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Are there any online stores that do polystyrene insulation foam for modelling in both relatively small amounts, and cheaply?

what type of polystyrene? the white stuff made up of little balls? or the blue/pink dense foam?

The dense foam. I managed to steal some from a friend a while ago who was having some building work done, but alas, that supply has now run dry.

Is a bitch to find that stuff in the UK!

You can find it on ebay or here http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/wargaming-materials-tools/sheet-materials/styrofoam.html

Or if you don't mind a big wadge you can get the pink dense foam from B&Qs builders yards

i could never find it at builders yards round here, drove me mad looking for some about 7 years ago

B&Q have started stocking the pink stuff - it's not that expensive for 1 sheet (around £5 if I remember right).

What sort of thicknesses are you looking for? This guy has 600x400mm sheets in either 20mm or 30mm in sets of two for pretty cheap.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280754570556?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

It's green foam, although the colour tends not to matter as much as it used to now that different companies are making their foam sheets any old colour. So I don't think the density difference correspond to the colour anymore. I've had blue foam from different places in varying densities, for instance.

If you need thinner foam then you might have a look at foamboard. It's a polystyrene sheet sandwiched between two sheets of glossy paper, but the paper sides can be peeled off leaving just the foam which is excellent for carving or etching. It comes in 3mm or 5mm sizes most commonly, white or black, but I've seen it now and again in 10mm, too. It's pretty easy and cheap to get hold of.

If you're looking for polystyrene sheets for a gaming board (I know you aren't but others might be interested) then I'd recommend going for bog-standard expanded polystyrene, the sort used in packing, rather than expensive and unnecessary blue/pink/green/etc foam as it is just as durable and easy to work with. This seller has a pack of 10 sheets in 600x400mm of 25mm thickness for £10 including postage and packaging. That's enough to make a 4x4' gaming board and still have four sheets left over for hills and scenery.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200646747358?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Skippy wrote:i could never find it at builders yards round here, drove me mad looking for some about 7 years ago

7 years ago rigid foam insulation was not used as much as it is now. I specify insulation levels in new domestic dwellings as my day job. You should find this much much easier now.

Well I need it about 3 inches, preferably 4 inches thick. Rest of it doesn't really matter.

Hmm, not sure where to get 3-4" thick foam from in single sheets, or cheaply. The thickest I've seen readily available is 50mm, which is a shade under 2 inches, Antenociti's Workshop (posted above by another member) does that in A4-sized sections.

Look for Roofmate, which is the trade name used by DOW who tend to make most of it.

Blue Foam

Check that your builders merchants do roofing materials, Travis perkins and Jewson have specialist branches for roofing, so not all will carry it.