Foam to Groundcover Tutorial

[Academy Staff]

I was cleaning up the basement work room, & I found these scraps of extruded styrofoam. Instead of throwing it away, I thought I'd demonstrate how this material can be transformed into very realistic scenery, that weighs almost nothing. While this is a very small chunk of foam I'm working with, the same techniques can be used on any sized layout, in any scale.



[Here's the pieces of foam, glued together with an adhesive called Liquid Nails.

   

Here are the tools I used to shape the foam...A large wood rasp, & a keyhole saw.

   

I begin shaping the foam by simply rounding off the corners & sharp edges.

   

and some further shaping...

   

After I get a shape I'm happy with, I use some plaster of paris to fill gaps, & apply very heavy layers of it where I want to form some rock outcrops.

   

__________________
-Drew-
NARA Member #48
Life is all the stuff that happened while you were makin' other plans.