March, 2009

Bending foamboard

13 March, 2009

Now that I have the tops cut out for my units, it's tiime to begin on all the stuff underneath. Supports, edges and reinforcement all need to be put together. Back in January I wrote, "I never said it was straight". Well, I meant it. The layout will have no straight edges, except on the vertical. To do this I need to bend the foamboard.

Some sections will be fairly easy as the curves are slight. The ends however are different matter. I did a quick search and found where a model airplane guy is using foamboard and he siimply used water. The outer skins are nothing more than high quality cardboard (thick paper). The first try was a disaster, then I realized that a model airplane more than likely only used 2 or 3mm thick board. Mine is 5mm thick, architectural model grade with another kind of bonding and different kettle of fish (his was cheap Wal-Mart stuff)

A soak makes the card wet, wipe it off, set the bend and let it dry overnight. It should end up just as rigid as the original and be curved. I can see my soak will have to be longer as a 5 minute one did not do the trick. It's now late and I'll have another go in the morning.