is 3 Feet X 3 feet X 2 inch high reasonable for 18 dollars or is it expensive. Is this amount enough for a mountains or do i need to buy more than 1 of these sheets.
Scott
EDIT: I’m in South Africa everythings overpriced glad its not more than double your price
And the size of mountain i’m thinking of is for Layout 10.5 feet X 3 Feet. My idea is to make Whole place in a mountain Scene with bridges and tunnels and valleys. I got the Layout plan for tracks if u want me to try get picture of it. Its from my Lima Layout Book.
I think that’s high. It’s also an odd size. Is this a scrap someone is trying to sell for more than it’s worth?
I haven’t priced this stuff for a while, but when I bought mine a few years back, I think a 2x8 sheet was about $20. That’s 16 square feet, so it would be $1.25 per square foot. At $18 for a 3x3, your price is $2 a square foot.
A number of people have had luck going to Home Depot and looking for “damaged” pieces, and then negotiating on price. Others would go to construction sites, when there used to be construction sites, and dumpster dive for scraps.
Has anyone bought foam recently? What did you pay for it?
By the way, if you’re on a tight budget, you can use the white “beaded” foam to build up mountains. It’s not as strong as the extruded stuff, and it makes a mess when you cut it, but for a non-structural mountain on top of something solid, it will do the job. Most electronics or appliance dealers would probably be happy to give you as much of this stuff from their back room as you can haul away. When they open boxes and take stuff out, this is just garbage to them.
“Is this amount enough for a mountains or do i need to buy more than 1 of these sheets.”
Poorly asked question - what scale, HO, Z, G? How big a mountain. I’d like to give you an answer, but it could be between 1/2 of 1 piece and 30 pieces, depending on how big a mountain!!
I have used about 30 4x8x2 sheet to get my canyon. It takes a lot. I get all mine from construction sites. I do not know if that is a possibility in your area. On a large project they will toss out dozens of half sheets and smaller.
Give the man a break…did you bother to look at his user name and notice he’s from South Africa and maybe, just maybe English isn’t his native tongue? Did you also notice he’s only had a total of 4 posts here on the forum and might not yet have the feel for how to ask a proper question so your blood pressure doesn’t shoot off the chart? Maybe in the future you could spare a little kindness towards the new members.
Rather than spend a lot of money on foam, consider using an alternative that’s been in use for decades in model railroading…basketweaving cardboard strips and a plaster shell for the scenery base. Cardboard can be had for free…cut it into long narrow strips and glue or staple them together in the shape of the mountain you’re trying to create and then use plaster to cover the cardboard form. Here is an example of this method:
You could also add the spray foam insulation to the list of materials to use.
I am not sure if they have that down there where you are. But, it’s a can with the liquid foam compressed in it. Once you spray it, it rapidly increases in volume and then begins to harden into foam. In the end, it is about the same consistency as the foam boards. The small cans are sold as a DIY way to seal around door and window frames.
For a mountain, this might be a really good choice because of the irregular surfaces it will create. If you do no smoothing to it, it will have a very irregular surface, like a rough rocky mountain. Or, you could use it as a filler between layers of the foam board to help fill the edges of the two pieces to help form a smoother mountain or slope.
Meren, here is a link to a site I found where someone is building a mountain and used the Expanding Foam product like I was referring to. I know “a picture is worth a thousand words” so here are a few thousand words for you to look at.
Scott, as much as I love foam board for making mountains your cost is awfully high. My second pick would be cardboard and plaster cloth. My currnet project is 9.5 feet X 2 feet and is now 13 inch tall. I have 3 section of 4 X 8 foam board that is 2 inch thick. Reason I have got so much out of the foam board is because the center of the mountain is hollow.
