Ross Foamboard. Has it completely disappeared??

[PlaneMaker1968]

I searched the forum for details on the (apparently) new crisis of "I can't find Ross foamboard anywhere!"
I've searched walmart for different locations all over the US, and I can't find a single location that has it in stock, so I'm wondering what's going on with it.
Does anyone know?
I pulled up their website, which has paper rolls for sale, etc., but no mention of foamboard.
I found their Facebook page and sent them a message. Not sure if they'll get back to me, but it was worth a try.
I'd probably order 25 boxes of it or so, if that were possible, because the DTFB here is so wavy that it's like building an airplane out of flattened golf balls.

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Moderators, please move this thread if it's not allowed here!

 

[Foamforce]

It‘s around. I walked into a Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago and they got me a full box out of the back. Others have been out of stock. Good luck!

 

[Merv]

...Any info would be greatly appreciated!....

I’ve noticed the same thing, no Ross fb anywhere.

 

[kdobson83]

Yup, the Ross board at Walmart does appear to have been discontinued. Not even available to purchase online. BUT, it does appear that Walmart has replaced the void with their own brand, at least I think its their brand, Pen+Gear.

Looks like its $3 a piece. In stock at my Walmart. I'm half tempted to stop and grab a sheet of this today to compare it to the Dollar Tree stuff. If I do, I will report back here.

 

[Foamforce]

It‘s around. I walked into a Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago and they got me a full box out of the back. Others have been out of stock. Good luck!

Oops! I just realized your said Ross and not DTFB. No, I haven’t seen that lately either.

 

[PlaneMaker1968]

Okay, I heard back from Ross Company today, and they have, in fact, discontinued making foamboard altogether. They told me to check Elmers, which was nice of them, but not really good news! I know that the Elmers foamboard is almost twice the weight, and I've heard that it's crazy strong. I hope that @kdobson83 does report back on the PenGear replacement stuff from WallyWorld. It looks right, but I wonder how flat it is? The DTFB is CRAZY WAVY! and WARPED. Uggghhh.

 

[PlaneMaker1968]

If ONLY I'd known, I would have purchased a semi-load of Ross foamboard from Walmart. I used my last sheet the other day, and I was amazed at how FLAT it was, still!

 

[Merv]

My Walmart also has the pen & gear foam board. It looks and feels a lot like Ross.
It looked like they had two different choices, a strong that was $3 per sheet and the regular that was $1 per sheet. The display was mixed up, it was hard to tell what was what. They also had some thinner sheets, maybe 3mm, not sure if that’s the $1 stuff.

 

[Yordle]

I found out the hard way that the ross foam board is about double the weight of dtfb i accidently built my first plane out of it and it was tailheavy and i rebuild it again with dollar tree stuff and it was fine. I guess they changed it before the got rid of it.

 

[Tench745]

Ross used to be lighter, but has gained weight lately. Probably not the biggest loss that it has gone away, though it was still better than Elmer's. I'm also interested to hear what the weights are on the Pen Gear stuff.

 

[kdobson83]

@PlaneMaker1968 My Walmart did indeed have the Pen+Gear stuff. It was mostly flat, a handful of the boards had a slight warp to them but they didn't seem wavy or anything. I didn't see 2 different types as stated above by @Merv but I also had no idea they had different types so wasn't looking for that. The one I got was indeed listed as "Ultra Strong" and was just under $3. It did feel heavier than the Dollar Tree stuff, but it also felt stiffer, MUCH stiffer. On one side of the foam, it has a grid printed on it. This could be an issue with pieces that you will see both sides like tail feathers, but it was very faint and only visible up close.

Dollar Tree Foam Board weight = 115 grams per sheet
Pen+Gear Foam Board weight = 183 grams per sheet.

So not horrible, but it was heavy enough I could tell the difference holding it. This stuff might be good for bigger builds, or maybe just on the more delicate parts like tail feathers or stabilizers where your only 1 board thick, but I personally probably wouldn't use this stuff for a whole build.

I have had the same issue as you in the past digging through what's left on the floors of Dollar Tree trying to find the best quality foam board. Most are warped from sitting out on the sales floor or have damage on them. They had none on the floor the last time I went. But I have peeked in the back room before and knew they have almost as much product in the back room boxed up waiting to go onto the floor as they do on the floor. I asked an employee and they came back with a full (20 count) un-opened box. I bought the whole thing, box and all. Going through the box, it appears most if not all boards are flat and in perfect shape. Just a tip for anyone reading this. If they have none on the floor, grab an employee to check the back room.

 

[Piotrsko]

Be careful about DTFB. My last visit showed 3 different thicknesses and weights in the same box

 

[PlaneMaker1968]

@PlaneMaker1968 My Walmart did indeed have the Pen+Gear stuff. It was mostly flat, a handful of the boards had a slight warp to them but they didn't seem wavy or anything. I didn't see 2 different types as stated above by @Merv but I also had no idea they had different types so wasn't looking for that. The one I got was indeed listed as "Ultra Strong" and was just under $3. It did feel heavier than the Dollar Tree stuff, but it also felt stiffer, MUCH stiffer. On one side of the foam, it has a grid printed on it. This could be an issue with pieces that you will see both sides like tail feathers, but it was very faint and only visible up close.

Dollar Tree Foam Board weight = 115 grams per sheet
Pen+Gear Foam Board weight = 183 grams per sheet.

So not horrible, but it was heavy enough I could tell the difference holding it. This stuff might be good for bigger builds, or maybe just on the more delicate parts like tail feathers or stabilizers where your only 1 board thick, but I personally probably wouldn't use this stuff for a whole build.

