PURCHASING FOAMBOARD OR SOMETHING SIMILIAR

[train_guy2511]

hello fellow train men an women!!!! let me just say tyvvm for the replys i recieved on my last post. was very helpful to get me started on getting a layout going. question i need to ask.....i want to buy foamboard for the layout. foamboard to me is the best material you can use in my own opinion. was going to purchase thru home depot, but to deliver they charge wayyyy to much for shipping, an have no way to get to the nearest store. i am disabled. i am looking at some available online for free shipping (cant go wrong there). one of the foamboards has a reflective film that is laminated to the board. would this be a problem? the film would evenually be covered with grass rocks etc. also can foamboard be glued together to make a bigger size layout? if so, what makes a good adhesive? loctite, elmers, gorilla glue. thnx

[Terry Toenges]

I like the pink Foamular brand. In the past, I have used a blue foam board that had like  plastic film on it and I didn't like it. It was a pain to peel off. The film is harder to poke trees into. Sanding with the film on can leave ragged film edges especially if you stacked them for hills. I can't remember the other reasons I didn't like it because it was years ago and I haven't used the blue stuff since then. I still have some odd pieces laying around that I use occasionally but I already have the film peeled off of them. It seems like that stuff is denser, too.
When I'm gluing foam, I use white glue and bamboo skewers. I glue the pieces with white glue. Then, I first poke the skewers in the foam layers at an angle. Then, withdraw them and coat with white glue and poke them back through the foam pieces for a better bond to keep the piece together. I snip the skewers off at the surface and give another little push so they aren't sticking up above the surface. I have also used hot glue but that gets kind of messy. I'm sure other glues would work as long as they don't "eat" the foam.