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Ok, almost ready to start playing 40k again. I really didn't want to play with books and cereal box's as scenery so atm ive made some quick scenery out of random boxes and containers (looks pretty good for what it is ) and as many rocky outcrops that i can stomach! I'm now in the collecting what i need to make ruins ,buildings etc ( to specification, not just because that's what size the box is ). So enough background, on with the question. I'm looking for an easy way to make nice foam board joins. The method I'm talking about involves stripping a channel on one side of foam board while leaving the outer card intact so you can butt another peace of foam board up to it. next. After searching the web i noticed that Balsa strippers looked like just the thing to do the job ? Has anybody else tried this? Perhaps there is an even easier way? What about angled cuts is there a easy way/tool for this also? I'm just looking for some advice before i start spending money. Thanks for your time.

I use a carpenters knife/razor blade for making the joints you described. I mark a line the width of the foam core, usually 5mm. Using a steel straitedge to guide my cut I make two passes. Once to cut the first layer of paper. The second to cut the foam. On the second cut you will feel the blade against the second layer of paper. Then I run the blade the length of the joint between the foam and the second layer of paper. Your done. It takes seconds, a minute tops with no specialty tools and blades.

I don't mind spending a few ££ for something that i will be using a long a time, but yeah, that will be how i do it if i have to. Also, how to make accurate angular cuts across the width? To make a building with a hexagonal footprint for example. That's going to be difficult to freehand, no?

Specialty foam cutting tools are available for making angeled joints, cutting circles and freehand. They look really cool. A guy in my gaming group has some and really likes them. He use Foamwerks brand cutters.

http://www.binding101.com/foamcutters.html


My concern with these specialty cutters is the blades. If the company goes out of business I may not be able to get replacement blades. Or if the company changes their design making the old tools obsolete. But then I worry about stuff like this.

Cheers whill4! Great link. I was hoping for a multi tool, a Swiss army foam cutter if you will. Just dreams . I guess the rabbit cuter is what I'm after for now, more to follow, when i can afford it

I just seen your edit and it made edit! lol. Good point. let me think about this

If you plan on making a lot of terrain, you can always look into the matting and framing cutters used to frame pictures. They make precise cutting very easy.

A really good tool for major cutting is a very large, heavy steel straight edge.

Thanks Ifurita. Did a little search and damn they can get expensive! like anything i guess, you get what you pay for. Back on topic, just watched a youtube video for the X-ACTO foam board cutter. I must say seems very versatile, it cuts 45 degree angles and channels, for tongue and groove type joins ( that is going to make multi story buildings a breeze) and is less than half the price of its nearest competitor as far as I can tell. If the blades are just regular blades, I'm sold. Before I sound like an an advertisement, I will stop. I just wanted to let anybody know that was following this thread . Thanks all.

I have the X-ACTO cutter you're talking about, BlackOps. It does use "special" blades (#8R - the slim utility blade), but they're not that expensive (~$3, if memory serves, for a 5-pack and they're double-sided).

On the topic of mat cutters, I honestly wouldn't bother, unless you'll be making a lot of pieces and all of them are rectangles (angles require just as much, if not more, setup, even on a fancy machine, than doing it with a steel rule). Granted, this is only my opinion, but at least it's reasonably well-informed - I'm a moderately experienced terrain-builder and a professional framer.

The cheap (relatively speaking) freehand cutters have less flexibility than the X-ACTO model regarding the type of cuts you can make and still require the use of a straightedge. Models on a rail are more useful, but start to become prohibitively expensive. Fancier setups with hinged rails are the most helpful, but also the priciest.

Also, inside cuts frequently require extra dressing, as the mechanics (blade swings down and rests at roughly a 45 degree angle) necessitate a degree of over-cutting on the back side of the board to get a clean corner in the front (a non-issue on matting, not necessarily so on the inside wall of an open building). That same mechanism - the swinging blade - makes cutting a rabbit less than foolproof, as there is no hard stop to the blade depth (at least not on any model I've ever seen). The X-ACTO or Foamwerks tools have the same issue with blade angle, but at least allow you to set the depth.

If you want a tool to help, I'd go the X-ACTO route - it's by far the most flexible and, unless you're cutting so much that you can buy disposable single-edged razor blades in bulk, like we do in the frame shop, the best bang for your buck, even counting consumables.

Thanks for the info oadie. Very helpful. I've decided to go with the X-ACTO cutter. It is Inexpensive and while it uses it own blades, they seem readily available. Thanks again all for the good advice.