Working with FoamCore

[Germund]

After a night of insomnia, and browsing the custom terrain forum, I decided to take the plunge and try to make some stuff of my own. I'm trying to make a quicksand piece, but have run into some problems working with the foam core.

1. What is the best way to cut the foam core to fit? I tried using a hobby knife to cut out the piece, but found that it is very difficult to cut out all the zigs and zags that allow the pieces to interlock. Do you make these pieces interlocking? or do you just do a general fit w/o the interlocking fiddly bits?

Second, I found that my knife went easily through the top piece of cardboard, and through the foam, but the bottom piece of cardboard did not cut. I peeled off the back, thinking that top and bottom were interchangeable. I was wrong. I ended up butchering the piece trying to make it fit. How do I cut through the bottom piece of cardboard so that the piece will fit with other HS pieces?

2. Roughing up the foam core. I used coarse sand paper for texture and my test piece looked pretty good, is this this what is best to use? or are there other ways to rough up the foam?

Thanks

Bruce

[nyys]

One of the best refernece sites to use for building just about any type of terrain is terragenesis.co.uk.

For roughing up the foam, you can paint a glue/sand mix onto the foam which will give it texture. Paint it up and you won't even know it was sand.

Here's some of my work. I don't use any of it in Scape, but it's the same building process.

[nicktheant]

First I use a Xacto knife to cut foam core. They are super sharp and easy to use.

Second to cut all the way through I usually slide my knife through the entire piece about 4 times to make it all the way through.

Third I also use sand paper to rough it up, It's an easy and quick way to add texture.

I hope this cleared things up.

Edit: Dang it! nyys Beat me to it!

[MI_Tiger]

Be warned that foam (including foam core) is surprisingly hard on knife blades. X-acto knives work well, but be prepared to change blades frequently. A dull blade will tear rather than cut which just makes a big mess. If you want to work with just foam (pink insulation from Home Depot works well), you can get a heated wire foam cutter from a craft store. I have a cheap one from Michaels (less than $15) that runs off batteries and works well (but I use it seldomly - I've heard that it goes through batteries in a hurry if you use it a lot).

For interlocking with official terrain, the easiest way is to mount your custom on official pieces. It will be very difficult, or at least very time consuming, to carve the interlocking "teeth".

For foam core, I would suggest cutting the piece to fit without worrying about the teeth. For a cleaner look, you can leave the paper backing on one side slightly oversized (cut it carefully). This overhang will cover the teeth from the adjacent official terrain. The piece will be held in place by surrounding it with official terrain.

It is also pretty easy to make a custom piece that sits on top of terrain. Foam core is pretty thick for this, but I've found that the paper intended for cutting mattes for framed pictures works well - it is stiff but thin.

[Onacara]

Another suggestion is to use craft foam sheets to make the outside texture of the walls. They are cheap and can be "carved" with a #2 pencil.

See Raud's custom terrain thread for some examples of it in action.

You can then cut the core of the walls out of anything including corrugated cardboard.

[Scape_Scrub11]

I hate foam core. I have to use it in one of my structures classes at school. But I find using an exacto knife is the best way to cut through it.

[Germund]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I made templates out of foam core for each of the 1,2,3,7 hex pieces (without the interlocking fiddly bits) and then made up a bunch of pieces. They fit in well enough - not perfectly, but they'll do for my son and I. I'm working on how to paint them now. I've got one pretty decent quicksand piece on the go, and I think I'll do some larger water and swamp hexes too.

Bruce

[Zaukrie]

I'd not recommend hot wire cutters, if you move to other foam. The fumes are highly toxic. That said, it is probably the best way to get a clean cut. My son and I are making Helm's deep, and the cuts aren't pretty right now (part of that is that he is 11, but his cuts are getting better). Sharp knives are KEY.

[nyys]

Well, hot wire cutters are meant for well ventilated areas.

[Markb97402]

Im currently building a paper model city for heroscape. In my first try, i tried cutting pieces out of posterboard that was hex edged to fit with heroscape pieces. But the slight size difference i would have would be more and more noticeable when you started lining up 30 or 40 hexes worth of pieces. So I started over, mounting all of my buildings and terrain pieces on square foamcore boards, with the pattern printed out in a way to form a complete hex grid across the entire board on which to stack whatever offical heroscape terrain i wanted to use. This worked alot better for me then trying to make pieces that line up with heroscape pieces perfectly.

Also, while not foamcore related. I also have had some good success with making interlocking pieces by using terracotta self drying clay, and making a cookie cutter out of some interlocked hexes.

[GeneralRolando]

Foam Core is evil! Tis of the devil. I use illustration board. Good for painting, building, and most of my projects. But whatever works for you.