I have had the same issue as you in the past digging through what's left on the floors of Dollar Tree trying to find the best quality foam board. Most are warped from sitting out on the sales floor or have damage on them. They had none on the floor the last time I went. But I have peeked in the back room before and knew they have almost as much product in the back room boxed up waiting to go onto the floor as they do on the floor. I asked an employee and they came back with a full (20 count) un-opened box. I bought the whole thing, box and all. Going through the box, it appears most if not all boards are flat and in perfect shape. Just a tip for anyone reading this. If they have none on the floor, grab an employee to check the back room.

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I spent HOURS online the other day researching all the different choices out there. I'm not willing to spend $5 to $25 a sheet for the stuff because most of my builds are 3d-printed. If I had to, I can reproduce the parts in Fusion 360 and 3d print the foam parts out of LW-PLA, which doesn't weigh any more. The 3d-printed wheels on my FT-Flyer, I printed this afternoon, for $0.21 each, and they only weigh 9 grams each. That being said, the foamboard builds are SO fast and easy to build, especially for my daughter. Teaching her to fly, we have lots of bumps and bruises, and it's nice that if a plane just gets trashed, we can easily make another one the next day. The same goes for 3d-printed, except we're probably taking a few days to print all of the parts.
I haven't tried getting the whole box at Dollar Tree, but that's on my agenda for tomorrow. I checked a few days ago in the aisle, and they didn't have any. So, hopefully they don't run out. Why on Earth would Ross quit making it???? Attached are pics of two of my foamies, they're both FT-Flyers. So easy to fly! PS, doesn't everyone's work table look as bad as mine? I hope so!

 

[kdobson83]

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I spent HOURS online the other day researching all the different choices out there. I'm not willing to spend $5 to $25 a sheet for the stuff because most of my builds are 3d-printed. If I had to, I can reproduce the parts in Fusion 360 and 3d print the foam parts out of LW-PLA, which doesn't weigh any more. The 3d-printed wheels on my FT-Flyer, I printed this afternoon, for $0.21 each, and they only weigh 9 grams each. That being said, the foamboard builds are SO fast and easy to build, especially for my daughter. Teaching her to fly, we have lots of bumps and bruises, and it's nice that if a plane just gets trashed, we can easily make another one the next day. The same goes for 3d-printed, except we're probably taking a few days to print all of the parts.
I haven't tried getting the whole box at Dollar Tree, but that's on my agenda for tomorrow. I checked a few days ago in the aisle, and they didn't have any. So, hopefully they don't run out. Why on Earth would Ross quit making it???? Attached are pics of two of my foamies, they're both FT-Flyers. So easy to fly! PS, doesn't everyone's work table look as bad as mine? I hope so!

Yup. I love the FT Flyer. Was the first plane I had success with. Am in the process of building one for my son right now. He has a Tiny Trainer, Tenet, and a Tutor but I wanted one that I'd be more willing to let him solo with. The FT Flyer is so easy to repair/rebuild I figured it was a good choice. Trying to get him flying solo so we can both fly in combat this year at FF.

I dabble in 3D printing as well. Have printed tons of parts but never a whole plane. I've been wanting to experiment with LWPLA or the stuff FT uses to print their wheels, but haven't put the time into it yet.

 

[Tench745]

@PlaneMaker1968 My Walmart did indeed have the Pen+Gear stuff. It was mostly flat, a handful of the boards had a slight warp to them but they didn't seem wavy or anything. I didn't see 2 different types as stated above by @Merv but I also had no idea they had different types so wasn't looking for that. The one I got was indeed listed as "Ultra Strong" and was just under $3. It did feel heavier than the Dollar Tree stuff, but it also felt stiffer, MUCH stiffer. On one side of the foam, it has a grid printed on it. This could be an issue with pieces that you will see both sides like tail feathers, but it was very faint and only visible up close.

Dollar Tree Foam Board weight = 115 grams per sheet
Pen+Gear Foam Board weight = 183 grams per sheet.

So not horrible, but it was heavy enough I could tell the difference holding it. This stuff might be good for bigger builds, or maybe just on the more delicate parts like tail feathers or stabilizers where your only 1 board thick, but I personally probably wouldn't use this stuff for a whole build.

I have had the same issue as you in the past digging through what's left on the floors of Dollar Tree trying to find the best quality foam board. Most are warped from sitting out on the sales floor or have damage on them. They had none on the floor the last time I went. But I have peeked in the back room before and knew they have almost as much product in the back room boxed up waiting to go onto the floor as they do on the floor. I asked an employee and they came back with a full (20 count) un-opened box. I bought the whole thing, box and all. Going through the box, it appears most if not all boards are flat and in perfect shape. Just a tip for anyone reading this. If they have none on the floor, grab an employee to check the back room.

I checked out the Pen+Gear stuff the other day too. I was not impressed. It felt about the same weight as the old Ross board, but the thickness varied significantly across the sheet, worse so than the DTFB usually is. I couldn't tell for sure how much of this was damage to the sheet and how much was from manufacturing. I passed on buying any.

 

[Ohio3D]

You can find DTFB (Adams Readi-board) at Dollar General stores and it's still $1 a sheet.

 

[Merv]

At my local Walmart, they had at least 2 types of Pen & Gear fb. The ultra strong, which is about $3/sheet, it's also thinner. The regular sheet is very much like Ross fb, cost about $1/sheet. It weights in at 138g compared to 114g for Adams according to my scale.

The P&G is much flatter than DTFB, similar to Ross. I just took the paper off a corner, it peals easily, similar to DTFB.

The regular is on the left, the darker blue label.