Josh,
How soon can we start advocating for the WR formboard? Is Adams ready to start supplying the DG and DT stores?
New Adams foam board?
- Thread starter richb2599
- Start date
Josh,
How soon can we start advocating for the WR formboard? Is Adams ready to start supplying the DG and DT stores?
Josh Bixler
Member
You can start now friend. 2017 is going to be a great year!
Josh
Josh
Gryf
Active member
Many thanks to Nic and Josh for their inputs... as well as all the other enthusiasts who have expressed support for FT, along with their concerns regarding one of our main resources.
I just wanted to add a personal note in support of Nic. His designs, more than most others, seriously push the boundaries of what can be achieved with DTFB. The level of performance he can get out of Adams board is mind-boggling, and it should be obvious that an inferior material - as he illustrated clearly in his video - seriously jeopardizes his efforts. The change Adams made, for whatever reason, was a step backwards for anyone using their board to build planes; but for those specializing in high-performance models, it throws up a huge red flag.
That said, I'm very much looking forward to this year! It sounds like big things are in store for the community!
Gryf
I just wanted to add a personal note in support of Nic. His designs, more than most others, seriously push the boundaries of what can be achieved with DTFB. The level of performance he can get out of Adams board is mind-boggling, and it should be obvious that an inferior material - as he illustrated clearly in his video - seriously jeopardizes his efforts. The change Adams made, for whatever reason, was a step backwards for anyone using their board to build planes; but for those specializing in high-performance models, it throws up a huge red flag.
That said, I'm very much looking forward to this year! It sounds like big things are in store for the community!
Gryf
desert wings
Foam Fan
I bought the last 11 sheets of the original recipe Adams foam from my $Tree. They had some cases in the back with the old SKU#, which made me think I had hit the jackpot, but when the cases were opened it was the new stuff with the new SKU# on the individual sheets (I am glad I checked).
I talked to the store manager about the old foam vs new as well as Water Resistant Foam. He was aware that many people were buying foam for planes. I committed to purchasing the first 5 cases of WR foam he could get. He said he would request it up the chain but also told me the best way to get corporate's ear was to respond to the customer survey that shows on the bottom of a $Tree purchase receipt. The survey allows for significant text which I used to praise my local store, store manager, and describe just how much foam I use and that there was a large community relying on this foam. I went on to request that $Tree look into the new WR foam and again gave my name, contact information, and committed to the first five cases of WR they could get.
If everyone did something similar by talking to both store managers and corporate through the survey, Maybe we can make a difference.
Now to figure out what I could do with 5 cases of foam.....
I talked to the store manager about the old foam vs new as well as Water Resistant Foam. He was aware that many people were buying foam for planes. I committed to purchasing the first 5 cases of WR foam he could get. He said he would request it up the chain but also told me the best way to get corporate's ear was to respond to the customer survey that shows on the bottom of a $Tree purchase receipt. The survey allows for significant text which I used to praise my local store, store manager, and describe just how much foam I use and that there was a large community relying on this foam. I went on to request that $Tree look into the new WR foam and again gave my name, contact information, and committed to the first five cases of WR they could get.
If everyone did something similar by talking to both store managers and corporate through the survey, Maybe we can make a difference.
Now to figure out what I could do with 5 cases of foam.....
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Kingbird
Posting Elsewhere
Even if $Tree decides to stock the new WR foam it is going to take a while before we actually see it in the stores. So in the meantime how about starting some group buys? There's no way I can use 50 sheets or even 25 at the rate I build. But other builders like me might be able to use half or a quarter of a box. With shipping (west coast) the 50 sheet case costs about $2.50 a sheet and the 25 box costs less than $3.50. Still not terribly expensive but I don't want to store it for years until I finally use it up.
I just bought some more Adams foam board and immediately noticed it didn't match the sheets I was using on my current build. After making a few cuts I concluded it sucks compared to the old board, so I jumped online and found this thread. Add my voice to the effort to bring back the old stuff.
Thanks for being engaged with this, Josh. Please make sure your team tries cutting it with blades, not just laser cutters. I'm using a new blade in an Olfa knife and it's tearing.
Thanks for being engaged with this, Josh. Please make sure your team tries cutting it with blades, not just laser cutters. I'm using a new blade in an Olfa knife and it's tearing.
