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I'm planning a building and want to make the lower part of the walls from 5mm foamboard with sections of GW plastic buildings on top specifically these.

Now so I have something to securely glue the GW sections to, and to protect the foamboard from glue / spraying etc, I plan on covering the edges and sides of the foamboard in plasticard.

Is this a good idea or do I have to go back to the drawing board?

Anyone tried this and has it worked or gone horribly wrong?

Thanks if you can help.

It would work okay - but you'd want to heavily detail the foamcore material or it'll just look like...foamcore with a GW building on top.

Detailing isn't an issue.

I'm more concerned with strength of joints, like if i'll need to pin the gw parts to the foamboard section.

Cheers.

I don't think the plasticard is necessary. You can seal the foam edges with PVA glue, and do something like pin the GW buildings. However, I agree with Elbows that the foam board will look very plain in comparison to the plastic buildings. Cut out plenty of buttresses!

It probably would be as strong as foam board is.

and it will more than likely warp eventually.

If you are worried about strength then id go for expanded pvc or possibly doubling up some styrine garage signs and build with that instead.

or otherwise MDF which will last much longer than foam board.

Hmm, I'm planning on using foamboard party for weight and strength but also because I have a few A1 sheets lying around along with a fair bit of 0.5 mm plasticard that I figured I could laminate the sides using thicker plasticard on the edges essentially making an open ended box around the foamboard.

Guess I could just make the lower walls out of ordinary plasticard

Warping might be an issue, I overcame if previously with laminating layers of foamboard using card glue and clamps,

I'll check out the garage signs.

I'm really not a huge fan of mdf, unless I just take the whole thing and get it laser cut. I'd still have to cover it with plasticard to get a nice surface finish to build on, and that stuff warps as badly as foam-board if the PVA used is too watery.

Thanks for the suggestions Desubot

@Luciferian: yea the problem with just covering the edges in pva is that then it looks like foamboard covered in pva it leaves a smoother texture and looks wrong if you paint over it ( I used to do that).
It looks much nicer if you cover the join with an angled piece of styrene strip, (like evergreen 297 for thicker foamboard or one of the smaller sizes if you are using a thinner thickness of foamcore) giving an effect like a piece of corner edging like you might see on some buildings.

I would drill the bottom of the gw building an pin it with steel wire, then use a hot glue gun all along the bottom of the building and along the steel wire pins and stick in down into the foam. Then reinforce the bottom of the building with pva glue and sand before i do the flocking, or just paint the sand. Whatever you prefer.

Rather than using foam board have you tried foamed PVC? I've just discovered the stuff and it's great.3mm thick stuff seems to be pretty good for most stuff.

You could make buttresses that raise past the foam card section and finish on the plastic panels, that will help reinforce the joints and support the structure. Having bracing walls on the inside as well to counter any tilting would help, and would also make it look more like a real building than a damaged movie set prop. High piles of detritus, like bricks, could also be used to make reinforcement points around areas that look especially damaged, and again add to the realism.

I'd never heard of expanded PVC / foamed PVC until you mentioned it Desubot & Flinty, after looking it up I will be getting a couple of sheets,
Any tips on using it? Can it be rattle can primed without dissolving?

Good idea for internal buttressing, hadn't thought of that. I'll definitely be going for a more realistic route.

Thanks a lot for the tips everyone.

I certainly hope you can spray the stuff or else I'm in trouble

Just attacked a bit with liquid poly cement and it didn't seem to do much. You need to use superglue to stick it.

Sci grip also makes PVC cement in liquid form like that tyama super thin but for pvc (also for styrne and acrylic)

You can spray paint it.

I got a source that will sell me 1/8th inch 4 foot by 8 foot boards for 27$

working malifaux 3x3 right now

Phew, good to hear it!

If all else fails I'll use some araldite epoxy, probably overkill but whatever.

Only sheets I can find are ~ 1' x 2' and 3mm thick, which should be all I need.

I'm looking at making a 4x4 table and this building on it's own will fill up a 2x2 area of it So it'll have to be split up into sections to make it manageable.

The 3mm thick stuff is working well for me so far. The 2mm is not stiff enough without loads of supports. I've also got some 5mm that I'm planning to use for someone walkways.

Have a look at my buildings. That’s exactly what I did.

I did exactly this with a fortress I'm building. I used epoxy resin to glue the GW parts to the foamboard, although I also had a layer of plasticard to represent the upper floor. I used 5mm foamboard.

So is foamed PVC more flexible than a piece of sheet sytrene of equal dimensions?
I'd planned on using 1mm plasticard with 0.5mm textured plasticard laminated on top and some, mostly aesthetic, supporting girder work for walkways.

@Shadowcaptain: That's certainly much more ambitious than what I have planned. Nice work

Thanks all.

PVC foam is pretty flexible.

less so when they are in small shapes. some good mechanical jointing and or buttresses can fix that for ya.

Honestly it’s simpler than I thought it would be.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Really I created a foundation and reenforced it like a foundation. As for painting. It’s all spray painted. If you hold the can away from the foam about 12 inches it doesn’t melt it.

As an example. Sorry about picture quality

Here is a wip