These new paper structures (and software to do your own) are interesting to me. The choices for backing up the paper are many. One poster suggests foam board. What exactly is foam board, how thick is it, and where do we get it?
Foam board can be found at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, AC Moore, etc., and is foam sandwiched between paper on each side, giving it rigidity and at the same time easy to cut. I have used it for bases for structures, and as a backing to give rigidity to printed textures, etc.
Foam board comes in a variety of thicknesses and colors, and is reasonably priced.
Hope this is helpful.
I use foam board for foundations on some structures. I never thought of using it as reinforcement in the walls of paper structures. I usually use cardstock for that. Thanks for posting this topic.
Hi,
I use glue sticks to fix my photo backdrops to foam board (the glue stick won’t bleed through my photos). Then, I use a sharp X-Acto blade to cut away the sky, etc. from the photo. The nice thing about using the foam board is that it gives my backdrops rigidity. At first, I used white foam board and then afterwards, I would paint the edge of the foam board black, to give the backdrops some depth. Then, I discovered that for a few cents more, I could buy foam board with black foam and black paper. It saves time to use the black.
Here are a few photos of my backdrops. The photos were taken with my digital camera and printed on Canon “Matte” photo paper on my home printer. Note that every “building” in the 3rd photo is a backdrop. By taking the photos at different angles, you can create the illusion of depth. In that 3rd photo, it is only a few inches from the track in the foreground to the sky backdrop, yet the scene looks much deeper.
I haven’t tried this yet, but I’m very interested in giving it a go.
I think because of its size, N scale is ideally suited for a photo paper building.
In N scale, anyway, I would probably try using sheet styrene to build it up. My layout is portable, so strength and durability are important to me. But styrene is also very easy to cut and glue, and is self-supporting.
Just a thought…
Looks like Mondotrains has a pretty neat idea in the backdrops. Nice work!
Foam board will warp, especially if you use too much water based glue. It causes the paper to shrink on one side. Small paper structures don’t require much more support than doubling up the paper. You can seal it (inside & out with dullcote). After that dries carefully brush Glosscote or gloss medium on the windows.
Large structures are another story. You can use foam board if you attach it with spray adhesive. Still a good idea to double up on the paper. Jerry
Those Priority Mail box’s are made of a thin high quality cardboard. I’ve used those for some of my low relief flats with photo prints of structures and Glue-Stick for mounting.
Hi,
I’m using the Evans Design software and have designed several buildings, but only built one so far. The one I built, I used foam board for the walls and so far, I haven’t seen any warping. I used SoBo glue to adhere the paper to the foamboard.
However, after having said that, I’m going to use chipboard for the next buildings. Mainly because that’s what Evans Designs recommends plus with the foam board, you have to take into account the thickness of the foam and add or subtract from the design as necessary. I"m in N scale, so I don’t believe I really need the foam board support.
We’ll see. I’ve only had the software for a little over a month and have very little experience with it, so it may take some experimenting.
Oh, and to answer your question, you can buy foam board just about anywhere, including Walmart.
Are foam board and Gator board 2 different things? I’ve seen MR do a couple articles about the Gator product.
Wouldn’t using a good quality 3M spray adhesive eliminate the warping?
Gator board is similar, but stronger; it is foam core laminated between two veneers of resin-impregnated wood fiber.
I model in n-scale, so Gator board would likely be “overkill”.
I’ve had no warping problems with foam board, and I use adhesive spray.
Mondo:
Suggestion:
I love the concept and the photography is good, but the perspective is wrong. Try shooting those buildings from the top floor of the building across the street so that you are looking at it from the angle you will be looking at it in the layout. That way they will not look like they are falling over backward.
Photoshop can correct some keystoning (perspective problems).
Here’s a link to download some FREE paper HO scale buildings…
Great post and great ideas. Now I got things to do when I’m tired of customizing locomotives.
Here’s a great site where hundreds of textures are available for printing. Free!
For my paper mock up of the NH Old Saybrook station, I printed on matte paper and used spray photo mount to adhere it to cereal box card stock.
The secret to prevent warping is to cut them about a quarter of an inch oversize, notch the corners, and score the backs with an xacto knife using a steel ruler. The flap is then folded inward and makes a nice rigidizing member to prevent warping and curling. Since these are just temporary buildings for my mockup of the station area module they do’t have to last forever.
Thanks for those free links, GWR and Tom. [tup]
I don’t know who would use the bone textures aside from H.R. Giger. Maybe I can finally build that ship from Alien. [alien]
There is a British company called Scale Scenes that features British structures, but their free freight station (or “goods store”) is generic enough.