Pink Foam Board - where to buy outside of the US

[Phil-the-fear]

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OK, sorry for such a long post but stick with it!

I've been meaning to try & get some more of this and as we all seem to know, if you live outside of the US it's very difficult, almost impossible most of the time.

I bought a job lot a couple of years ago on Ebay and really got a bargain. I've often looked for more but haven't seen it since.

The stuff I bought was a light blue dense foam with a trade name of 'Styrozone', and was in thicknesses from 25mm to 75mm. It had no backing sheet so was essentially the same as the infamous "pink" boards in the US.

I've known for some time that the common name of it was "extruded polystyrene" and this is what one should search for on Ebay and the like. However, knowing that, I haven't seen any since for sale.

So I thought; why not? What was this foam board used for? Well it seems after research that it was of course for insulation purposes, but usually for under flooring purposes. Not just that but it's also used for wall, roof and other types of insulation and comes in thicknesses from about 20mm right up to 200mm.

I have included some links below with more information, but reproduce an article included in one of those links here;

"Blue/Pink foam

The “Holy Grail” of modeling: you can do almost everything with this material. Lightweight, tough, durable, ideal for crafting terrain such a hills and cliffs, making gaming boards, even buildings and bases. It doesn’t warp, is relatively light and can be worked easily with a hot-wire cutter, hot-knife, sawn and even cut with a sharp knife. When heated and even when sanded vigorously these materials will give off toxic and noxious fumes. As such always wear a fume-mask or work somewhere very well ventilated. Breathing in the powder after sanding is also a hazard.
People have terrific difficulty getting hold of these materials almost entirely because of them traditionally being called “Pink or Blue Foam” which is, sadly, now an obsolete term.
Pink/Blue foam is actually EXTRUDED Polystyrene. This is a closed-cell extruded form of polystyrene that is commonly known by the trade name of “Styrofoam”. Just as most people call a vacuum-cleaner a “Hoover” Extruded Polystyrene is called “Styrofoam”.

Now Styrofoam comes in many guises, it comes in different colours and different thicknesses and different densities. Colour can be largely ignored – it isn’t important anymore and very few of the companies that can supply Styrofoam will even know what you mean by “Pink or Blue Foam”. If you see foam that is blue or pink it can easily be something completely different and totally useless: what you need to know about is Density.
The density of Styrofoam for the modeller essentially means how “hard” it is: the denser the foam the harder (and heavier) it is. The original (blue) Styrofoam has a density of 32kg/m3 and this forms the benchmark for modeling: anything less dense than this can be too soft, anything more dense can be fine... right up to 200kg/m3 foam which is used to make surfboard blanks!

To find the right foam near to you search Google for “Styrofoam” or “Underfloor Insulation” and find a local stockist – Phone them up and check the density of the styrofoam, forget the colour and don’t worry about the tradename it is sold as. Here are a few trade names that may help you locate a supplier though:
Styrofoam LBX / DOW Styrofoam IB (UK/USA/Eur/Aus/NZ)
Floormate (UK)
Foamular (USA/Oz)
Styrodur (Europe)
Roofmate (France)
De-Q-cell (Germany"


I have done further research and found some places that sell it in the UK (if you live elsewhere, use this information above to search in your particular part of the world). It's not cheap, but if you work out what you could make with it (gravestones for instance) I think it's not too expensive. You could always economise with thickness - use 25mm for gravestones, obelisks, coffins or anything else you want to build that is hollow inside.

Ok, the links;

This link is for a bulk purchase for the actual branded Styrofoam. Made by Dow (which I believe is a US company that makes the same boards over in the US). I think you'd need to buy the sheets as they come in 25mm thickness or more.

http://new.panelsystems.co.uk/newsc/...?c=StyrofoamCT


You could also try the "RTM" boards which are used mainly for refrigerated vans;

http://new.panelsystems.co.uk/newsc/...c=StyrofoamRTM


Lastly, you could try the Floormate sheets which start at 50mm;

http://new.panelsystems.co.uk/newsc/...=Floormate350X


Whichever you go for, you have to buy a minimum amount and so the cost could be prohibitive, unless you have some grand plans! You can collect from the company, which I think is based in Sheffield, to save money, but I suggest you'd be better off looking for a local supplier (builders merchants, insulation company etc.).

They also do "craft foam" but as these are a maximum of 2' x 2' I doubt it will be of much use.


Another place that sells it online is here http://www.homecrafts.co.uk/products...locks_M831.htm, but it doesn't state the size of the sheet. However, there is a problem with their site at the moment and as a result if you try to buy it comes back saying there's a problem and offering you a 25% discount on your next order!


Here's another place online; http://www.insulationexpress.co.uk/F...ion-Boards.htm


Here are 3 places on Ebay that are, I believe, selling the same thing but just another brand. They do different thicknesses (check their other items). However, I suggest you check first that it is what you want before buying;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/POLYFOAM-FLOOR...efaultDomain_3

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Underfloor-Hea...pt=UK_Flooring

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Underfloor-Hea...efaultDomain_3


Here is another place clearly selling a similar product for modelling as well as insulation purposes;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-Thick-24-x-4...efaultDomain_3


This is a bit more information about the flooring insulation;

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgur...%257CcountryGB


And, lastly, here is the original article (which I partly copied above) from a wargaming site explaining more about the foam (including Health & Safety gumpf); http://www.barrule.com/Workshop/imag...oams/index.htm

So in a nutshell, you can buy the "blue/pink foam" outside of the US, although it may not be cheap, but you just need to ask for the right thing.

I hope this helps somebody and if you do find a stockist or any other information that may be useful to others, please post the details here.

[4ToUov]

Great!!!

I will def. gonna check it out.

Thanxx for the links & explaination,appreciated