Completely Modular foam board building...(WIP)

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I've been a long time member at HissTank.com and due to a recent suggestion popped in over here, and thought I'd share my work in progress warehouse I'm building. Everything is completely modular and can be broken down to flat panels and assembled in any configuration I want. Still a lot of panels to go but here's the progress. I apologize for the length and number of pics in the first post but this has been going for a few weeks.

First a little Dio shot with some 5 minute photoshop tweaks to keep myself inspired.


It's actually really easy to do and the results come out pretty good I think. Just cut the foam board panel to the size you want it, carefully set it in water for a few minutes to remove the paper from one side and using a mechanical pencil scribe your details into the foam.



cut out my window



prime the whole thing with a thin layer of acrylic paint or primer.

black wash to darken detail lines.

base coat

weather

Built a window frame out of bass wood and added packaging scrap for the "glass"


Made interior panels and glued to the outer panels, countersinking neodymium magnets in the corners.


Then any little metal braces can be used to configure the panels however you want



Waiting on more magnets to continue the build working on scribing some more panels and such in the meantime. Going to build corner caps for the building as well, so far really happy with how it's coming together. The delivery van was another project I built out of foam board
 
NSA

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Very nice.. I know at one point we had a tutorial by Mandingo Rex on doing this kind of work, not sure if it was lost in a crush here or there though.

Welcome to the site! I need more stuff like this, it looks nice.
 
Dropshipbob

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Great outcome, I read your post over on HISStank, this is great mon, truly great!
 
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Thanks so much for the warm welcome guys! I know it seems a little insane but that's part of the reason it's coming along slowly I can only stand to do one or two panels a day before my eyes feel the strain. I take breaks and build less crazy things like the trailer in the dio pic.

Having another board to post on may help with brainstorming some of the challenges this build presents, I look forward to continuing the build sharing my progress and picking your collective brains.
 
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G.I.*EDDIE said:
Actually interested in the trailer. More details? Pics?
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Sure, I bought a 3x6 sheet of corrugated plastic cut and hot glued it together the wheels are a little big when I find better I will cut those off and swap them. I have a roof panel made but I'm going to make it removable.

 
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G.I.*EDDIE said:
That's cool. Does it have a frame? If so, what'd ya make it from? Actually, where are the wheels from? Haha.
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No frame, I will use a combination of basswood foam board and poster board to fake details. This thing is extremely sturdy, hot glue holds quickly and very well. The wheels are from a Bruder trailer that had some sort of crane on it. Picked it up at Goodwill for $2. The wheel section actually has suspension travel on it and are really cool. But being Bruder they are 1/16 scale which makes my trailer sit just a little too high. They also have more of an off road tread.
 
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They restocked the magnets! So panels will resume tomorrow, picked up some tiny hinges and made doors for the trailer today. They aren't glued in place yet, still have some finish work to do on the edges before I make them permenant. Also making some ramps that will store under the trailer.

 
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Prime...could be involved, albeit a non-transforming one. Anyway, a little update. Using aluminum tape to hide the corrugated edges on the trailer and printed out some textures for the inside. Also fabricated some retractable landing gear for the trailer, went with a simple more toy-like flip up style built out of basswood. Haven't glued down the printed out texture yet still tweaking measurements to get a good fit. Made the texture from a photo and flipped it in photoshop to make a near seamless pattern. Anyway, on with the pics.

 
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Thanks Eddie! Always on the lookout for stuff for the project. Trying to keep it rolling while on a very small budget. Saw a beautiful 1/18th scale Mercedes diesel on eBay, but not spending $400. My whole build all materials, tools and all has run me a total of about $60, $30 of that was on a new drill because mine died, not sure I should even count that in the price, and I definitely don't when I tell the wife how much I'm spending on all this "silly" stuff. LOL


G.I.*EDDIE said:
Nice work on the flooring!

You need to pick up a 1:18th scale hi-lo if one exists.
Click to expand...
 
