Until now we have been constructing buildings using multiple layers of plastikard which are cut by a Sihouette Cameo. Whilst this approach does produce a really good result - accurate, strong, stable - the cost of the sheet plastic becomes a concern for me when contemplating 7mm station buildings. Enter foamboard as a possible core for a building with inner and outer layers made from plastikard - most likely the embossed material from Slaters Plastikard.
Who has tried this approach? Suggestions / recommendations?
We shall use UHU-Por for joining the foamboard sections... and hopefully the same adhesive for the plastikard layers unless WTers tell us that (a) UHU-Por does not grab plastikard and/or (b) adhesive XYZ is the bees knees for this style of modelling.
Thank you, Graham
Hi Graham
I’ve limited experience in both foamboard construction and 7mm scale in general, so not sure whether I can be if much help, but I shall try.
Below are a couple of examples from my failed 7mm scale Cameo entry for Seacombe, Wirral.
Station building:
Can’t quite recall the thickness of the foamboard used (I can pop out to the model room later and check: 4/5 mm(?)), but the shell consisted of walls and ends butt-jointed with bog standard Pva, reinforced by sections of internal bracing at regular intervals. The cladding is good ol’ Wills which even in the Premier scale looks a tad on the porky side, although daylight shadowing (what?) didn’t help matters, and from memory, the brick plasticard was Slaters’. Both were stuck to the shell with the same pva glue.
Next, we have some sort of shed affair which appeared in the background of the photos I was working from:
Of the same construction as the station building, it’s clad in scribed veneer with a strake of balsa. The brick cladding is, again, Slaters’.
I submit these humble offerings, Graham, if for no other reason, than to reassure you that foamboard doesn’t warp in my experience (which I hope the cobweb clad shot - below - corroborates, even when clad with a variety of materials AND on only one side
, and can be stuck successfully with nothing more than white glue.
Finally, the beginnings of the sole-remaining waiting shelter that never received it’s wriggly tin coat, but shown (with those previously mentioned cobwebs included) to prove the point that it stays true (all were built years before the Cameo competition which provided the impetus to try and get the layout progressing beyond making the buildings stage - without the boards or track even in place, I admit this was indeed a case of putting the cart before the horse, but that’s me
).
I hope this helps, Graham.
Good luck.
Jonte
Edit: don’t know where that green emoticon thingy came from ? . J.