Foamboard weight?

Hyper46havoc

Active member
Hello is it possible that you could all post the weight of a full sheet of foamboard you have and name and size?

I have stuff from the range store in the UK I don't have loads of shops selling this stuff. Mine is called

Westfoam
840mm x 590mm
240grams
And very difficult to remove paper

A weight and size of the proper ft stuff would be nice thanks all
 

kdobson83

Well-known member
Well, this has been posted about numerous times in this forums, so a quick search finds that the Redi-Board by Adams bought at Dollar tree which is what we all use here in the states, the stuff that FT used before the switch to their brown water resistant stuff, is 20inches by 30inches in size, and weighs about 115 grams per sheet. So less than half the weight of the stuff you are looking at.
Heres a link to a FT article that compares the Adams stuff to a few others.
https://www.flitetest.com/articles/comparing-foam-board
 

daxian

Elite member
hi hyper...in the uk ! me too !
get on ebay ,i get mine there ...best i have found is cathedral a1 5 mm ...gone a bit pricey now though !!!
if you want the flite test foamboard check out model shop leeds...£3 pound a sheet though plus shipping ...
 

FDS

Elite member
I have made several larger FT designs out of 5mm Westfoam. All UK/EU board is a higher density than Adams. Adams do not ship internationally and have no plans to do so. Only FT brown board is the same density.
If you make larger planes in 5mm UK board, you have to extend the nose by 50-75mm to counter act the extra weight in the tail resulting from the greater density. Peeling the paper is a chore too, as noted above.
You can use 3mm instead, it will work with tweaks for all the smaller FT designs, but it costs nearly as much as FT board.
I just buy the speedbuild kits for mighty minis, since you then get all the hardware as well. Given that most of those are under £30 they are still cheap. At some point I might buy some FT board but marking and cutting out is a chore.
 

JBradders

New member
The stuff I have is 206.6g per A1 sheet (594 x 841mm)
Just measured a Flite Test board for comparison and it's 111.6g / 20x30" (510 x 755mm as measured)

So the UK stuff I've been using is 413 gsm vs 290 gsm for the waterproof Flite Test board; which is some 42% heavier.

NB. I've recently been using this seller on Ebay. Their boards are about as cheap as I can get them without having to buy huge quantities (pallet). I can also recommend them as one of my orders got bent double by the carrier and they happily replaced them with no fuss.

----

At some point I might buy some FT board but marking and cutting out is a chore.

I'm with you there.

I've had good success marking out all the cut lines using a slightly modified cheap vinyl cutter. The cutter's knife cuts through the top paper layer leaving a nice deep score line for a knife to follow (you don't even need a ruler).

With a fairly simple model (eg a Versa wing), using this method I can go from a blank foam board to being in the air in about an hour or so.

I also tend to scale up my models by 10% or so as the UK board I use is 5.4mm vs 4.8mm for Flite Test foam. This makes A&B folds fit much better and allows any tabs to fit together properly.
The extra size also makes some allowance for the additional weight of the denser & thicker foam.

The fact that A1 is pretty much exactly 10% larger in both dimensions than FT boards works out nicely as well.

---

Whereabouts in the UK are you?
If you're nearby I'd be happy to run some plans through the cutter for you.
 

Hyper46havoc

Active member
I've made a few ft planes now and have to add lead or a bigger motor/battery to get the cg correct. Even using thin card for rear turtle decks and minimal glue doesn't help enough. relocating the rud and elv servos to the front on my spit would help massively i feel. But really buying the ft fb in bulk looks the best way to go works out cheaper than I can get my normal stuff aswell. Plus with the new building techniques of the corsair i dont fancy peeling paper off the uk stuff it was the worst part about building the edge. I also enjoy the marking and cutting out Thanks all
 

CarolineTyler

Legendary member
I've made a few ft planes now and have to add lead or a bigger motor/battery to get the cg correct. Even using thin card for rear turtle decks and minimal glue doesn't help enough. relocating the rud and elv servos to the front on my spit would help massively i feel. But really buying the ft fb in bulk looks the best way to go works out cheaper than I can get my normal stuff aswell. Plus with the new building techniques of the corsair i dont fancy peeling paper off the uk stuff it was the worst part about building the edge. I also enjoy the marking and cutting out Thanks all
Using an iron makes the removal of the paper on westboard very easy but it's still going to come in much heavier.
 

