I usually use pink foam board but the local stores do not carry it now that I moved. My local lowes has blue or white. will they work as well as the pink for carving lakes or mountains etc and have long life?
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I don't know about the white, haven's used or seen it, but the blue board seams to be of about the same density as the pink and should carve, cut, and shape about the same. It may just be a different mfg, and so a different color. It looks the same to me.
I just wish I could get something besides 3/4". Would like some 2". But we live down south where they just don't use the stuff. I bought a sheet right before Christmas, and they had some 1", but it was in 2' x 2' squares, (project boards) at about 4 times the price, (once you bought 8 squares).
Not sure about the blue insulation, but pink is the best. I just completed a series of cliffs/mts mixing in the white insulation and it looks great, although white creates many little BB size pieces when you carve and that creates a mess. I handpainted everything and the white takes some extra paint. If I had a choice the pink seems to be the way to go. I just recently came home with a trunk load of the white insulation packets with 4/5 12" x 48" pieces that my son's father-in-law was throwing out and its useable but not he best. It was FREE!
old ironsde
I cut this information from another members post just so you read it. It may help you. The 2" pink here in TN is readily available at Home Depot. But I understand it's not in other areas of the country.
Styrofoam insulation board.
My building supply carries product made by Dow Chemical. Dow Blue Board is higher density (higher compression resistance) than Dow gray board, both are adequate for layouts.
Owens Corning makes same material, colored pink (the Corning insulation Pink Panther). Other styrofoam board is colored green to give you the idea you are doing something environmental by adding insulation. The color differences are just a sales gimmick: it's the same.
What you do NOT want is expanded polystyrene board, otherwise known as beadboard, it is white, and has no structural strength or crush resistance. It is also "open cell" which means it absorbs moisture. You also do not want the yellow board (polyisocyanurate) faced with foil, not appropriate for layout use because of the foil.
You want styrofoam rigid insulation board, closed cell (does not absorb moisture), made by Dow (blue or gray) or Corning (pink.) If you are going to walk on your layout, consider the denser Blue Board, otherwise save a little $ and get the gray or Corning's equivalent.
It comes in various thicknesses, and usually in sheets 2' x 8'. You don't need the "tongue and grooved" edges for a layout, get the square edge if available.
