I was wandering whats the best way to fasten styrofoam to plywood. And the strofoam will most likely be the kind used in packaging of funiture, the white kind. The reason for this type of foam, is I was alowed to get some for packing a item, out of a dumpster, used buy the rent a center folk. Free they said all I need, Hmmm So this is what I'll be useing. Do the liquid nail, brand work, or they make it specialy for foam? And how should I go about fastening track to stro foam, if I make my road bead/track bead I mean, out of foam.
Yes, Liquid Nails makes an adhesive specifically for foam. If it doesn't say it's for foam products, it will melt the foam. But you don't have to use Liquid Nails, which is a little expensive. You can use any acrylic adhesive caulk to glue the foam to the plywood. Get the cheapest you can find, as long as it's acrylic. Spread a thin layer on the plywood, place the foam on it and weigh it down with some books, piles of magazines or other heavy objects. You may want to protect the top of the foam with another layer of plywood. The acrylic adhesive caulk also works well for gluing down roadbed and track. Just remember to keep the layer of adhesive thin! Hope this helps. Darrell, quiet...for now
I use Liquid Nails for securing the foam either the blue/Pink or the styrofoam you are thinking of using. Make sure Liquid Nails is the Latex type or it will dissolve the foam. I do not think you will be happy with the packing type of foam, give it a try and show us the results.
The LK&R Ry used foam over 1/4 inch plyboard. We used the blue stuff and glued it with latex Liquid Nails. The L.N. was applied to the plyboard with a trowl used for floor tile cement. The foam was centred and squared then weighted down until the glue dried. The blue foam is a dense foam insulation. The white packing foam is soft and I don't think it will hold up very well. The packing foam could be used as a base for scenery though as it will be covered with plaster or some other product. Still trees will not stay in it very well due to the light density of the white foam.
Thanks, and hope togive it a try buy the weekend, I'm going to make it 3'X6' useing 1x4's and a sheet of 1/4 plywood. Then Deside on where to lay my first few sections of track, and lay some foam. I'd like to use 2" blue board. But $30.00 sheet I cant pay that. But the 3/4" is only about $10.00 I'll see what happens....
I've used both the Liquid Nails (for foam) and a cheep latex caulk. I've found that the liquid nails takes about 3 days to dry whereas the cheep caulk only took about 3 hours. Both held the foam to the plywood fine. The caulk was about 1/3 the price however. I question your decision to use the white styrafoam though. Not a very good choice for carving any type of contours IMHO. Yah the pink/blue foam is spendy but if you plan your construction well you can use the leftover scraps to make your mountains. B.
Ditto on the Liquid Nails product for foam. I have a 1" layer of pink foam on my door-sized layout that I used this product on, and it works great. To me,it didn't seem all that pricey (got it @ Wal*Mart), and it's worth the cost.