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Got the doors hinged and attached, primed the cab and set it on a stack of scrap foam board at approximate height to take some measurements.
 
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So, found a website today that suggested using a product called Paper Clay as a filler for foam board, picked up some this afternoon and thought I'd share the results. In the previous post you can see some holes in the foam along the window line. I lightly put a thin layer of Paper Clay on the length of the window frame waited for it to dry and sanded it smooth, after another coat of primer here's the result.

I will be using this stuff as a filler even more in the future, it totally rocks, air dries quickly, is solid and sandable.
 
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Scored a really beat up Bruder truck at Goodwill today for $2, got it home stripped the cab off the frame and used a hack saw to cut the front end down a little. Sprayed the first three coats of paint on the cab and set it on. I want to cut down the frame a little more so the cab sits a little lower. I wish it were about a quarter to half an inch narrower but I think the work involved to narrow it is more than I want to put into it just to move the wheels inward a bit. As you can probably guess by the color this will be a non-transforming Optimus Prime.

 
G.I.*EDDIE

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Looks really cool.

From the pic angle, I can't tell if the wheels are wider than the cab, but if you did want to narrow them, it's not that difficult at all. I had to pop those wheels off quite a few times and even had to narrow a set for Hook.

If you already have a torch handy, you just heat up the axle close to one of the wheels until the plastic inside of the wheel gets soft and it'll pull off. Then you can cut the axle down however much you desire. After that you just pop the wheel back on and glue if necessary.
 
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Had a huge disaster painting the silver stripe, I masked it off and the masking tape took literal chunks out of the foam, never had that happen before and I've masked foam plenty of times. So, had to use the paper clay filler to fix the holes and repaint the red as well. He just has a little more weathering now is all...LOL.



He also has windows now and grill support made out of basswood.
 
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More progress! Looking more like Optimus all the time, built the rear cover and painted it blue. Not going to glue the cab down til I get the interior done.

 
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G.I.*EDDIE said:
Looking good. You planning on a bumper and/or any other details? Roof lights, door handles, step ladders?
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Yes to all of it, the door handles are actually carved into the door already may hollow out the one side a bit. Cab detail and interior will come together simultaneously
 
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Welcome to the 118th and damn impressive work you shown so far. Would love to get a 1:18 scale truck and trailer and I'm working on some trailers and shipping containers now. Truck will be a whole other beast to tackle way down the line.
 
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WVMojo said:
Welcome to the 118th and damn impressive work you shown so far. Would love to get a 1:18 scale truck and trailer and I'm working on some trailers and shipping containers now. Truck will be a whole other beast to tackle way down the line.
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Thanks! I'd love to see your work, maybe I could learn a few things.

Still working on the building, I've been quiet because there's nothing to show that's all that exciting, 3 more solid brick panels done and 3 to go. Will probably cut doors and windows in a few of them. Once these are done it will pretty much complete the Outer walls of the loading dock. Then I'll move on to the office, warehouse and maintenance bay of the building I'm planning.
 
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Corner caps! bought some corner molding at Home Depot, 88 cents per foot comes in a 12 foot piece, cut it in half at the store so it would fit in my car. Brought it home cut the first piece and threw some gray paint on it. I think it's going to work!
 
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G.I.*EDDIE said:
Looks great, as does the weathering.
Click to expand...

Thanks Eddie! Figuring out what I wanted to do with the corners was definitely a hurdle, thankfully this cost-effective solution came along. Roof panels and how to deal with them are probably the next hurdle. I'm thinking of making removable square columns to support the roof.

My floor panels seem to be having more problems warping than the walls did, so I'm rethinking that process now also. Maybe warping because they are horizontal when in use. I might consider some thin MDF to glue them to, which of course will mean adjusting all the floor risers I made to accommodate the thicker floor. But should solve the warping problem, as well as making the floors even sturdier.
 
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