 sheets that come in at just under 4'x6' altogether.

@BBB: That is the stuff I was going to get, before I saw the price

It may be better in the long run over the while ball-foam (hehe), but they both get the job done the same. And if you have good storage, the white foam should last well.