FDS

Elite member
You likely couldn’t build some of the new designs in Westboard, the foam core is much stiffer.
Personally I try to build as light as possible, adding ballast seems counter productive. The FT board is not horribly expensive, it’s just harder for me to get, plus the already noted tedium of cutting. One day I will build my own laser cutter. I need one for other hobbies as well.
It always make me smile seeing how different people enjoy different aspects of building!
 

Hyper46havoc

Active member
Just doing the rear turtle deck on the edge was bad enough and the extra weight is a issue. I would like a laser cutter or needle cutter all in time a 3d printer would be a good starting point then you could build your own cutter
 

daxian

Elite member
@JBradders...like the vinyl cutter idea !!! what size is it and a link would be nice ...!!
i started the hobby in the early 60s and most of my builds where in balsa and plans came from model magazines...most builds took a month or so and were covered in tissue and dope ...it was a chore, but one i enjoyed !!!
so cutting out and building from ft plans and foamboard is a piece of cake !!!
tiling the plans and joining them together is the bit that i hate doing ...would quite happily bypass that with a vinyl cutter/laser...but im on a pension now so a laser is probably out of my budget...lol !!
 

Hyper46havoc

Active member
The stuff I have is 206.6g per A1 sheet (594 x 841mm)
Just measured a Flite Test board for comparison and it's 111.6g / 20x30" (510 x 755mm as measured)

So the UK stuff I've been using is 413 gsm vs 290 gsm for the waterproof Flite Test board; which is some 42% heavier.

NB. I've recently been using this seller on Ebay. Their boards are about as cheap as I can get them without having to buy huge quantities (pallet). I can also recommend them as one of my orders got bent double by the carrier and they happily replaced them with no fuss.

----



I'm with you there.

I've had good success marking out all the cut lines using a slightly modified cheap vinyl cutter. The cutter's knife cuts through the top paper layer leaving a nice deep score line for a knife to follow (you don't even need a ruler).

With a fairly simple model (eg a Versa wing), using this method I can go from a blank foam board to being in the air in about an hour or so.

I also tend to scale up my models by 10% or so as the UK board I use is 5.4mm vs 4.8mm for Flite Test foam. This makes A&B folds fit much better and allows any tabs to fit together properly.
The extra size also makes some allowance for the additional weight of the denser & thicker foam.

The fact that A1 is pretty much exactly 10% larger in both dimensions than FT boards works out nicely as well.

---

Whereabouts in the UK are you?
If you're nearby I'd be happy to run some plans through the cutter for you.
I missed this one sorry very good information thank you so much. I'm down south on the isle of wight so anything is a boat trip for me very kind offer tho. Will look into vinyl cutters
 

JBradders

New member
@JBradders...like the vinyl cutter idea !!! what size is it and a link would be nice ...!!

The one I have was £100 second hand which I bought for a one-off job doing sign work. It then sat gathering dust for a number of years. I's basically the same as this one (or this one @ full price).

While it'll technically handle an A1 sheet the pinch rollers would crush the foam, so a large cutting mat acts as movable bed in the X direction and the foam board is fixed to that with some 3M spray-mount and a bit of tape on the corners. (a single application of spray mount applied to the cutting mat remains tacky for weeks so can cut dozens of boards).

As the pinch rollers need space to ride on the cutting mat the foam boards need cutting down by at least a couple of inches to make room for the rollers. Rather than waste this space it can be accounted for when laying out the parts. eg. This 110% Guinea Pig (the thick blue lines are where the A1 board would be cut in two prior to each half separately being cut on the vinyl cutter.

As well as making a plywood infeed & outfeed table for the cutting mat to ride on I had to modify the pinch rollers of my cutter slightly so they didn't hang down at the rear and press down on the cutting mat (which would bend the mat and pop the foam off of it). I did this by removing the rocker part, cutting a bit of it away with a sharp knife then heating it up with a heat gun until pliable then bending the plastic slightly. Here's a before & after.

