goodmode
New member
Good morning, pilots!
First, a disclaimer and a greeting. I'm not a plane hobbyist myself - I'm from next door, in the neighbouring world of dioramas and TTRPGs. I've been scouring the web for advice regarding UK foamboard and it seems the best answers are coming from model plane hobbyists, so I'm here hat-in-hand hoping to get some advice straight from the source. If this kind of angle isn't welcome, do let me know and I'll graciously leave you all to it. Otherwise, thank you so much in advance, and happy crafting
I was hoping to get some advice on foamboard in the UK. I'm getting into making fantasy-themed dioramas and set-pieces for tabletop gaming for myself and my friends, though it's quickly turning into a deep dive - foamboard seems incredibly useful for dioramas and it takes texture quite well, so I was hoping to use it for stonework, bricks, and the like. Advice online is very often hard to come by from UK residents - most of the advice is to "just go buy XYZ at Lowe's/your local hardware store/Wal-Mart" which is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard if you don't live in the USA.
Onto the specifics: I purchased some Cathedral brand foamboard from Ryman's, but I'm finding the paper backing is nigh impossible to remove.
I've tried nearly every method suggested out there, with mixed results:
Iron - I don't think I have the temperature quite right; it seems to melt the foamboard, but any lower setting and it doesn't seem to melt the glue. Additionally, there's a horrible smell regardless of whether the plastic seems to be melting or not - not sure if it's something about the paper itself, but it's certainly not my iron as it doesn't smell like this when I do clothes. I'm willing to give it another shot and more time at a lower temperature... but the stuff certainly doesn't feel it's working as easily as in this video or these images. I may be doing something wrong, so I'll have another go soon.
Hot water - This works a bit. Soaking the foamboard in water (have tried cold, warm, and hot, to negligible changes in results) and then rubbing it with my fingertips or a cloth will "roll" the wet paper off in little chunky rolled-up bits at a time. The bits get absolutely everywhere, and it takes about 30 precious minutes of my life and probably some progress towards a tendon injury to be sure I've gotten nearly all the paper off one side of an A4 piece. That amount of time for "ugh, I can't stand to do this any more - good enough!" doesn't feel worth it.
IPA - I had some 99.9% IPA left over from cleaning some electronics earlier in the year. I found I have to use quite a lot of IPA for just one sheet, and the paper has to be soaked and stay soaked while I peel it, which is a challenge as it evaporates/dries quickly. The fumes are also rather a lot to contend with. As with all methods I've been working in a well-ventilated space but there's only so much that can be done with open windows and a ventilating oven hood.
I got the best results with IPA, though you can still see the pockmarks where I've had to try and go back in and remove little scraps here and there and accidentally nicked the fragile board with my nails (see image below).
Additionally, to my disappointment, it seems that something about the way the paper is fixed to the board in the manufacturing process leaves behind this diamond-shaped pattern, which isn't ideal for dioramas as no amount of stone-texturing can hide this, and when painted up it's very obvious and ruins the effect. This is a bonus question (as I imagine this pattern isn't much of a problem for plane modelling), but if anyone has any suggestions for different brands of foamboard that DON'T have this pattern underneath (and/or that peel well, and are easy to get hold of in the UK), please let me know.
I've been trying to avoid Amazon as I don't like giving my money to that company, but I expect I may find myself desperate enough soon, so any suggestions are welcome and I'm not ruling it out - I would just prefer to shop elsewhere if possible. I've seen Adams Readiboard recommended a lot but as I've said I'm not sure how feasible/expensive it will be to get hold of that in the UK...
I've also seen hairdryers recommended to warm up the glue to let it peel better, much like the iron; if anyone has any luck with this let me know - I think I'll be trying that next but I don't have high hopes.
Thank you so much to anyone who managed to read this far, and I appreciate any and all advice tossed my way. I appreciate that some of the issues I'm having with foamboard probably don't fall into the category that aeroplane crafters need to worry about - but when I'm stuck with a hobby material, I often find knocking on the door of the neighbouring hobby is a good bet.
