Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[eaglesdare]

i got enough tomatoes this year to freeze a batch of sauce. its not much, but its still better than my previous year. gonna hit the farmers market this weekend and get as many tomatoes as i can, to freeze. love fresh sauce over the winter. got a few good potatoes, not enough to keep longer than a meal though. already froze my spinach. ate all the lettuce, and thats about it. not much luck with anything else, too hot. but i am still hoping to get some broccoli and/or cauliflower once the weather starts cooling off. the plants are thriving, so who knows.

[eaglesdare]

hope you are making out alright now there glen and rosey.


i started a test piece of the tb3 (its what i had on hand) and paper. i actually think this could work well. after the initial covering of paper and glue dried, i am going to layer it with poly and paper. i'm going to see what kind of look i can get with this method. but i can see where working this way will actually be easier for those areas that were always a pain the butt to work. like around the corners, or cut outs. and with fixing a spot won't be a problem either, it will look just like the rest of it, unlike canvas.
now having said all that, this process would take a while to complete.

[eaglesdare]

we finally bought some ply for the floor. i am going to waterproof the bottom, and then hubby is going to help me fit it to size and get it laid down. i am hoping to get started tomorrow.

[Wobbly Wheels]

i started a test piece of the tb3 (its what i had on hand) and paper. i actually think this could work well.

I've been shaping an RC plane out of the scrap and figured I'd try this for a covering as was suggested earlier. I diluted TB3 about 5 to 1 and used 3 layers of ~2" newspaper strips in opposing directions (second and third were on a bias). I knocked it down with 150G on the RO sander this morning and it came out pretty smooth. It's not stuck to the foam as well as the epoxy and glass I'm using, but it's still pretty good.
I soaked the paper in the mix about 24 hrs to see if it would soften it but it didn't seem to make any difference. For the plane I'll probably go with something a little lighter, like tissue sheets or something....when I get there

[Tiredoldwhiteman]

i started a test piece of the tb3 (its what i had on hand) and paper. i actually think this could work well.

I've been shaping an RC plane... [SNIP] ...something a little lighter, like tissue sheets

Holy cow! Isn't that going nearly full circle, tissue-covered planes? Takes me back to my FF Peanuts and Pistachios...

Back to lurking

[Madmike8]

Seems to be a lot of airplane modelers around these forums... No wonder I like Foamy builds here.

[Wolffarmer]

Welcome to the forum Madmike.

Randy

[eaglesdare]

i started a test piece of the tb3 (its what i had on hand) and paper. i actually think this could work well.

I've been shaping an RC plane out of the scrap and figured I'd try this for a covering as was suggested earlier. I diluted TB3 about 5 to 1 and used 3 layers of ~2" newspaper strips in opposing directions (second and third were on a bias). I knocked it down with 150G on the RO sander this morning and it came out pretty smooth. It's not stuck to the foam as well as the epoxy and glass I'm using, but it's still pretty good.
I soaked the paper in the mix about 24 hrs to see if it would soften it but it didn't seem to make any difference. For the plane I'll probably go with something a little lighter, like tissue sheets or something....when I get there

i don't know why, but on that first layer i don't dilute. i use full tb2,3 (which ever one i have on hand).

thats what i planned on doing for the strips, one way, then the other way. i forget who suggested it, but wondering about lets say the big wide side profile: should i use big pieces of paper, or strips? i don't know, but i would think the strips would be stronger than 1 large piece.


hubby was having a couple yesterday, and he was taking an interest in my foamie II. while some of you may think that is a great thing, it really isn't. we don't see eye to eye on most anything.

still no word from glen and rosie huh.

[wagondude]

eye on most anything.

still no word from glen and rosie huh.

Don't know, but I imagine there are still a lot of power/phone/cable/ internet outages down that way. Hopefully we'll hear from them soon.

[Wobbly Wheels]

Heard on the news that there were as many as a million people without power. I would expect internet to suffer at least as much.
Here's hoping they're keeping dry and safe.

Holy cow! Isn't that going nearly full circle, tissue-covered planes?

A few years ago, I was working on a sailboat build that was all done with foam and epoxy, carbon and kevlar in the layup, all high end stuff.
Yet they still spec'd clear red cedar for the hard points in the layup.
Sometimes you just can't build a better mousetrap.

[Madmike8]

Welcome to the forum Madmike.

Randy

Well Thanks,

Yep, I'm new here, but I have been lurking and reading for a bit now. I've got a few projects, but this one is definitely on my list. Maybe a simple TT or maybe a Widget... I've got lots of time for planning as I wrap up other projects.


P.S.
It's really nice forum, I like it a lot.

[PonyExpress]

On using paper to cover foam... I'm not a TD builder (yet), but I AM a puppeteer so I've built a lot out of paper mache for over 10 years.

Several tips
- I've used Tightbond and craft paper with success on projects that got completely soaked and survived, but a complete shell with no leaks is important
- you'll need several layers of paper, cross-hatching the strips is strongest but roughest
- alternate between two colors of paper to tell what layer you're on, its easy to get a thin spot on a big project
- craft paper works well, tear (don't cut) the strips to get plenty of fiber on the edges, it bonds better
- don't put on too many layers at once, depending on humidity the lower layers may not dry, then they mildew, then stink (ask me how I know)
- thin glue is better since the strength comes from saturating the paper all the way, think penetration
- the last couple of coats can be thick glue since that's for the shell, but not too much or it will crack under stress
- don't wait until the end to sand, do it a little along, it's a big job
- for a smooth finish, make the last couple of layers out of thin, dense paper (like the white packing paper they use at stores)
- and finally, if you use the pink foam sheets, remember to remove the plastic wrap so the glue will bond to the foam

Enough layers of paper and glue for strength may not be lighter than using fabric and paint since you're essentially making your own MDF. It may be cheap, but will take enormous amounts of labor and drying time - a puppet head the size of a basketball can take a week or more. I have no idea how long something as large as an entire trailer would take. It seems very possible, but I'm not sure it's practical.

Hope this helps.

[eaglesdare]

thanks pony express! i'll remember all of that, well actually i won't, but i will know where to find it now. glad to hear it works.

[Rosey]

Hi! Just wanted to let everyone know I just talked to Glen (GPW) he made it through the storm ok but he doesn't have phone or internet yet. My power finally came on last night while I was at work and everything is up and running at my house now. Hope everyone else is doing ok.


Sent from my BlackBerry 9330 using Tapatalk

[Wolffarmer]

Thanks for the update Rosie. Good to hear you all are doing ok.

Randy