5 ms·

This is pretty rad. Growing up I used to be into model trains and one thing that always blew me away was model train landscaping. You know, those amazing baseme

This is pretty rad. Growing up I used to be into model trains and one thing that always blew me away was model train landscaping. You know, those amazing basement setups that recreate the Rockies or insanely detailed recreations of westchester subway yard. One of the main ingredients for building a model train layout is foam. Simply put, you lay foam down and then carve into it the landscape you wish, paint it, and then cover it with fake greenery. With the right setup it cured hard as rock and provides a foundation for the layout to sit upon. Reading this article it seems Sweden is making 1:1 layouts for engineering projects. This, to me, seems like a really great application. What I want to know is, how does it hold up to time, elements, curing, etc in the long run. Fascinating stuff though.

blunte 5y ago
Question for you. When you want to change the landscaping, or say the land is sold and is going to be repurposed... what exactly do you do with all those blocks? And have you ever had packing material that over time had more and more corners rubbed/ripped off, leaving little foam balls stuck to every nearby surface? Now imagine that orders of magnitude larger scale. I hope you _really_ like little foam stuck to everything.
- gabereiser 5y ago
  Usually when you want to change the landscaping you bring out the big knife and cut away. Model railroaders (as the community is called) use pink insulation foam so it's easier to clean up, cut up, carve out. A hot wire foam cutter is then used to shape the new foam blocks to the existing landscaping, paint, and repeat the coverage of false foliage and greenery. The old landscaping at that point goes into the garbage and into landfill after scraping off what foliage you can to save (in little jars) for the next landscape project. Pink insulation foam doesn't have beads like polystyrene Styrofoam does so it's not so much of a mess. Similar to memory foam but harder. I guess theoretically you could shred the pink foam and use it in foam spray to insulate the attic... In the end, railroaders like XPS foam as opposed to EPS foam due to lack of "beads" and mess.

blunte 5y ago

Question for you. When you want to change the landscaping, or say the land is sold and is going to be repurposed... what exactly do you do with all those blocks? And have you ever had packing material that over time had more and more corners rubbed/ripped off, leaving little foam balls stuck to every nearby surface? Now imagine that orders of magnitude larger scale. I hope you _really_ like little foam stuck to everything.

gabereiser 5y ago
Usually when you want to change the landscaping you bring out the big knife and cut away. Model railroaders (as the community is called) use pink insulation foam so it's easier to clean up, cut up, carve out. A hot wire foam cutter is then used to shape the new foam blocks to the existing landscaping, paint, and repeat the coverage of false foliage and greenery. The old landscaping at that point goes into the garbage and into landfill after scraping off what foliage you can to save (in little jars) for the next landscape project. Pink insulation foam doesn't have beads like polystyrene Styrofoam does so it's not so much of a mess. Similar to memory foam but harder. I guess theoretically you could shred the pink foam and use it in foam spray to insulate the attic... In the end, railroaders like XPS foam as opposed to EPS foam due to lack of "beads" and mess.