Hello everyone,
A long time ago I purchased a few 4 x 8 sheets of Polyterrain also known as blue board. This product as many of you know is used for scenery building. My issue is that I can’t find this product anywhere BUT did find something similar called POLYSTYRENE.
My question is, can I use this expanded polystyrene foam board for scenery? Has anyone here used it on their layout?
Thanks for the replys.
Is the poly the white stuff that is made out of little white balls? If so no. I have used it for fill so I didn’t have to buy so much blue (or pink) foam board.
What part of the world are you located? [%-)]
Lee
Not sure exactly what you have. Is it the white stuff, sort of like the packing material, beadboard? If so, it isn’t as strong and is much messier to cut (if such is possible). It can be used, but would recommend using it in as big a piece as possible, under other materials, so that you do not end up carving it to shape your layout. If it is sort of tan colored with a paper coating and has the texture of floral foam, I haven’t heard of many folks using that, but some may.
A little better discription might get you some more answers.
Good luck,
I also have problems with not being able to find styrofoam sheets which they use in packaging materials. Can also only find the beaded Polystyrene which crumbles too easy, but what i found is that they call it by the name of unbeaded polystyrene here.
Ive used beaded polystyrene when i tried to build a model castle but it crumbled a lot in corners so it isnt good to use on a model train layout.
Btw i’m in south africa.
Like any product it is fine if you know how to use it. Only try to cut enough so you can use your hot wire cutter to carve near the final shape, the white stuff you can not shape like the blue and cannot be used as a final surface (you need to cover it with things like plaster cloth).
I just bought 4 sheets great stuff to work with its sandable and you can cut it with a jig saw with out too much clean up. They say its the same stuff our rr cars are made from. So far I like the results i use a small hand saw to cut it in half to make walls for tunnels, the saw makes realistic looking rock walls and tunnel portals if you take your time with a straight edge and a sharp saw and some medium sandpaper does wonders. I live on the border of Pa. and Ohio ,got mine from Lowe’s about 23.00 for a 4x8 sheet.
I just Googled Polyterrain and found a source that said the owner passed away, and the product is no longer available. But based on your description, what you want is extruded (not expanded or beadboad) polystyrene board used in the construction industry. The blue stuff is Dow “Styrofoam;” the pink stuff is Owens-Corning “Foamular.” Many people make the mistake of calling any foamed plastic board “Styrofoam,” but that is incorrect.
There are other extruded polystyrene, urethane and polyisocyanurate foam boards (and perhaps other extruded foams that I cannot recall), but it seems that the typical model railroader uses the blue or pink products above. Extruded, closed-cell foam boards are much easier with which to work.
Dante