UK foam builders, what are you using?

ep82

ep82

Well-Known Member
UK foam builders.

Just wanted to know what type of foam you are using and maybe build a info page for other members who is building with foam.

What do you guys use and where did you get it from?

I am willing to try other types of foam so any good recommendation would be cool

This is my experience.
camping mat ebay : GREEN CAMPING MAT YOGA EXERCISE SLEEPING PICNIC EVA MAT BUY 1,2,3 OR 4 | eBay
I have tried camping mats from ebay which works out about £5 delivered and it was AWFUL. it was way too soft, dents and marked very easily and it shrank when I applied PVA.

Noticed how the edges has shrunk, it was supposed to be sharp. and the top of the faceplate started to dip inwards



Decathlon mats : Essential Fitness Mat DOMYOS - Exercise Mats Fitness, Dance, Martial arts -...
Mat feels better than ebay camping mats, this doesn't dent or marked easily but to me it feels less dense. It's about the same thickness as camping mats but it's still fairly flimsy. It's a good mat if you are on a budget or feel like making a speed build.
I have built 3 helmet with this and the end result was good but it's hard to get it to hold it's shape (in raw foam form), I mean if you lay it down and it's not sitting straight, eg the face of the helmet is facing the floor, by the next day you could have a flat face helmet. My 300 spartan helmet cheeks keeps getting bent everytime I lay the helmet down for more than a few hours.
This may be a very good base mat if you are going rondo route.
I will be making my storm trooper suit with this mat and I will test it out with rondo at a later date.



Plastazote foam : Plastazote LD45 - Medium Density Foam - On The Roll Closed Cell Polyethylene Rubber Foam
My personal favorite, I have built my Iron man mark 4 suit out of this stuff. It's super easy to work with, glues very well and it's hard to mark or dent it (compared to the other stuff but you can still do it if you wanted to) it is tough/strong but when you apply heat, it will bend to that shape. The foam will hold it's shape very well as it's fairly densed. I am using 10mm thickness
The only down side is it's very expensive.

raw foam


2nd helmet


My iron man suit WIP
 
I think you've covered the majority of the stuff easily available in the UK other than Interlocking/Jigsaw EVA foam floor tiles I find these are pretty dense, strong and hold shape well but you can't use them for quick builds like JFcustoms files due to the size of the tiles.

20131218_110915_resized.jpg


I like you have tried the camping/yoga mats and built a full iron man suit out of these.

945972_10152669225678475_2026795961_n.jpg IronMan.png

I found the best brand of these to be Yellowstone, didn't have any issues with shrinkage, however they aren't very strong, rip quite easily and I wouldn't recommend putting all that time into a camping mat suit, I wouldn't use these for a build like this again, I would use them for some things but not a full suit.

Also like you I've tried the Decathalon mats for my stormtrooper build

storm3.png 1504080_10152865015723475_134439241_n.jpg

I found these much better to work with, much stronger than the camping mats and difficult to rip, I would use these again for builds but due to the texture of the foam and the expense of the paint required to smooth the foam I likely won't, I am interested to see how you get along with rondo on this foam however.

I will likely be ordering some white 6mm LD45 from thames and giving that a go for another trooper build in the new year.
 
Yo.

thanks for the info. Your iron man suit is what made me order some foam and give it a try.

Right now i'm using the 3x camping mats for a fiver (or tenner) i forget. It's pretty crap, but since im just starting out it's a good learning tool.

I'm making some basic Dredd Armour and some Boba Fett armour and it's decent enough for now.

Will def want to try out the plastazote stuff at some point.
 
I have used camping mats as they are easy to mold/shape with hairdryer and i use a glue gun and it works so well. I am super new to all this but it works so well!!
But this is what i use! also i by them super cheap from camping stores like 3 rolls for £10
 
Problem with plastazote is that it cost so much money :(

I have noticed that most US foam builder used foam like garage floor mats or gym mats.

They have the non slip on the inside and smooth on the outside. like these
INTERLOCKING EVA FOAM MATS FLOOR TILES EXERCISE GYM PLAY GARAGE WORKSHOP | eBay

and
Heavy Duty Safety EVA Floor Foam Mat For Gym Equipment Exercise | eBay

Does these foam have a technical name and comes in a big roll? these are fairly expensive because they are classed as 'gym' mats and people are willing to pay as it's for sports.

- - - Updated - - -

lovelyandy said:
Yo.

thanks for the info. Your iron man suit is what made me order some foam and give it a try.

Right now i'm using the 3x camping mats for a fiver (or tenner) i forget. It's pretty crap, but since im just starting out it's a good learning tool.

I'm making some basic Dredd Armour and some Boba Fett armour and it's decent enough for now.

Will def want to try out the plastazote stuff at some point.
Click to expand...

Once I get used to rondo (and able to afford the materials due this expensive time of year) then I will be making a dredd helmet and maybe a full suit :)
 
The tiles are EVA foam, they are the same as the ones I posted above which are smooth one side and non slip the other but the ones I posted are multicoloured, they are the same type of thing I believe, both are listed as EVA foam floor tiles.

20131218_172117_resized.jpg 20131218_172121_resized.jpg 20131218_172152_resized.jpg
 
Last edited:
Or right. I have a set of those tiles foam mats but they are for my daughter's play room. it's not the same non slip as the photos shows. 1 side is smooth and 1 side has lots and lots of little lines. unlike the checkered ones pictured.
 
ha good find!

yeah let us know how you get on, the plastazote stuff is a bit prices especially as i'm still practising and getting a feel for the stuff.
 
Yeah Just like what the above said. Please keep us uptodate with that mat.
Plastazote is pricey but I can guarantee if you use it, you will love it. Shame it's not widely available at cheap prices :( Only reason I am trying other foam instead of sticking to plastazote is because I want to find a cheap but sturdy foam which I can rondo/plastic coat it for a hard suit.
 
just another picture to show the difference between plastazote a yoga mats

both items are leaning towards each other, the yoga mat can't hold it's shape compare to the plastazote. Also the plastazote foam was standing just by 1 small narrow part and it didn't even bend with the rest of the weight it's supporting.




Here's the rest of the iron man suit out of plastazote


 
Do you think a thinner plastazote would still hold up like that? I think 10mm may be a little thick for a stormtrooper so was likely going to to with around 6mm as it's what I've been used to working with, with the yoga/camping mats. I'm definitely going to build another stormtrooper from this stuff within the next couple of months mainly because it comes in white so will be white inside and out and if any paint cracks etc appear they will be much less noticeable with a white foam base.
 
I havent used anything less than 10mm so I can't be sure but I think it will still hold up, maybe have a slight give. The plasazote is definitely more dense that the decathlon mats so this makes it alot stronger.

Here is a quick vid I made to show you the difference between the decathlon mat and my plastazote foam.


Hope this works.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks ep that's really helpful, I thought the Decathlon mats were tough when compared to the yoga mats but this stuff looks great. Looking at your vid has also helped me decide that 10mm will definitely look to thick for trooper armour. Once I've got my finances back into shape after the bashing they've taken for Christmas I'll definately be getting a few rolls of the white :thumbsup
 
That foams class, quite dense but cuts lovely currently taking over my kitchen floor as its easy to mark out loads and just cut. lost the transformer off my (not a) Dremel. arse!!
 
Yeah I only went for 10mm because I wanted to make iron man and I hope I have enough for war machine. The next time ill buy some, it will be 6mm.

Son of russ: will be good to see some work from that foam
 
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