I'm sure everyone outside the US goes through this process.
Get excited about building planes from foam board, try to find cheap foam board, give up and use the expensive stuff, wonder why your planes dont fly, howl at the moon in frustration.
Well I did anyway. We can't get Adams/Dollar Tree foamboard here and most other brands cost about $10 per board.
I made an Old Fogey from Quill FB to learn how to make and fly RC planes but it just wouldn't fly. Out of the hand and into the ground 10m away, too heavy for the 24g motor even with extreme weight saving measures. Tried a more powerful motor but it was uncontrollable.
So I set about searching for the lightest foam board at reasonable prices and here are the results.
Foamboard companies will eagerly send small sample pieces for no charge. My wife is a Medical Lab scientist with access to very accurate scales.
Here are the 95mm x 95mm samples.
Foamboards Aus (http://www.foamboards.com.au)
5mm - Thick clay paper
Weight - 0.41 g/sq inch
Cost - A$ 8.69 single or A$4.20 in box of 50 (25 double size)
Foamboards Aus (http://www.foamboards.com.au)
5mm - Acid free paper, may be difficult to remove
Weight - 0.32 g/sq inch
Cost - A$8.69 single or A$4.20 in box of 50 (25 double size)
Draftex (http://www.draftex.com.au)
5mm - Thick clay paper
Weight - 0.39 g/sq inch
A$7.70 single or A$4.00 in box of 50 (25 double size)
Quill (Officeworks)
5mm - Thick clay paper
Weight - 0.36 g/sq inch
A$10.50 single or A$9.56 in 5 pack
Depron with smooth skin top and bottom (Tates RC Geelong)
5.5mm - no paper covering
Weight - 0.19 g/sq inch
A$13.00 in 900 x 800mm sheets
Depron (http://www.tradewarehouse.com.au/more/depron-foam.html)
6mm - no paper covering or smooth skin
Weight - 0.15 g/sq inch
A$11.80 in pack of 5 (1000mm x 350mm)
A$9.15 in pack of 10
A$5.63 in pack of 40 (20 double size)
Depron from tradewarehouse does not have a smooth skin top and bottom. It is just the core depron material.
Is that good or bad for planes? Well it means the sheets are more flexible, possibly allowing for easier folding and smoother wing shapes, and it seems lighter. Accurate weight coming soon.
Adams/DollarTree
Weight - 0.19 g/sq inch
So the conclusion is.....
Depron wins hands down. Same weight as Dollar Tree and reasonable price when bought in bulk. It's lovely material to work with also. The skinned version is a bit more difficult to bend but definitely worth it for the weight saving. The unskinned version is even lighter and more flexible.
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