Oh, the things you can build with Pink Foam!

[duck]

OK, this is just a silly little show off thread, but a comment Laffo made in that older "Question for those who have tackled Star Wars costumes" thread:

Duck,
The pink foam rules.
Don't let any of these bastards tell you different.
Laffo.

got me to thinking about all the strange things I have built either partially or almost 100% out of pink (or blue) insulation foam over the years as an amateur prop monkey (or in some cases, when I headed up the build team). So, I figured I'd just rapid fire post a few pics of foam monstrosities and encourage others to post theirs. I'm sure many of you have built some crazy things out of our good old friend Pink Insulation Foam! Enjoy and show your own!

Farmer Vincent mask and chainsaw body (not blade, though):

Retro Rocket Pack for a photographer in California:

Monsters Cereal masks, headpieces and Booberry Head (Yeah, I'm Count Chocula):

6 and 8 foot arches and stuff for Jabba's palace, as well as his hookah and table (yeah, that's me assembling Jabba in that last pic):

Crappy Bib Fortuna skull (it was a last minute thing and I'd build it totally differently today):

Landspeeder (almost 95% pink foam!)... and yes, that is my driveway:

Wookiee feet (7 inches of lift!) and skull:

I mean, basically, the stuff rules, like Laffo said!

So show off your pink (or sometimes blue) foam creations!

 

[almar bouwman]

That look incredible. I only know this as blue foam (roofmate). Never seen it in pink before.
I recently made a kind of moon landscape out of this for my son's Lego Power Miners.

 

[Remo]

Wow, Duck. You made some very cool stuff with that. I only started usuing it last year for Halloween projects, like a crypt and tombstones. I didn't realize all the possibilities. I can't wait to make my own retro space-girl :love

 

[Eopie Herder]

Awesome! I want those background pieces! (The subject ain't too bad either)

 

[duck]

Yeah, the stuff can be crazy cool. It has its limitations for sure, but its cost, strength, availability and ability to be sculpted pretty easy make it a very attractive building material. I've heard it even insulates houses pretty good, too!

 

[Remo]

I've heard it even insulates houses pretty good, too!

Now you're just being silly. :lol

I always have the hardest time cutting it though. I bought an electric cutter/melter from Hobby Lobby and either I'm very impatient or i'm doing it wrong, since it takes me forever and it still doesn't come out as planned. What do you use for cutting them up?

 

[duck]

I always have the hardest time cutting it though. I bought an electric cutter/melter from Hobby Lobby and either I'm very impatient or i'm doing it wrong, since it takes me forever and it still doesn't come out as planned. What do you use for cutting them up?

Aha! Glad you asked! Just get a cheap 5 dollar dryway saw. It's a little jagged toothed hand held knife. Chops the stuff up real good and can even rough shave basic shapes. Then I use 60 grit sandpaper to rough it out, on a block or just by hand. Use a dragging/digging motion to get more stuff hacked off until you get close to your desired rough shape.


It can be tiring, but not supper hard. The Shaak Ti headpiece (from my earlier thread) took about 2 hours to rough out.

For bigger stuff, like the Landspeeder engine shaping, a Sawz-all and a hand held grinder were essential. Just be careful, but yeah, you can grind thge stuff with one of those aluminum discs with the little metal nibs on it (don't waste time with a sandpaper disc on the grinder for big projects... big waste of time and energy).

 

[dropshipbob]

For bigger stuff, like the Landspeeder engine shaping, a Sawz-all and a hand held grinder were essential. Just be careful, but yeah, you can grind thge stuff with one of those aluminum discs with the little metal nibs on it (don't waste time with a sandpaper disc on the grinder for big projects... big waste of time and energy).

That must make one helluva mess.

 

[LittleBit]

Brilliantly done w/ the General Mills crew - Fruit Brute clearly being the
special guest star. Bonus points if y'all were taking a page out of
the Revenge of the Nerds page book, and lazily eating cereal w/ those brews
the next AM.

 

[Jumpin Jax]

That must make one helluva mess.

Having cut the stuff for an actual roof...yes. Worse than styrofoam pellets.
Awesome work.

 

[Qui-Gonzalez]

(The subject ain't too bad either)

Aside from all of those scars. Is she a former cutter or what? Wow.

Great work with the pink foam, too. Is this the stuff you can get from Lowe's and other big box home improvement stores?

 

[weaselflinger]

Great work! What do you use to hard coat the foam?

 

[Eopie Herder]

Is she a former cutter or what?

I would certainly go with YES. But, nothing like some lovin' from some damaged goods with Daddy issues!:love

Just kidding!




Maybe

 

[darth_myeek]

I am thinking those are burn scars.

 

[breadbin]

The girl is a famous alt-model named (wait for it...) Scar, also known as Scar 13. And yup, those are self inflicted scars, although she doesn't cut anymore.

Loving the foam work!

Edit: She is definitely NSFW, so don't go image searching her!

 

[twistedxknights]

Wow that alot of nice work with that foam.. I have tried working with it myself.. but nothing on the scale you have been working with..

 

[nickytea]

Also curious what you use to smooth it out.

Spray filler? Simple primer? Bondo?

 

[Prefect42]

I'm especially impressed with the wookie feet. Did you need to do anything to the foam to make it support your weight?

Brilliant work all around.

Ted.
Prefect42.

 

[jackdoud]

So show off your pink (or sometimes blue) foam creations!

I've made a whole bunch of stuff out of it over the years, not counting all the wargames terrain here's my prop/costume projects:

Sony Killstick from the webcomic Megatokyo:

Also from Megatokyo, Tactical Assault Boo J-Pak and Cat Distractor:





Warhammer 40k Space Marine helmet for an Ork banner pole. (slapped together in under 24 hours)




Helped a friend with this Warhammer 40k sniper rifle as well:



A Nightmare Before Christmas Jack-o-Lantern-in-a-box (given as a Christmas present):


And 2 Transformers costumes for a friend of mine:

More info on all of this stuff is on my website if anyone's interested. I've used various stuff to coat the foam, the J-pak was bondo, the killstick was poster paint, the jack-o-lantern was PVA glue, Soundwave was fiberglass and epoxy and Wheeljack was styrene and liquid nails.

 

[duck]

That must make one helluva mess.

Yup. But that's why baby Jebus invented shop vacs!