discussion Looking for a flexible material for edging a curved diorama?

[pjgtech]

An upcoming diorama I will be building will be made from foam board and will have a curved edge.
Once the diorama is complete I will need to cover the curved foam board edge.
The base will be about 300mm in diameter, so the radius will be around 150mm.
What would people recommend as a good material for such a task?
The foam board will be about 10-15mm thick.
It will almost certainly be painted on completion.
Balsa will probably snap!
I could use maybe card of some sort.
I could use some sort of thin plastic card.
I suppose some sort of fabric (maybe a thick stiff fabric) could be used too?
Any other suggestions?
Cheers

 

[wotan]

Hi Peter

I would recommend using thin veneer, several types of wood would work. You will have to orient the wood grain vertically to follow the radius.

John

 

[pjgtech]

Hmm, had not thought of veneer, how would you adhere that to the foam board, eg: CA or pva or hot glue gun? or something else...? Cheers

Edit, have looked online and most of the rolls of veneer are pre glued and require heating/ironing, which may cause probs if applying to a foam base, eg: melting, I'll see if there's any non heat glued ones out there.

 

[Jim R]

I would try thin card. It's readily available, cheap, easy to glue in place and will take paint well. 30cm across means about 1m to go all round. Only being 1/1.5cm high you should be able to neatly join shorter lengths.

 

[pjgtech]

Its not quite a full circle, but is more than half, so the length I need is about 700mm (70cm) I have just ordered a roll of non glued veneer off the bay of Evil.....
A nice light American Oak...

 

[LeytonO]

Hmm, had not thought of veneer, how would you adhere that to the foam board, eg: CA or pva or hot glue gun? or something else...? Cheers

Edit, have looked online and most of the rolls of veneer are pre glued and require heating/ironing, which may cause probs if applying to a foam base, eg: melting, I'll see if there's any non heat glued ones out there.

I used glue on edging strip for the worktop I use as my modelling desk.
Needed a strong contact glue to stick it down properly.

 

[Jack L]

Have a look at 'Nightshift' diorama videos on youtube.