Cardboard terrain contour

[davefoxx]

Turpentine (or paint thinner) is a relatively mild solvent.  I have never used Floral foam (too crumbly), but I'm still surprised that turpentine melted it.  Extruded polystyrene foam ( the blue or pink sheets which are often used for model layout Terra-forming) should not be affected by turpentine.  However lacquer thinner/acetone would melt it.

I don't know about turpentine, but I can confirm that Testor's Liquid Plastic Cement (probably the MEK contained therein) ate a cavern into my 2" foam subroadbed when I spilled a bottle one time. 

DFF

[peteski]

I don't know about turpentine, but I can confirm that Testor's Liquid Plastic Cement (probably the MEK contained therein) ate a cavern into my 2" foam subroadbed when I spilled a bottle one time. 

DFF

Yes, liquid cements for styrene contain MEK or Metylene Chloride, and others like Tamiya, acetone (aggressive solvents). Those cements are designed to weld polystyrene by melting it.   The reason for my post was to mention that milder solvents like turpentine should be safe with polystyrene (including extruded sheets).  I have no idea what floral foam is made of, but it is crumbly, and I personally wouldn't think of using it for layout constructions (regardless of its resistance to solvents).

[motofavorite]

Yes, liquid cements for styrene contain MEK or Metylene Chloride, and others like Tamiya, acetone (aggressive solvents). Those cements are designed to weld polystyrene by melting it.   The reason for my post was to mention that milder solvents like turpentine should be safe with polystyrene (including extruded sheets).  I have no idea what floral foam is made of, but it is crumbly, and I personally wouldn't think of using it for layout constructions (regardless of its resistance to solvents).

I believe ""OASIS" is a tradename that refers to the crumbly green block for keeping cut flowers wet and a crunchy foam for dry arrangements. I used the latter because is was recommended by Mike Confalone in a scenery video seminar. I will track down the disappointment/landslide photos tomorrow. The turpentine literally made walls crawl, so maybe it's worthy of a badge of horror.

[motofavorite]

@motofavorite ...If you have tons of cardboard, hot glue gun or stapler a roll of plaster gauze and some Sculptamold then test out this old school approach for deep gorges, mountains, etc..

Thanks for the recommendation & the diagram. I'm trying to avoid hardshell. I like that foam or spackle or ground goop yield to tree trunks. Nevertheless, it is handy to have a dependable backup plan when - but hopefully if - my cardboard creation collapses.

[peteski]

I believe ""OASIS" is a tradename that refers to the crumbly green block for keeping cut flowers wet and a crunchy foam for dry arrangements. I used the latter because is was recommended by Mike Confalone in a scenery video seminar. I will track down the disappointment/landslide photos tomorrow. The turpentine literally made walls crawl, so maybe it's worthy of a badge of horror.

Oh, I believe you that the problem happened.  As for Mike's videos, not all we see on the Interwebs is either the best advice, accurate, or even true.  But on the other side of the coin I could also say that the floral foam seems to work for Mike C.  He must not be using turpentine for weathering, otherwise the video would be showing massive fail.    It seems that you simply selected a wrong combination of material and weathering/tinting medium.

Most layout builders on this forum  (and likely in general nowadays) seem to use extruded polystyrene sheets for forming their terrain.  That is why you see so many posts here recommending you go that route. 

Hey, but if you have oodles of cardboard at your disposal, and you want to build your layout in layers (at 0.2" per layer, creating a very hard substrate for the scenery), all the power to you.  You are certainly using some "out of the box" thinking.  Be sure to make videos of your method and post them to Youtube so others can discover it and give  it a try.

[nuno81291]

Just to clarify about Mike C’s video, he is using the floral foam for the ease of carving contours relative to the pink foam we are used to. His track work is all heavy plywood spline construction, and the foam is not structural. If I recall he covered the foam in his own sort of ground goop/paper mache sort of paste and I don’t recall him using any sort of solvents in the process of making his terrain or ground cover

[motofavorite]

Just to clarify about Mike C’s video, he is using the floral foam for the ease of carving contours relative to the pink foam we are used to. His track work is all heavy plywood spline construction, and the foam is not structural. If I recall he covered the foam in his own sort of ground goop/paper mache sort of paste and I don’t recall him using any sort of solvents in the process of making his terrain or ground cover

That's right. I did not implement Mike’s method as directed, so my model landslide was my own doing. It’s a good video and he is a good instructor.