Experimenting with foam

akjgardner Wed Feb 07, 2024 12:46 pm

I have been experimenting with using foam from packages I’ve received . Im building a FW 190 with slab sides and foam turtle deck and cockpit area. I’ve noticed that if you paint the foam with watered down white glue , it enables it to be painted without melting the foam. I used this technique on my recent p40 built and now my FW 190

ffkiwi Wed Feb 07, 2024 9:08 pm

This quite an old trick....in the 70s when foam wings started to become popular for larger R/C models....which back then meant .40-.60 sized airframes, one of the 'economy finish' trick-as opposed to sheeting with balsa or obeche veneer, was to cover the foam wing with good quality brown paper attached with PVA glue. This gave a good surface that then withstood minor dings and provided a good surface for painting. 'butchers' paper' was often recommended-but I imagine any kind of reasonably solid brown wrapping paper would have proved adequate.

[With the way NZ is going phasing out plastics-particular single use supermarket bags....brown paper bags have made a reappearance in our supermarkets-I imagine it will not be too long before brown paper generally makes a wider reappearance in packaging....!]

ChrisM
'ffkiwi'

PS For akjgarnner in particular-it strikes me that PVA is a thermoplastic, and these days forms the basis of such covering aid products such as 'balsaloc' and 'covergrip'....but others in the past found-in the age of plastic coverings-that normal PVA could be heated with a covering iron to re-attach covering where it had lifted. I'm not aware of people ironing brown paper on to a PVA'd surface-but there would seem to be no reason why it wouldn't work once the glue layer was dry.....this might open up another variation on your current method-and perhaps a better surface for painting, hmm?

Coxfledgling Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:27 am

Yes, with increasing prices of raw materials the more financially embarised of us aeromodellers have gone back to the old days.

Coloured wrapping paper, car body shop masking paper, cereal packet cardboard, corrugated cardboard, packaging white foam etc., etc., etc.....reuse, repurpose, recycle...

So many people these days, particularly RC types, just buy a foamy.....thier choosing, I have two myself.

I still prefer the practise of "skip diving", which may be called dumpster diving in USA.

I have never thought a lot of cheque book engineers, not a lot of good in a survival situation.

NEW222 Sat Feb 10, 2024 12:39 pm

ffkiwi wrote:[With the way NZ is going phasing out plastics-particular single use supermarket bags....brown paper bags have made a reappearance in our supermarkets-I imagine it will not be too long before brown paper generally makes a wider reappearance in packaging....!]

ChrisM
'ffkiwi'

It may only get worse from there..... In Canada here, we have already phased out the plastic bags. Then there are no more plastic straws, only paper or cardboard ones in restaurants and fast food joints. Oh yeah, don't even get me started on the plastic take-out cutlery that is also no longer.... Mc D's has a bamboo 'spork' that is absolutely useless, and has a distinct flavor every time it is used! It is NOT McD's fault as they were regulated as such. But lets not talk about the plastic lids on the take-out drinks, and how about the paper straws that come with kids drinking boxes that are, yes, wrapped in plastic.......

Sponsored content

Experimenting with foam

Experimenting with foam

Re: Experimenting with foam

Models

Re: Experimenting with foam

Re: Experimenting with foam