Has Anyone Used Craft Foam?

[jadlerhalofan]

I have been looking around at some of the stuff on these forums and most of these projects look very expensive. This is rather intimidating as a beginner to creating models and props. I thought that I would take some time to ask about using cheaper and safer stuff to sculpt with. One of these materials I have considered building with is craft foam. Like the stuff they have at fabric stores for floral arranging. Has anyone used this before? It is rather cheap and really easy to use. No gloves or cancer risks are a major plus.

This is a tutorial on how to create some armor out of the thin foam sheets. It isn't the best but it may be noob friendly.

http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/costumes/helmsdeep.html

Here is an example of shapes and sizes of the think floral foam bricks.

Anyway, I was thinking that since many people sculpt and cast molds already, why not cut down the steps and just sculpt the pieces from a semi sturdy material in the first place?

To strengthen the outer shell you would obviously need to coat it with some resin or something of the sort though. Anyway just let me know what you all think of using this in a project. I might use it myself on an elite costume.

 

[delta38]

My brother used this stuff to make his proton pack, i don't know the price or how well it worked though... Ohh i may be rong... I think it was foam core he used...

 

[Malechei]

The methods that you see most on the site are the ones that are tried and true. We know that if you put enough time and effort into it, it will work. But, of course, that doesn't mean that they are the ONLY methods that work. If you want to give something else a shot, more power to you. I'm pretty sure this has been done for certain things before, but if you were to make a whole suit out of it, that would be pretty impressive. Who knows, it might eventually spawn a whole new section in the creation forum.

I say give it a shot. I'll be glad to help you out with diagrams and designs if you need it (just PM me). Otherwise, go with what your heart tells you. I'm sure it will be great either way.

 

[Drakku]

This is actually the stuff that I'm using for my Arbiter's feet, and for a lot of the body structure in my Elite.

From what I've used of it, it's sturdy, yes, but the thin-ness you'd want for the pieces would be, I suspect, very brittle. You would need to reinforce it with fiberglass regardless, and also coat it with latex or some other substance to fill in the roughness to be able to apply paint to it.
(By the way, when you sand it, it gets rough and is very difficult to smooth back out. I don't think you'd be able to get rid of the texture unless you bondo'd and sanded it, but I don't know how well bondo would stick to it.)

Also, cutting it is a pain in the arse. A styrofoam cutter would be the way to go, but you need a very, very steady hand. Trust me.

I think it would be interesting to see what you would do with this. I would suspect it possible, but in all honesty, would be the same amount of work as pepakura, if not moreso.

I'm also a newb to the stuff, and I'm picking it up quite fast, I would like to say. I think if you just practice with everything first, it's really not as scary as it looks.

Edit: Also, styrofoam is non recyclable, so the scrap you'd have from it would be quite wasteful, if you know what I mean.
But again, if you do attempt this, I'd love to see what you do with it. It has great potential if you can do it right.

 

[jawshwaa]

i used craft foam for the details under the brim of my helmet....i used thin stiff but i may use thinner stuff next time just because it made the details look a lil bulky

 

[dragonknight146]

I don't see why it wouldn't work using craft foam. I would just be careful about what glues you use as some will melt the foam. Also if you're going to fiberglas the suit test the resin on a small piece of scrap foam to make sure it doesn't melt it. Other then that go for it and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Cadet]

While I don't know about construciting the majority of your armor out of it, I think the details of Halo armor don't make it as good of a fit as the LotR elves armor, craft foam can be good for building up the small details. I did use some Craft foam to build up some of the details on my Mark V. Most significantly, I made the back of my Mark V helmet out of craft foam so it would be slightly more flexible, making it easier to take the helmet on and off, since it was a tight fit. I also built up the overlapping plates around the collar and neck out of sheets of craft foam.

 

[CoryBoom]

Hey Jadlerhalofan

The guy who made the portal gun used this as his main form for the guns white shells then used wounder flex to cover it.

http://www.cosplay.com/gallery/127408/p1

Also the nightmare armor guys used it also to build up the forms before they put on clay. It helps save on clay, weight and time. But ultimately it will be made into a mold... so that's a bit advanced

Ill probably be using foam as the base for when ever I do a full sculpt.

 

[Darkslitter]

I used it for my details.

 

[jadlerhalofan]

Thanks for all the replies guys! I feel like I have a better idea of how to build already.

I started an MA5C from the Pepukura download section and am about halfway through with it. I'm thinking of using the foam as filler on the inside for stiffness and possibly coating the outside with something else before painting. I like the resin technique that other people are using but I didn't know about the scotch tape issue until today

So yeah with the MA5C being halfway done in the Pep stage already I need to find some workaround to the tape and resin issue. I'm thinking that the foam can provide some rigid structure internally, but I might get creative. I'll post pics of the rifle once it gets to a presentable stage. Right now its a front end made of cardstock paper and a bunch of cut out paper pieces

Thanks again to all of you and good luck on all your projects. I saw some awesome things in here. We should think about shooting a movie using all these props! Anyway though class is starting, peace out all!

 

[OrrionCarn]

I have, but I think I might have been using the wrong method, All I did was use sand paper to try and get it . I still have like thirty or so blocks of flora foam laying in a box in my garage .

But that was because I didn't have any crafting tools. I'm gonna get some and give it another shot. Good luck!

 

[TheSpartanMjolnir]

Craft foam, might work. I mean, the guys at legendary armor, uses foam and hardens it with some kind of hardener.

But then again, it's not going to be cheap because of the resin, and it's going to be toxic, so you'll need safety gear, there probably no other better cheap method than pep