Got to the fun part of scenery with insulation foam. I needed a gentle hill. Took a scrap of 2 inch foam, laid it on the layout, and drew the outline of the hill with a Sharpie. Quick trip thru the band saw got the outline cut. Quick pass thru the radial arm saw got a 45 degree slope on one side. A few minutes of carving with a bread knife from the kitchen got the rest of the hill contures, followed up with some work with a wood rasp. Plunked it down on the layout and neato, it starts putting some vertical challanges into an otherwise flat-as-a-pancake layout. Much less mess than plaster. Foam rules.
Faster too! No need to let it harden for days.
We have it pretty good now compared to ‘the good ole days’.
I too am a fan. Gentle hills but also cliffs and canyons. I use a steak knife, it has a point.
There are four or five videos on YouTube.com related to sculpting Styrofoam scenery. I have to admit, I learned a lot and enjoyed watching the presenter really “get into his work”.
When I got back into the hobby 2 1/2 years ago, I decided to go with this new-fangled thing called foam. Light weight, easy to use/cut/sculpt/work with. [tup]
Well, if one has a band saw and radial arm saw, pretty much anything rules [;)] I like foam, but it makes a huge mess, more so than plaster imo.
I use both, with hardshell being the majority.
Not that much sawdust (or foam dust) from the cutting. Shop vac sucked it all up no problem. Plaster, now that will make a real mess, especially if you get clumsy and spill something. Foam cuts just fine with hand tools, but I got power tools, so I use 'em. I don’t have one, but I hear that those electric carving knives work fine on foam.
No doubt; if I had such tools, I would use them too. But thats the point; most don’t, and another of my “complaints” with foam (besides the mess/cost); it takes a serious amount of elbow grease, all that cutting, carving, rasping, etc. by hand.
Even in the youtube videos mentioned earlier, most of the time, the guy sounds like he’s about to have a heart attack from all the effort being applied 
But options are always a good thing, and foam is a good option.
I have found a sharp utility knife, cut and snap for the basic shape works best. Further shaping I like a bread knife edge rather than a fine serrated edge. I have several knives with of different lengths and different edges. Sometimes I find one works better than the one I used on a different project. Don’t know if it is weather/temperature differences or the angle I happen to be cutting. I wasn’t impressed with an electric knife, but I only tried it once, it might work better shaping than trying for a full depth cuts. Hot wire cutter works well, but be sure to have good ventilation. Sanding sponges are good to smooth joints and edges, course leaves more texture to the surface.
Another thing I have seen mentioned to help with the “foamdust” created, is to get some anti-static spray and use it before cutting, seemed to help when I created a lot of little chips and dust.
Good luck,
Foam is great for carving. If you want finer detail try the Tripi foam cutter. Its a good way to get fine detail in your rocks. Its also less messy. It was purchased at a train show.
Bill D
Has anyone tried one of those powered carving knives (meant for carving turkeys and roasts) to carve foam? Seems to me it would seriously cut down on the physical effort.
OTOH, I haven’t found cutting foam with a steak knife to involve much physical effort - and I am most emphatically NOT a bodybuilder or weightlifter.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I love working with foam, in fact, I just purchased another 2’X8’ piece today. I use a variety of tools to shape the landscape with foam. I use fine blade saw for cutting the larger pieces, and I use hot knives and hot wire to do more refined cutting and shaping as well as rasp files. You are only limited by your own creativity when it comes to working with foam IMHO.
I’ve worked with the extruded foam for contouring, and also the ‘bubble’ type foam. I’ll take the extruded any day of the week. But for large mountains, I use the foam as a support ‘form’ and then cover it with WS plaster cloth and Sculptamold over newspaper filler. But that’s just me. I’ve seen photos of large stacked and carved foam mountains (Art Hill has some spectacular ones, BTW) and drooled, but I’ve yet to try that technique. However I sure like the results from what I’ve seen.
Tom [:D]
The bubble type styrofoam is too crude/lumpy for finish use, requires covering for decent results, but can be useful for underlying layers supporting the better extruded foam. It’s usually pretty cheap, at least!
The problem with a hot knife or wire is that they leave a smooth surface. A wire brush fixes that if you are making sedamentary rock but not for volcanic or granite. Tearing pieces off with a pointed steak knife makes granite style rocks better. With a little effot you can paint the carving without any top coat. Other times I put a coat of ground goop to tone down the sharp cuts some.
Hey All,
Here’s a quick slide show of my foam mountains and a tunnel all in one - click the slide show tab on the link below. The foam will be textured with water putty and become part of my newest layout I’m building.
http://home.mchsi.com/~ironmaster1963/wsb/html/view.cgi-photos.html-.html
Rules? Not quite… Highly useful? Definitely.
I find that when I cut foam with a band saw that there’s tons of pink saw dust (it looks sort of like The Cat in the Hat Comes Back where the pink cake frosting becomes a pink tub ring which becomes a pink yard, etc. And the freakin’ stuff is electrostatically charged so it tends to cling to everything. Yikes!
When sawing foam it’s best done some place away from the layout (outdoors!). If you must saw it in the layout room (or any other part of the house where clean counts) keep a vaccum nearby and clean up frequently. Sanding pink foam also produces huge amounts of pink sawdust.
The best way to cut foam in my experience is with some kind of hot wire or hot knife implement which melts the stuff instead of sawing it so there’s no pink sawdust at all. Someone mentioned the Tippi products I’ve no experience with 'em but have heard several recommendations from users. I’ve got the el-cheapo woodland scenics junk-meister hot wire cutter. Aside from the power switch needing repair, the plug becoming unreliable and needing to sometime push on the main forms (that the hot wire is attached to) it works fairly well. It’s tough though to cut really even/straight edges. I use a straightedge for a guide but still don’t get it qu
Nice job on the carving!