Here is a pic of my last N gauge model railroad build using the exact same foam as you guys. The layers are glued together using box store foam glue. The bucket is filled with water to press the pieces together, the firewood was eventually used in a thrifty manner to heat the house. (Even included beer!)
Model railroad people carve the foam to make mountains and tunnels. A must have is a drywall rasp. It's a couple bucks at box stores shown here...Understand that this tool can also create a fairly smooth surface, ready for coarse sanding.
Here is how it turned out...
What I have learned working with this stuff made me realize I have a few ideas that would definatly work for foamies. Vinyl spackling by the way definitely covers up seams and imperfections and is thrifty. I have used it a ton as have others in the community.
You have to look at a 4x8 sheet of foam as something that could be cut up and stacked very easily with a jigsaw or even a steak knife. It is NOT plywood. For example look at these leftovers from my railroad build...
Imagine those were 4 feet wide arches. Shave off the "steps" and you have the front of a "foamstream", with a curve left and right AND up and down. Doing the math, cut the arches 3 inches wide, offset each one 1/2 inch from the front, use 3 inch drywall screws and glue to attach to each other and it would work. You should be able to get at least a 60 inch rise and 30 inch curve from a single piece of 8x4 foam and still have it 2 inches thick.
Other thoughts...Windows/doors...take 2, 1 inch pieces of foam (to be glued together) and cut out out a matching hole in both pieces. Place a piece of lexan/plexigalass/glass between the 2 sheets and glue. You may have create a "pocket" for the window to sit down into. Extend the pocket to the side, add a handle to the window and it should slide open into the pocket you made. The same should work with a plexiglass door...like a pocket door.
For a BIG front window...imagine the the view we have all seen from the tow vehicle side of a build that just has the 2 vertical side walls up. Now imagine an inside groove on both sides of the sidewalls (about an inch down from the roof line that follows the roof line) that you could slide a flexible piece of lexan/plexiglass into. Glue, silicone seal and put a 1 inch removable curved foam piece on top. Stargazer!
The cool thing about any of these ideas, if they fail, get out the jig saw and foam and glue. Repairs could even involve the roof but big deal.
PS...sorry for the length but wanted to share all my thoughts with everyone.
-Nguage
