Foam Board (Readi-Board) for those living outside the USA (US citizens pls read too)

Flight4Life

Junior Member
This is partially in response to the speed-build kits:

I've wanted to build scratch-build several airframes, especially the FT swappables. I have bought foam-board (quite similar in dimensions to the readi-boards), but at 60+ euros for 10 sheets, it's quite expensive (I haven't started making anything yet, as it's quite expensive). I think that, quickly looking at the shipping costs at USPS, the total (including product and shipping) for 50 sheets would come to somewhere between $150 and $200.

Although 3-4 us $ (or €2 - €3) might seem a lot for one sheet, it still is better than €6 per sheet (current rates show that we'd have to pay between €112.50 and €150 for a full 50 sheets, instead of (less than) 20).

To make this possible, we need someone in the US, who is willing to pick them up, and send them on their way. I intend that the person sending it were to receive all costs (or more) in return, preferably prior to the purchase, because it'd be a bad idea to have the handling person spend the money, and have an uncertainty on their money return.

This is just an idea, please do not hate, and support if possible.

By the way, I saw a thread on RCGroups (not to send anyone over to look for it), made by ExperimentalAirlines (or Ed), concerning a possible foam-board subdealer for the RC community (he might give it a shot).
 

Fbords

Member
I've personally looked in to this myself. There are a few challenges that need to be met for this to work.

1) Though the material is very light, the dimensions and fragility make it hard to find the appropriate way to pack and ship these boards. Sending less than a few sheets would likely cause corners to get smashed, and the surface to possibly get creased. This makes for unhappy recipients.

2) Another large issue is I had been checking rates to ship to different international regions, and for say 5 sheets of this stuff, it would cost at least $40 US to ship at its cheapest rate.

What it boils down to is, even if someone was buying cases of this locally, and shipping it overseas, $20 worth of foam would cost $40 to ship. I not sure how lucrative that is. This of course would be for each "order". So say a case has 50 sheets. By the time those 50 sheets were shipped to different people like yourself in need, the combined shipping costs would be tremendous. To do this properly, a minimum number of sheets would have to be set to make it worth while. Im just not sure what most folks consider a reasonable amount to pay for foam.

I'm still looking into how to "make this fly". :)
 

rcspaceflight

creator of virtual planes
I recently sent someone a plane and it would have costs $40 to send it first class because of the size of the box. It was a very, very light box, but it's the dimensions that count. I ended up sending it for about $15 because I went with a much slower and cheaper method. So I agree with the above comment that cutting corners to save of shipping may result in damaged foam board.

I also want to mention that Readi board / Adam's brand / Dollar Tree / whatever you want to call it, has become so popular that a local mom and pop craft store recently started selling if for $2.99 a sheet. lol. I knew that craft store was over priced. But I don't think $3 a sheet is that bad either. $6 for an airframe is still cheap. Yeah, $2 is even cheaper, but $6 still isn't bad.

But in the long run I think it would be better to locally source something similar. I've built a couple of noob tube type of planes using Flip Side brand which weighs twice as much as Readi board. Both of the planes flew great. For a plane that I'm currently building, I removed the paper from Readi board and replaced it with packing tape. That method yields something similar, but is water proof and paintable as is. But it's also floppier and more bendable as a result. So you could build the FT planes using depron that is covered with packing tape. I've heard that depron is readily available and is cheap in most countries outside of the US.

Have you tried going to www.dollartree.com, searching "Readi Board", and then seeing if you can have it shipped directly to you?
 

eagle4

Member
If you're wanting to be a local supplier, you can contact Adams directly, although they only deal with bulk quantities it would definitely be cheaper than getting an American to buy yousome and ship it to you.
 

wilmracer

I build things that fly (sometimes)
Mentor
Model Airplane Foam does ship internationally. It isn't an ideal size due to shipping restrictions and you may have to bond sheets together for larger parts. From their website:

The International size MPF sheet is 8"x40". The pack is 35 layers; including at least 30 full sheets 5 8x24" sheets and a mix of 8x16" and 8x8" (no more than four 8x8") sheets to fill the box. Cost is $45USD.

Looks like it would be $95 US shipped anywhere. This isn't the DTFB. It doesn't have paper or film but I've found it is better to work with and you can always cover it with paper, tape, or low-temp covering film.

http://www.modelplanefoam.com/index.php/foam1/
 

offaxis

Member
I think FLITE TEST is working on this. It is called FliteTest foam and they will be shipping containers of the stuff all over the world. I believe they discussed it in their plan for 2015.
 
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gabrielete

New member
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Balu

Lurker
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
Can you weigh a few boards together and let us know the weight and the size of the boards? You used 5mm thick ones I guess?

It would be interesting to calculate the "average" weight / sqm of those.
 

gabrielete

New member
Can you weigh a few boards together and let us know the weight and the size of the boards? You used 5mm thick ones I guess?

It would be interesting to calculate the "average" weight / sqm of those.
Yes, I use 5mm thick boards.

2 boards of 100x70cm weight 650gr. Then its 650gr/1.4m2 = 464gr/m2

Sorry I only have two boards unused. I buy them in a local store near an university. I spent a month searching on the internet without success. Then I realized the name translated to Spanish and surprisingly is a relativetly easy product to find.

A member in the Spain section told me it’s too heavy. Is it? I’ve already built the old fogey and me, a noob can fly it. Now i’m with the storch. Fingers crossed!
 
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Balu

Lurker
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
Thanks for measuring that. If it flies, it's not too heavy ;).

Sometimes the CG is off on planes with too heavy foamboard. I had that problem with an FT Flyer.

It's a bummer that foamboard usually is not sold by brand name or by material / density like for example paper.
 

gabrielete

New member
Thanks Balu, that explains why i have to put the battery in the edge of the front to fly decently my Old Fogey. The foam I use is 50% more dense than Adams.

But maybe, if CG goes wrong in the Storch i'm building, I can use 3mm foamboard in the fuselage to light the tail... let's see how it goes when finished...


By the way, I've email some stores asking for the weight of the foamboard and they said they "don't have data"... Can't they messure it?!?:confused:
 
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Balu

Lurker
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
It's not the "can't" it's the "too lazy to do"... A lot of shops didn't even want to tell me the manufacturer as if it was a well kept secret.
 
the best way I can see is a group of retailers co-invest a full shipping container of DTFB(with the FT logo) and distribute in Europe at almost the price it is stateside,and advertize where to get it and it will be HUGE!
I almost thought that David would have done that to expand the brand in Europe.