...I'm sure there are cutters which wouldn't need that modification and I'd advise getting one of those if possible, but the one I had did.

---

This post has gotten a bit off topic. Maybe this should be a separate discussion?
 

Hyper46havoc

Active member
The one I have was £100 second hand which I bought for a one-off job doing sign work. It then sat gathering dust for a number of years. I's basically the same as this one (or this one @ full price).

While it'll technically handle an A1 sheet the pinch rollers would crush the foam, so a large cutting mat acts as movable bed in the X direction and the foam board is fixed to that with some 3M spray-mount and a bit of tape on the corners. (a single application of spray mount applied to the cutting mat remains tacky for weeks so can cut dozens of boards).

As the pinch rollers need space to ride on the cutting mat the foam boards need cutting down by at least a couple of inches to make room for the rollers. Rather than waste this space it can be accounted for when laying out the parts. eg. This 110% Guinea Pig (the thick blue lines are where the A1 board would be cut in two prior to each half separately being cut on the vinyl cutter.

As well as making a plywood infeed & outfeed table for the cutting mat to ride on I had to modify the pinch rollers of my cutter slightly so they didn't hang down at the rear and press down on the cutting mat (which would bend the mat and pop the foam off of it). I did this by removing the rocker part, cutting a bit of it away with a sharp knife then heating it up with a heat gun until pliable then bending the plastic slightly. Here's a before & after.

...I'm sure there are cutters which wouldn't need that modification and I'd advise getting one of those if possible, but the one I had did.

---

This post has gotten a bit off topic. Maybe this should be a separate discussion?
I would definitely like a video of this cutting if possible looks a really affordable way of doing it thank you for taking your time to explain it. How hard is it to get the plans from pc to cutter?thanks again
 

JBradders

New member
I would definitely like a video of this cutting if possible looks a really affordable way of doing it thank you for taking your time to explain it. How hard is it to get the plans from pc to cutter?thanks again
Will make a video next time I'm doing some cutting (likely toward the end of next week).

Time to convert the PDF into a format suitable for the cutter depends largely on the model plans. The older style PDF plans are a bit quicker to convert. Probably about an hour or so per model once you've done a couple.

---

...Longer if you want to take the time to optimize all the path directions & line orders to minimize cutter head movements. I've found that it's when accelerating/decelerating from high-speed traversing maneuvers that the cutting mat can occasionally slip on the rollers so minimizing unnecessary traverses can help. Basic example showing cutter movements before/after optimizing.

I generally only bother with this if I know I'll be cutting several or the operation has lots of complicated cuts.
 

10tpeg

New member
I have made several larger FT designs out of 5mm Westfoam. All UK/EU board is a higher density than Adams. Adams do not ship internationally and have no plans to do so. Only FT brown board is the same density.
If you make larger planes in 5mm UK board, you have to extend the nose by 50-75mm to counter act the extra weight in the tail resulting from the greater density. Peeling the paper is a chore too, as noted above.
You can use 3mm instead, it will work with tweaks for all the smaller FT designs, but it costs nearly as much as FT board.
I just buy the speedbuild kits for mighty minis, since you then get all the hardware as well. Given that most of those are under £30 they are still cheap. At some point I might buy some FT board but marking and cutting out is a chore.

Hi. Newbie here from South Africa. Foamboard was really difficult to find here in anything bigger than A3. But I found some and decided to start with the Simple Scout. Realised once done beacause the c of g was way out that the bord was more dense than the FT stuff. On this plane it is easy to make a extension piece for the nose - with experimentation i have settled on 70mm. However, my next scratch build was going to be the cub. Any ideas on how to calculate the added nose length before I cut? Also thought of changing the design to move the WING back so it s adjustable......
 
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FDS

Elite member
If you move the wing too far back you lose what is called “moment” I think from the tail, it’s like moving the fulcrum in using levers, it makes the tail controls less effective and the plane more “pitchy.”
I would put a popsicle stick under the wing leading edge on the Cub to increase the wing incidence tho.
The nose extension is better being too long as you can cut it back. I run the next stator size bigger on motors with the heavy board and use a bigger battery to balance the tail.