This was brought too my atention
Should I be concered about future problems to come up if I didn’t remove this plastic from the foam? Because I didn’t :(. No one ever mentioned to me anything about this.
Ive never seen a plastic skin on foam insulation board (the pink and blue stuff). Is it on certain brands?
I believe there are some different varieties of foam sold out there. The first time I had gone to buy my insulation foam, I noticed this material with the plastic cover as well.
The insulation foam that is normally used, like the Owens Corning variety, does not have any sort of plastic cover that needs to be removed.
But If I don’t remove the plastic will it cause problems?
I would say, carefully, that if your adhesive stuck to the plastic you’ll probably be ok.
The white elmers glue stuck to it, So does that mean I’m relativly safe?
The one-inch pink foam I used had this thin film on both sides. It is to help the foam panel resist damage. It is stuck to the foam pretty well. If you use glue that sticks to foam, it should stick equally as well to the film so I don’t think there should be a problem. My foam was Dupont, by the way.
I would trim around your roadbed and remove what you can now before you add any scenery. You may want to sink some spikes through the roadbed into the foam to be on the safe side. Maybe run some more glue down the sides of the roadbad. It wouldn’t be a good thing if that plastic came loose.
I remove the plastic from my foam. I noticed that there were bubbles between the foam and plastic covering in some spots on the sheets. It peels off really easily. I don’t see where it would be a future problem, but I took “the better safe than sorry” route.
Ummm…I didn’t notice the plastic covering either until most of the scenery was down.[:I] It seems this plastic film is on only the one inch variety of foam. I used liquid nails to laminate two inch to one inch foam so I’d have some dimensional depth for a pond and stream. So far, the only problem I’ve had is when I’m used a sharp knife to cut the stream bed. The plastic film peeled back a little but I just cut it off with a scissors and continued on my merry way. I haven’t found anything coming loose from the film and the film itself is stuck on the foam pretty good unless you intentionally peel it off (which is probably the right thing to do before you start with scenery).
Problems with cutting the foam with the covering on is why I removed it in the first place. Like I said, I don’t see a problem with leaving it on. Time will tell I suppose.
The “skin” is actually a moisture barrier, since the foam is porous, humidity would be able to travel through it. We built our last portable layout with 2 layers of 1" foam, and removed the “skin” before laminating. It may not ever matter, but we decided on “better safe than sorry” route. Since you’ve already glued your cork, I wouldn’t worry about it unless something happens. Worst case, simply shoot a little white glue under the problem area, and let it dry. Problem fixed.
Brad
Ok, Il Remove what I can now and leave whats down, down.
The fan-fold underlayment I’m using came with clear film on one side and silver foil on the other. I peeled off the foil (to prevent unwanted electrical problems with my switch point pivots, long wire nails which go all the way through the foam and into the plywood beneath it.) It wasn’t very cooperative. The clear plastic was even less cooperative - I think it had been sprayed on.
After the first sheet, I didn’t bother to peel the clear film. Latex caulk sticks to it just fine - but then, latex caulk sticks to just about everything!
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)