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Author Topic: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative  (Read 4525 times)

Offline Bishmeister

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Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« on: April 01, 2013, 07:33:44 PM »
Not sure if this belongs here or should go be put in the workshop section.

Plasticard Alternative
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A great plasticard alternative in expanded PVC. It comes under the brand names of Foamex or Forex. If you have access to a plastics supplier the non branded version will be much cheaper. It is usually white. but you can get other colours if needed.

It generally comes in sheets of 8 foot by 4 foot, which is great if you club together with some mates or use alot of it. It comes in thicknesses of 1mm, 2mm, 3mm, 5mm, 8mm & 10mm. It is often used by signwriters and graphic design companies for displays.

It is easy to cut with a scalpel upto to a thickness of 3mm, 5mm at a push. For thicker sheets I use a table circular saw. I use 3mm to ’block out’ a building (create the basic shape) and then add 2mm as cladding to create some detail
It can be sanded easily (wear a mask), bent, scored and patterned. It is easily glued with superglue, quicker with zipp kicker (superglue catalyst) and holds paint well when lightly sanded.

It is essentially a very dense plastic foam that has a skin of both sides.This is easily scored and can scratch if you use a rough sandpaper. Use a fine sandpaper on the skin (to aid paint adhesion) and a rough grade on the edges.

This model clearly shows how the building is 'blocked out' in 3mm and then clad in 2mm for the timber. All the white parts are expanded PVC. You can also see the different textures achieveable by scoring and denting.



If you have any questions on this just post them below.
« Last Edit: April 20, 2013, 07:19:40 AM by Bishmeister »
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Offline Alleton

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Re: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2013, 07:42:47 PM »
Thank you for this, tips like this are one of my favorite things about this forum.
I've seen this for sale in places when I was looking for plasticard sellers. I was under the understanding that pvc doesn't take paint very well, but if it does, that's great. One thing that your post didn't address, is why one would use this instead of plasticard, or to supplement his plasticard supply.
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Offline Bishmeister

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Re: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« Reply #2 on: April 01, 2013, 08:45:07 PM »
This material is easier to cut than plasticard, more lightweight and cheaper I think.

When you cut plasticard you get a buring on the cut edge which needs to be trimmed or sanded, this doesn't happen with expaded PVC.

You need to prepare it to take paint either by sanding it lightly with a fine sand paper, nothing less than 320, or you can spray it with a plastic primer.
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Offline Alleton

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Re: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« Reply #3 on: April 01, 2013, 09:58:27 PM »
Thanks!. It's certainly something to keep in mind. I am just now delving into plasticard building, so the PVC might be a good way to practice without being quite so expensive.
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Offline Etrigan001

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Re: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« Reply #4 on: April 01, 2013, 10:36:02 PM »
Any idea what kind of store would carry this besides a plastics supplier? Plus, I'm in the US.

Offline Delthos

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Re: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2013, 12:56:10 AM »
Here's a US supplier of all your plastic's needs.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23330

I couldn't find it on Lowes or Home Depots websites.
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Offline arjunstc

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Re: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« Reply #6 on: April 02, 2013, 01:09:01 AM »
I am using the 1mm one for my card buildings - print on paper, glue to PVC foamcard, cut, clip together with Terraclips, pack flat when done.

I still need to perfect the technique, but it cuts much easier than foamcore or mounting board.



http://corblogme.blogspot.sg/2013/02/olde-towne.html
« Last Edit: April 02, 2013, 02:19:45 AM by arjunstc »

Offline Darknight

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Re: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« Reply #7 on: April 02, 2013, 01:30:43 AM »
Would this expanded PVC be suitable for making movement trays?
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Offline arjunstc

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Re: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« Reply #8 on: April 02, 2013, 02:12:44 AM »
It's actually rather flimsy, but if you use it only for the base and use a stronger material for the lip of the tray, then it should be good. I am not sure if the glue will melt the foam though.

If you plan to DIY movement trays, here's how I made mine:

http://corblogme.blogspot.sg/2012/06/diy-movement-trays.html

Offline Darknight

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Re: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« Reply #9 on: April 02, 2013, 12:51:54 PM »
At those prices, it's worth grabbing a sheet and seeing how it behaves.
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Offline Bishmeister

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Re: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« Reply #10 on: April 02, 2013, 09:37:53 PM »
1mm is pretty flimsy, I only use it for roofs which I then tile with with 0.3mm plasticard. 2mm is fairly solid and would do for movement trays although might be a bit thick.

I use superglue for gluing pvc, its handy to have zip kicker to speed things up aswell.

Pvc is also easily sanded but wear a mask as its not that friendly to humans.
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Offline arjunstc

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Re: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« Reply #11 on: April 03, 2013, 01:00:30 AM »
Yes. I chose 1mm because I wanted to make card buildings that can be put together with Terraclips and then taken apart after the game.

Offline Delthos

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Re: Bishmeister's Terrain Tips - Plasticard Alternative
« Reply #12 on: April 03, 2013, 06:28:00 AM »
I don't think 2mm would be too thick. GW's modular trays are about 2mm thick and the edge pieces add about another 1mm to the height. Of course that along with the height of the GW bases really does elevate the models off the table.
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