How strong is Foam?

By Rikashiku. 16/12/08, 02:50 pm

Gonna make me some fighting toys mwahaha.

So how strong is they? huh? huh? huh? Heh?(I just felt like saying that :))

Are they hard to make? do they last? Are they better for show than wooden and paper mache or harder?

**Guest** Guest

for actually fighting with and show use wood with a balsa core and it is sturdy and doesnt hurt as much as solid wood or bamboo

By Rikashiku. 16/12/08, 02:59 pm

Hmm may get those tomorrow.

Should i make a the Masamune and Buster Sword with it? and are Bo staff weapons makeable?

**Guest** Guest

Rikashiku wrote:: Hmm may get those tomorrow.

Should i make a the Masamune and Buster Sword with it? and are Bo staff weapons makeable?

yea buster blade is esiest

doing a musamune wouldnt be too hard its getting the wood core around balsa dowling that would be an issue

By Rikashiku. 16/12/08, 03:08 pm

Sweetness :)

How about Knuckles? or should i just use normal mma gloves?

And spears? :)
And Keyblades? :)

**Guest** Guest

spears would follow the same problems as staves but key blades would be fine

By Rikashiku. 16/12/08, 03:19 pm

What was the problem with staves?

*Making List*

**Guest** Guest

Rikashiku wrote:: What was the problem with staves?

*Making List*

getting a stick of soft wood in a stick of hard wood

By Rikashiku. 16/12/08, 03:27 pm

Hmm well that sounds hard(i think?)

Well, ill have to give it a shot tomorrow then.

**Guest** Guest

Rikashiku wrote:: Hmm well that sounds hard(i think?)

Well, ill have to give it a shot tomorrow then.

yea the trick with the swords and key blades is to do layers of wood then no more nails it together

By firecat70. 01/02/09, 04:47 pm

I heard it is quite strong when covered with fiberglass resin OR joint compound.

On a slightly related note, does anyone know anywhere that stocks extruded polystyrene (bad spelling... they are sheets of foam used for insulation)? I have found a couple of big companies that sell it in NZ but I don't know if they do it in small quantities yet.

By CMKMStephens. 01/02/09, 05:31 pm

firecat70 wrote:: I heard it is quite strong when covered with fiberglass resin OR joint compound.

On a slightly related note, does anyone know anywhere that stocks extruded polystyrene (bad spelling... they are sheets of foam used for insulation)? I have found a couple of big companies that sell it in NZ but I don't know if they do it in small quantities yet.

Placemakers have them, something like $30 for a sheet like 3x2m or something. Out of the one sheet (might have been bigger) I made my 8-Bit sword, 8-Bit Fire, and the damage numbers:

http://www.cosplay.com/photo/1060584/
http://www.cosplay.com/photo/1060571/
http://www.cosplay.com/photo/1060569/

It all depends on the type of foam you want. Something like the aforementioned particle boards are pretty weak. From places like Gordon Harris you can get sheets of this rock hard green foam, but its increadibly expensive.

By firecat70. 02/02/09, 02:46 pm

I see, thank you for the info! We have a huge bucket of joint compound so I am hoping I can just put that on it to make it stronger. I have heard very good things about it.
By any chance is the foam you got called 'expol'?

By CMKMStephens. 02/02/09, 04:15 pm

Looking up 'expol', that just seems to be a brand of foam cut in an insulating style. What placemakers (and now that I remember it, Bunnings Warehouse as well) sells is just particle foam.

By firecat70. 03/02/09, 04:18 am

Aha! Yeah, it is insulation foam I am looking for. I heard about it's awesome prop making skills in this: http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=95725 thread on coscom. I called up Miter 10 and they said it sounded like expol. It's also called extruded polystryrene...
I will look for particle foam as well and see how it compares to expol.

By firecat70. 03/02/09, 10:54 am

Spoiler:

Couldn't find any called particle foam. I did however buy a couple of sheets of expol. (I went to Miter 10, it was in the drive through section, they had to get it down with a forklift. Wow!) They said it was extruded polystyrene when I asked but it seems more like expanded polystyrene. But it seems to work ok for hot gluegunning/cutting/shaping with a craftknife/putting joint compund on then sanding it off. Still a wee bit delicate, so probably not good for an actual fighting prop.

By CMKMStephens. 03/02/09, 12:36 pm

Like I said, that's the same type of foam I used, its just branded as 'expol' by the company that processes it into that insulative shape. If you type 'expol' into google you only get NZ sites because its just a brand name. It also has all those lines cut into it if I remember correctly (part of the insulation thing) which makes it rather unworkable. It's better and cheaper to just get a whole damn wall of foam, it's also about 5cm thick and even.

From memory Mitre 10 is the one useless store, it didn't have any foam (not even expol). I got my foam wall from Placemakers, and I think bunnings also stocks it.

Always wear a mask when working in foam, especially if cutting with a hot wire or sanding it. The particles and the fumes if inhaled are cancerous.

**Guest** Guest

to bad you dont live close to me my brother has alot of the stuff. He makes things out of it XD thats all i know but there are able to go out side but i guess it depends what you use to cover it

By firecat70. 08/02/09, 06:29 pm

Aww! I will fly over to London XD

I think I found somewhere to get the extruded stuff.. Ooh!

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