Need help with Pink/Blue foam board.

The hacksaw blade will work, but you will have little styrofoam particles all over the place. They are a real "joy" to clean up, even with a Shop Vac! But since you are cutting stuff that is only 1" thick, you can use a disposable snap-off razor knife. Make several passes, each one a little deeper. You will get 2 pieces and no mess. The other alternative is a hotwire foam cutter. If you are going to be doing a lot of work cutting foam, I highly recommend one of these. Either the HotWire Foam Factory, or the Tipi cutter.

The joint treatment depends on what effect you want and where the joint is.

Chris

LVHR

Thanks.  I do not have much to cut, so a razor blade is the way I will go.   

As for the joints, I want it to be nice and smooth, so when I do my scenery on top you don't notice a joint.  

This is a Kobalt drywall saw. You can get them at Lowe's. Works great. For straight edges, I use a scrap of 1x4 as a guide. For joints, a strip of masking tape works. Just paint over it.

Gilly

BTW, watch your fingers

I agree the hacksaw will create hundreds of little pills.

My best results were with a box knife. I extended it as far as I could (right before it would release and fall out) and then used an up and down methodical/rythmic saw like motion. Once the blade heated up from friction it actually got a little easier. I also used a metal t-square to help make sure the edge was as square as possible.

Issue with this process...if you don't make the knife go all the way through and if you force it too fast...the foam will ball up as you cut through it and will make it harder to cut.

If when that happens, stop, back up and repeat the saw like motion gently to cut through the pink ball. The edge I got was not perfectly smooth. I was okay with that cause that side was pushed up against the wall and will eventually be setup inside a wooden box frame.

Also, while I used a t-square, I got a straight line. But the wobbly-ness of the blade did not give me a consistent right angle from the table top.

CH

Well, You can tape and put a thin layer of joint compound down if you want. Personally, I try to hide seams with buildings, streets, hedges, gardens, etc.

Chris

LVHR

I agree with Gilly. A sheet rock hole saw works great. The pink stuff is no match for it. When your done cutting it use a shop vac for quick clean up. 3M makes sanding blocks to smooth out the cuts.

These are pictures of a mountain my daughter and I made for the Christmas layout.

Personally, I like the idea about durabond on the seams.  Either way of cutting is fine.  You said you didn't have much to cut.  The drywall saw is probably going to be a neater cut- easier to follow a line on 1" foam, but will be messier.  The knife will be harder to get a good line, but should work fine.

I do the rough cutting with a hot wire foam cutting tool (in the scenic Express Catalog..Hot Wire Foam Factory brand I think) then do the fine shaping with a Stanley Surform rasp.  It does make quite a mess, but easy to clean up with a shop vac.  Use this brand of foam cutter.  The others don't get nearly as hot and take much longer to cut with

A jig saw with a toothless blade designed for leather/wallboard works like a dream. You can cut patterns or angles with no messy particles.

Rich

I generally make the basic cut away from layout with hand saw and or hack saw blade.  Once on layout I use hot wire foam cutter.  The small particles tend to get everywhere, and if you have finished scenery they will somehow find a way there. The hotwire leaves larger pieces which are easier to clean up. 

For seams I use adhesive drywall tape

I like to use a cheap steak knife for shaping. The blade is flexible, and makes less mess than a sheetrock saw.

I use a hot knife with various change out blades. One of the blades is 6 inches long. Makes it very easy to cut and shape Styrofoam, and no mess.

I cut the foam with the drywall saw, bread knife and/or hand saw. I cut it outside, then rub the two cut pieces together to remove the small foam beads. I use a drywall hand sander with the black squarehole sand paper to smooth out the foam.

Use a long blade for thick foam.  No mess!

Here's a picture of the tools I used on my layout. The 4"x9"x 10foot foam was free and I had the tools.

I lived most of my life in Western Oklahoma, Western Kansas and the Texas Panhandle What trees? Who needs them.

I got a Stanley Fat Max razor knife at Menards, the blade is wider (stronger) and I am cutting 1 & 2 inch thick foam.  Works great except for blades dulling after a few cuts so I sharpen the blades on a stone   works well  

How thick of foam do you have for the top of your layout?  I bought 1 inch foam tonight and after putting some of it on the layout I am thinking I should have gone thicker, so I can carve out some rivers and a pond.  I might have to add 1.5 inch foam over what I have already.