Regardless of whether anyone can help me, thanks a ton, and I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Happy crafting
First, a disclaimer and a greeting. I'm not a plane hobbyist myself - I'm from next door, in the neighbouring world of dioramas and TTRPGs. I've been scouring the web for advice regarding UK foamboard and it seems the best answers are coming from model plane hobbyists, so I'm here hat-in-hand hoping to get some advice straight from the source. If this kind of angle isn't welcome, do let me know and I'll graciously leave you all to it. Otherwise, thank you so much in advance, and happy crafting
I was hoping to get some advice on foamboard in the UK. I'm getting into making fantasy-themed dioramas and set-pieces for tabletop gaming for myself and my friends, though it's quickly turning into a deep dive - foamboard seems incredibly useful for dioramas and it takes texture quite well, so I was hoping to use it for stonework, bricks, and the like. Advice online is very often hard to come by from UK residents - most of the advice is to "just go buy XYZ at Lowe's/your local hardware store/Wal-Mart" which is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard if you don't live in the USA.
Onto the specifics: I purchased some Cathedral brand foamboard from Ryman's, but I'm finding the paper backing is nigh impossible to remove.
I've tried nearly every method suggested out there, with mixed results:
Iron - I don't think I have the temperature quite right; it seems to melt the foamboard, but any lower setting and it doesn't seem to melt the glue. Additionally, there's a horrible smell regardless of whether the plastic seems to be melting or not - not sure if it's something about the paper itself, but it's certainly not my iron as it doesn't smell like this when I do clothes. I'm willing to give it another shot and more time at a lower temperature... but the stuff certainly doesn't feel it's working as easily as in this video or these images. I may be doing something wrong, so I'll have another go soon.
Hot water - This works a bit. Soaking the foamboard in water (have tried cold, warm, and hot, to negligible changes in results) and then rubbing it with my fingertips or a cloth will "roll" the wet paper off in little chunky rolled-up bits at a time. The bits get absolutely everywhere, and it takes about 30 precious minutes of my life and probably some progress towards a tendon injury to be sure I've gotten nearly all the paper off one side of an A4 piece. That amount of time for "ugh, I can't stand to do this any more - good enough!" doesn't feel worth it.
IPA - I had some 99.9% IPA left over from cleaning some electronics earlier in the year. I found I have to use quite a lot of IPA for just one sheet, and the paper has to be soaked and stay soaked while I peel it, which is a challenge as it evaporates/dries quickly. The fumes are also rather a lot to contend with. As with all methods I've been working in a well-ventilated space but there's only so much that can be done with open windows and a ventilating oven hood.
I got the best results with IPA, though you can still see the pockmarks where I've had to try and go back in and remove little scraps here and there and accidentally nicked the fragile board with my nails (see image below).
Additionally, to my disappointment, it seems that something about the way the paper is fixed to the board in the manufacturing process leaves behind this diamond-shaped pattern, which isn't ideal for dioramas as no amount of stone-texturing can hide this, and when painted up it's very obvious and ruins the effect. This is a bonus question (as I imagine this pattern isn't much of a problem for plane modelling), but if anyone has any suggestions for different brands of foamboard that DON'T have this pattern underneath (and/or that peel well, and are easy to get hold of in the UK), please let me know.
I've been trying to avoid Amazon as I don't like giving my money to that company, but I expect I may find myself desperate enough soon, so any suggestions are welcome and I'm not ruling it out - I would just prefer to shop elsewhere if possible. I've seen Adams Readiboard recommended a lot but as I've said I'm not sure how feasible/expensive it will be to get hold of that in the UK...
I've also seen hairdryers recommended to warm up the glue to let it peel better, much like the iron; if anyone has any luck with this let me know - I think I'll be trying that next but I don't have high hopes.
Thank you so much to anyone who managed to read this far, and I appreciate any and all advice tossed my way. I appreciate that some of the issues I'm having with foamboard probably don't fall into the category that aeroplane crafters need to worry about - but when I'm stuck with a hobby material, I often find knocking on the door of the neighbouring hobby is a good bet.
Regardless of whether anyone can help me, thanks a ton, and I hope everyone has a wonderful day. Happy crafting