TooJung2Die
Master member
Maybe there is more than one type of paper on the "new" Adams foam board? I've used it on three airplanes and haven't had any tearing. I'm using dollar store snap-off blades. I sharpen them on an oil stone when they dull. Cuts fine, no problems. The paper delamination problem that happened after painting with acrylic was solved by pre-treating with Minwax wipe-on poly. I'm in the minority here in this thread but I prefer the "new" Adams over the old stuff. It's flatter, whiter and has less ripples.
The last batch of Ross foam board I bought is just the opposite. The paper wasn't rippled, it was wrinkled. Ross has really gone downhill in quality.
Jon
The last batch of Ross foam board I bought is just the opposite. The paper wasn't rippled, it was wrinkled. Ross has really gone downhill in quality.
Jon
I was hoping that Canada would be slower to pick up the new foam, but after a trip to the Dollar Tree, it appears they have switched to the new stuff too. I did pick up 8 sheets of the old stuff from their rack, and there were probably 15 or so left but even the 8 I picked up were in pretty poor condition. The others were too bad to even try to use.
Maybe. Here's what I get when I try to cut a "clean" edge. I think I'm giving up on this. I guess $80 for a 25 pack of the water proof stuff shipped is my best option. Hmmmm.
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Update for you guys. I had been in contact with Adams since the first week of January and have continued correspondence since. The latest update is that they are testing new paper to correct the issues we are seeing! This is great news and I'm very excited to know our voice was heard on these issues. I look forward to seeing what Adams comes up with for the new white paper.
TooJung2Die
Master member
That's horrible. I'd be upset if that's what happened when I tried cutting a straight line. Forget cutting a curve. The Olfa blades are supposed to be deadly sharp.
Don't throw it away, maybe all is not lost. Try treating the paper with Minwax polyurethane. I used new Adams FB for the mini-DR1. Lotsa curves on that design and I didn't have a single snag or tear. It makes the foam board water resistant too.
Jon
jamboree1
Active member
That's good news Nic. I knew going directly to Adams would be the best bet. I know how dollar tree corporate thinks like no other here can. Basically picture the cartoon drawings of a suggestion box dropping straight to a trash can and that's dollar tree corporate, except they went one better, the suggestions or complaints go thru a shredder first.
TexMechsRobot
Posted a thousand or more times
This is a response I got about a week ago from Karla Lambert, the Director of Foam Board Sales.
Hi Craig,
Thanks for reaching out to us We appreciate hearing your feedback and support.
First I would like to assure you that the spec of our foam has not changed at all. We did however change the paper. The reason for this change was to improve the quality of the board as well as the brightness but without jeopardizing the integrity of the product. While we did accomplish the brightness we were looking for we are aware that there are some issues that the RC community is having with the new paper.
We are trialing new papers to address the issues that people are experiencing. I am hopeful that we will have a solution for this soon.
Please know that we are doing everything we can to improve the paper as quickly as possible.
Thanks again Craig and I hope you will give Readi Board another try.
Karla Lambert
Thanks for reaching out to us We appreciate hearing your feedback and support.
First I would like to assure you that the spec of our foam has not changed at all. We did however change the paper. The reason for this change was to improve the quality of the board as well as the brightness but without jeopardizing the integrity of the product. While we did accomplish the brightness we were looking for we are aware that there are some issues that the RC community is having with the new paper.
We are trialing new papers to address the issues that people are experiencing. I am hopeful that we will have a solution for this soon.
Please know that we are doing everything we can to improve the paper as quickly as possible.
Thanks again Craig and I hope you will give Readi Board another try.
Karla Lambert
That's awesome! Thanks for everything you're doing, nic!
Update on my issues with cutting: I played around with it some more and figured a couple things out. 1) This new paper dulls my knife blade really quickly. By snapping off the segments of the blade more quickly I can get "cleaner" cuts. It's not perfect but it's better. It's unfortunate in the sense that I used to be able to build an entire plane without needing to snap off a segment from my Olfa knife--they're that good--but now if I do it frequently it's helping. 2) I found that making each cut with two passes helps. Cut once through the top layer of paper and into the foam; cut a second time through the bottom layer of paper. It's more tedious, but again, it helps.
My fingers are crossed that they can update the paper formulation to make both cutting and removing one side of the paper easier.
I have a sharpening stone and use it with my No. 11 blades all the time. The blades last a LOT longer.
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