PVC Foamboard - A new basing material?

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[ihpeople]

Thank you for saving me hours and hours of testing! Really valuable review.

[moizzaveri]

hi,
i am an Interior Designer from Bangalore India,
would like to add that i have been using PVC foam boards for the past 8 years,
i have completed about 35 modular kitchen in this basing material, it is a win with every client and i also do IMPORT and EXPORT on demand.
it is the future as i have reduced the fabrication and Manufacturing time by 65%.

Cheers and All THE BEST.

[yurikz]

just found this video and holy cow, you are amazing at reviewing material, just what I was looking for
not really interested in your tutorials about terrain but your content is amazingly well thought out and is so clean, so you really deserve the sub
really enjoyed!

[Clidefride]

I must say, I absolutely love your channel. Your tutorials and reviews are awesome. Everytime I think how could I make that, I find myself looking through your playlists and videos. Keep up the good work.

[alwoodsmodellingmayhem]

Fantastic vid mate. Thanks for putting this material through its paces as it really helps to be shown what can and cannot be done with something before splashing out
on it.

Cheers

Al

[Agamemnon]

That was one heck of an indepth inquiry into the properties of the material. Thumbs up. I've used 3mm of this same stuff for bases and vehicle conversions, which it rather excels at, save for the necessity to use superglue or epoxy to stick it down especially for loadbearing joints. Still, fantastic stuff.

[straggler]

This is the kind of ridiculously comprehensive video I love from this channel.

[Fpinne]

For the german speaking Viewers:
This stuff is called 'PVC Hartschaumplatte 3x500x500 mm weiss' and you can order it at Hornbach, for example. (In Austria, it's 17, 16 € per m² )
Hope this helps some of you :)

[AlfonsoTheTraitor]

Mel this is by far the best product review I have ever seen. I love all the different tests you have done. Thank you very much for making this video for us, cheers mate!

[Themilphil]

I recommend this material to anyone who will listen, so thanks for a video which covers it so I can just link to it and save on typing.

For engraving I use a tunsten steel scriber, needs a few passes but works well esp. for brickwork.

It's worth approaching local signmakers for scraps, what's too small to be used by them is massive for a game modeller - and it's usually free.

I typically use the 3mm thickness, it's much easily to cut especially when you're doing a lot of doors, windows etc. There is a 1mm thickness, but I've yet to find any.

[Coproquim]

I love the stuff, I get the old signs from the building site near mine, and old displays from local shops. it's absolutely brilliant for paper crafting tanks, the only issue that I have with it is that you can't use poly cement to glue it, but super glue works brilliantly anyhow

[The_Modeling_Underdog]

Love the pvc foamboard. I use it mostly for my scale glider projects. A very noble material. It also has a plus: there are different density and hardness options. Iirc the red brown and grey are almost solid rock.

[Brandlin]

I'm amazed you haven't used foamed PVC before. As a complete amateur I've been using it for years. I don't treat it as an MDF replacement but as a foam core board replacement. I love it as a material. Sanding it doesn't give you a toxic dust, but be sensible, you don't want a lung full of ANY dust! HOWEVER pvc means poly vinyl chloride. If burnt then it gives off chlorine which IS toxic. For this reason, using a heat gun is not sensible. Similarly it is totally unsuitable for laser cutting.

[mooncabbagere]

Just a thought, if you sanded the face of the sheet or scored it with a blade, it might key the surface enough to help the pva stick down for gritting.

[firedragongames]

Nice one Mel... thoroughly tested, and thanks for the shoutout. The 3mm stuff is good for buildings and other structures as it's that much easier to cut, and 1mm is good for door and window frames and the like. I use a metal knitting needle to engrave it. A biro works well too. Another tip is to wipe some coarse sandpaper over it to get some nice woodgrain effects for making planking and floorboards.

[RagPunker]

This material is VERY similar if not the same as the PVC foam (called Sintra here) we use to make Mandalorian costume armor. The heat gun can be used to heat it slowly all the way through (don't leave the heat in one place too long or it'll burn like you did =)) then it can be bent and shaped pretty easily until it cools then it'll stay in the shape you put it in. With a curved form you could use this material to make curved walls. Some interesting possibilities here. I have never considered using it for terrain.

Be warned, do not leave it in a hot car unless you want it to warp. I had to reform some armor due to this.

[alkirkham]

Great demo on pvc foam board. I like how it takes paint and plaster. I could make some nice Ocean boards with it for a display I have in mind.

[bobstraightjaket]

Very nice. I had wondered about PVC because I work with it all day long. 6mm and 3mm white and black. I work for a sign company and have access to it. This answered a lot of questions I had and now will be using it for basing and building as well. Plus a perk is there is tons of scrap lying around.

[mlcornwall]

Mel, Tensile strength is resistance to being pulled apart, as when stretched to a breaking point. Resistance to warp is rigidity.

[griffonwing]

Great to see Foamed PVC in the gamer market. I work at a printers and we use this material for a lot of signage using a UV flatbed printer. I have scores of 1ft-square off-cuts that I have taken home for crafting use that were headed to the bin. It was awesome to watch your video and now I know exactly what types of adhesives and materials to use.

As a side note.. the stippling effect you showed with heat gun would make awesome rust pocks for any type of metal walls or floors. You might even be able to heat it enough and push something through it, to make it look like and Alien's acid spittle melted the floor or wall. Then just rust paint it.

Again, awesome video!