foam board size

cwills

Junior Member
hi i am ordering a simple storch speed build kit and i want to order some foam to trace the kit on to. I live in england so i can't get my hands on dollar tree foam board. i have found some that someone recommended but they do various sizes i just wanted to know what dimensions and thickness of foam board that I should get.
thanks
 

RAM

Posted a thousand or more times
FT planes use Adams Ready Board. Here are the dimensions.

From this FT article by rcspaceflight: http://flitetest.com/articles/comparing-foam-board

Adams brand

Bought at Dollar Tree

Price: $1.00 (not including tax)

Sheet size: 20" x 30" x 3/16" measurements were double checked and are true.

Total weight of sheet: 115grams

Weight per one square inch: 0.191666grams

Test 1: 10" x 20" piece weighing 38grams, broke right away when third bottle of water was added.

Test 2: 10" x 20" piece weighing 38grams, broke a few seconds after third bottle of water was added.

Each bottle of water weighs about 525 grams.

Test 1: Broke with 1575grams of weight.

Test 2: Broke with 1575grams of weight
 

Corbarrad

Active member
Foamboard in europe usually comes in sze A4, A3, 500X700mm and 1000X700.
If you want to fit all of the wing halves onto one sheet you'll have to order the biggest size, though splitting the wings shouldn't be too much of a problem, just put the joint where the flaps end and the ailerons start.
Same goes for the fuselage, though you kind of have your split already set up for you where the tail starts to taper.
European foamboard usually comes in 3 or 5mm thickness, with 5mm being the way to go in my opinion. it's a little thicker than what Flite Test use for their speedbuild kits, but if you cut your parts as per plan everything will still fit together nicely.
Lastly, make sure you get foamboard with a smooth, extruded polystyrene core. It's both lighter and easier to cut than a PU foam core.
Be prepared to work a little harder getting the paper off the edges and fold channels. I don't think the storch has any large areas needing to be de-papered, but carefully using a sponge to soak those areas helps.