Armies on Parade season is upon us and I thought I’d share my experience with Modelling Foam Sheets by BluefoamUK. Find out what I thought after the jump.

This item was paid for by myself and bought from BluefoamUK on Amazon.co.uk. Opinions are my own.

Design & Features

Traditionally, home made gaming tables are landscaped from insulation styrofoam. It sometimes comes in pink or blue colours but this one is grey. BluefoamUK sell this in a variety of sizes including a perfect Armies on Parade size of 24” square and 4” high (600mm x 600mm x 100mm). BluefoamUK say you can get in touch if you want a bespoke size. It’s lightweight, firm and strong making it perfect for sculpting terrain.

Make a plan as you only have one chance to cut.

It’s water resistant, I think what they mean by this is it’s not a sponge. It won’t soak up paint. Don’t confuse this with water repellent, it can be painted on. I painted mine with watered down PVA glue before undercoating it with Citadel Chaos Black Spray. It’s imperative that you coat the foam with PVA glue and let it dry. If you spray solvent based primers onto the foam it will melt. The PVA glue will encapsulate the foam and protect it from melting.

Garfy's Get-a-Grip Banner 760px

To cut the foam there are two approaches, hot wire cutters or a bread knife. I bought a cheap Chinese hot wire cutter and it could barely cope with the 4” thickness. I had more success with a long bread knife. If you’ve ever cut white Polysterene packaging foam you’ll know it kinda rips and creates little static balls which stick to everything. This is styrofoam and different so you won’t get the little static balls. It’s really dense and cutting it is better described as sawing and carving with a bread knife.

Carved, roughed up, sand glued on and covered in PVA, ready for paint.

Water based glue and paint adheres really nicely, I’ve not had any flaking off or chipping. Solvent based glues and paint will melt it as previously stated. I also used polyfilla to rough up the surface and this adhered to the foam great as well.

Value

I paid £28.99 for 24” square and that included free shipping on Amazon.co.uk. I don’t think it’s cheap but what you’re buying here is convenience. It’s cut to size and delivered to your door. This saved me time not having to drive around looking for a builders yard that sell single sheets and then finding someone with a hot wire big enough to cut it to size.

Painted and ready for the army.
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Garfy's Get a Grip - now available on ebay

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Final Verdict

This sheet was perfect for my Armies on Parade board. It arrived promptly within a few days in perfect condition. I like the fact it’s grey (BluefoamUK say black, but it’s definitely grey) as this means you don’t have bright blue or pink showing through an undercoat. Price was OK, the free shipping is great. I cant find anything about shipping worldwide. It seems like BluefoamUK only ship within the UK and use Hermes or Royal Mail. Insulation foam is readily available in other countries though. Overall I’m pretty happy with my purchase and how it turned out.