"Using Sintra PVC Board For Modeling" Topic

I was wondering if anyone here has tried to create scenery using Sintra PVC board. I watched some videos on YouTube about this and it looks promising. Can the surface be etched to create a stone pattern? Apparently it is sometimes used as basing for figures, houses and scenes since it is not inclined to warp. I also understand that you can force the stuff to warp by applying heat.

Cheers!

Gallo

I haven't been able to find any.

Supposedly it is excellent for numerous uses, and can be carved, filed, drilled, and sanded to shape.

Any references to sources in the USA where it can be found and purchased will be appreciated, especially in California.

Amazon lists Sintra board.

There is a plastics supply shop near to me that sells expanded pvc under the brand name Komatex, which is the same thing

link

It's used a lot in sign making, so any sign making store should be able to cut a piece to size for you, and may even have offcuts or rejects

John

Someone online mentioned that Sintra might not be so easy to deboss, but a modeler who had a video on YouTube said debossing was not a problem. As I was hoping to use it to make stone walls and houses I will need to do this. On the other hand, the guy who used expanded PVC foam board on YouTube wasn't using Sintra but another brand. I think there are several sources for Sintra including Home Depot. Sintra is used by businesses for outdoor signage since it's waterproof, fairly rigid and not inclined to warp. Modelers on YouTube seem to mostly use the stuff to make cosplay battle armor. They use heat guns to warp the sheet into different shapes. When the stuff cools down it maintains the new shape.

Cheers!

Gallo

You can get PVC board on ebay simply enough.

XPS foam is excellent for carving stone work, break, wood textures, and other details in it. It can then be hardened using a mix of Modge Podge and paint – 50:50 mix recommended, to seal it.

Blue or pink both work well, though there are slight differences since they are made by different manufacturers.

Supposedly, the green XPS sold by Lowe's in the USA, is inferior to the blue and pink material.

Check out Youtube for tips and tecniques, as well as Facebook groups.

Thanks for the tips on where to find the Sintra.

Hi Thresher01,

I agree XPS foam is great for certain uses, like making hills and trenches. I was thinking of using Sintra for building houses in 15mm scale. I believe Sintra is harder than XPS and would make formidable house walls using 3mm board. I was hoping I could use a tool to scribe a stone texture into the Sintra, preferably before I glued it with superglue (one of the best glues for this material). The Mod Podge/ paint mix sounds great. I've been using Mod Podge as a sealer but I've never mixed it with paint.

Cheers!

Gallo

Perhaps, on the Sintra strength. I suspect you are right.

You can use a ballpoint pen for scribing in XPS foam, and the effects are very "realistic".

People also use wire brushes for scribing in wood texture too, for beams, like on half-timbered buildings and houses, as well as on wooden sailing ships.

XPS is great for doing many things in modeling. Some have hot wire cutting systems for the foam. Since my houses are so small – 15mm, I've not attempted to use XPS for stonework but might use it for stone fencing. I will probably order some Sintra and report back to TMP how my experiments go.

Cheers!

Gallo

How to cut the Sintra board to the desired lengths (and height)?

E.G. if I want 12-inch (300mm?) lengths of walls, but only 3-inch (75mm) high walls, which would be more than tall enough for 28-30/32mm figures, how hard would it be to cut the lengths out of a 12-inch (300mm) square piece, such as Amazon sells? Oblivious such a square piece lets me build a basic structure with 12-inch front and back walls (long axis), and anywhere up to 12-icnhes on the side walls (or a square!). Would have to sort out gable ends unless I were doing some kind of Adobe or mud-brick flat-roof structure from North Africa, the American SW ------ or Taatooine! But it would be a start…

I have ordered a sample piece of Sintra (free shipping) and I will begin my experiments with the material when I receive it. I will try scoring it and breaking it, cutting it, sanding it, debossing it and using a knife to shape it. I will also paint it with spray primer to see how well paint sticks to it. The Terrain Tutor's experiments were much more thorough than mine will be so mostly, my purpose is to find out if Sintra is quite similar to the board he used and also to see what tools will make the best deboss.

Cheers!

Gallo

I received my samples of Sintra and I've had time to do a little experimenting with the stuff.

First of all I will say that this material is very tough. The Sintra board I have is 3mm thick. Normally, for bases, I use a thin, hard, plastic that is 1.3 mm thick. When I cut the plastic, I can score it, then bend it sharply and it breaks neatly at the score mark. Sintra is a bit more rubbery and it will not snap neatly when scored. Actually I couldn't get the stuff to break at all. It bent but I had to continue cutting it to get it to separate.

Sintra can be sanded but the sanded surface wasn't all that neat and I had to scrape it several times to get all the raggedy plastic fibers smooth out. Not really a problem.

I sprayed grey primer on the Sintra board and, once cured, it stuck to the plastic quite well.

Finally, I tried debossing with a small burnishing tool and a sculpting tool. This worked out quite well. The material takes and holds the deboss and I was able to make a stone pattern, a stone block pattern and a wood pattern. I believe the results were very reasonable.

For my purposes, Sintra will be most useful as a material for making 15mm model houses, especially stone houses. I might also use it for basing but not to base figures. I would use it more for scenery basing.

Cheers!

Gallo