Building materials
Moderator: hbartel
Building materials
I am new to scale and I see that alot of planes are made out of foam. what kind of foam is it? I normaly build spads but some planes are not spaddable. I have looked at all of the build threads and wow, there are a few talented builders out there. thanks for any info
Hello there, welcome to the RCCA forum!
Most of the scale planes are built from insulation foam. It's generally available at home improvement or building supply stores. The two major brands are Dow and Owens Corning, which make blue and pink foam, respectively. It's really as simple as cutting the general shape using a bandsaw or hot wire cutter, then sanding to final form. Wings are a bit more complicated.
For a really good article, check out http://www.georgiacombat.com/Eindex.html . There are a couple of links to building a scale plane from scratch. You can also check out the instructions page at www.jkaerotech.com for some good info. Finally, check out the 2548, electric ww2, and scale building section of the forum-there are a lot of sifferent ideas scattered through there!
Most of the scale planes are built from insulation foam. It's generally available at home improvement or building supply stores. The two major brands are Dow and Owens Corning, which make blue and pink foam, respectively. It's really as simple as cutting the general shape using a bandsaw or hot wire cutter, then sanding to final form. Wings are a bit more complicated.
For a really good article, check out http://www.georgiacombat.com/Eindex.html . There are a couple of links to building a scale plane from scratch. You can also check out the instructions page at www.jkaerotech.com for some good info. Finally, check out the 2548, electric ww2, and scale building section of the forum-there are a lot of sifferent ideas scattered through there!
We didn't get anything larger than 1 inch around here until recently, and even now the 2 inch we get is scored every 8 or 16 inches, severely limting the size of parts we can get. Some areas of the country simply don't carry it at all. They will offer to order it for you, provided you order about $1000 worth...
- Ed Kettler
- Posts: 3437
- Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2001 6:05 pm
- Location: USA
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http://southwestvault.com these guy can ship it to you, they have diffrent density blue foam
Hey,
I have found the 2" thick blue foam at a supplier where they do concrete work. You know, lots of re-bar and such. It took me forever to find a source as well, and I live in a pretty big town. It too is scored, but not every 8" - some pieces are wider. Still, plenty for most wings if you plan out your cuts and aren't cutting the leading edge or ailerons out of foam. Also, I've had very little difficulty cutting wings even if smaller pieces are glued with 3M 77 ( Classic ), but this is NOT preferred, just necessary at times. It stinks having to paying freight charges for a couple pieces or having to cut it down just to get it to you house. Good luck.
I have found the 2" thick blue foam at a supplier where they do concrete work. You know, lots of re-bar and such. It took me forever to find a source as well, and I live in a pretty big town. It too is scored, but not every 8" - some pieces are wider. Still, plenty for most wings if you plan out your cuts and aren't cutting the leading edge or ailerons out of foam. Also, I've had very little difficulty cutting wings even if smaller pieces are glued with 3M 77 ( Classic ), but this is NOT preferred, just necessary at times. It stinks having to paying freight charges for a couple pieces or having to cut it down just to get it to you house. Good luck.
yes, ours (both pink and blue, from different sources) is scored into 4 peices-2 8 inch, and 2 16 inch. You CAN cut a wing if you plan it out properly to get the thinner section at the score, but cutting a fuse is pretty much screwed. I guess you could fill the scores with PU glue, but I'm sure that would mess up your hotwire cuts...
I can get the white beaded R Max foam locally that isn't scored, but it's the same price as Dow or OC, and a lot weaker....
Funny thing about cutting it down, I've bought so much I have templates laid out in the wagon to know where to cut it to get maximum use and still fit it into the car....
I can get the white beaded R Max foam locally that isn't scored, but it's the same price as Dow or OC, and a lot weaker....
Funny thing about cutting it down, I've bought so much I have templates laid out in the wagon to know where to cut it to get maximum use and still fit it into the car....
It is substantially lighter, but you'd have to put some extra support in there. It is very difficult to sand. I think it's best use is in wings-I have to do very little sanding after the hot wire process for mine. As for covering, I've never covered it with iron on, always used bi-di/packing tape or fiberglass.
In some areas it's only around 12 bucks a sheet, which might make it more attractive, but here it's the same price as the extruded foam, and I can't justify it unless I'm just trying to save weight.
In some areas it's only around 12 bucks a sheet, which might make it more attractive, but here it's the same price as the extruded foam, and I can't justify it unless I'm just trying to save weight.