Materials and Processes
When making models, many different materials and processes are used. One really good material to use is foamboard. This material is very good because it is firm and already has a thickness to it. This, however, also means that you are indicating that the set made from this has the scaled thickness of the foamboard. For this reason, foamboard is normally used in rough models; because it is rigid and easy to cut. However, when cutting, if the blade is not upright it can be obvious due to the slant on any side. Also, once cut, the edges are untidy and messy because foamboard is foam sandwiched between two pieces of paper. Another material to use is card. This can be a more accurate material as there is barely thickness to it. This means that the card can be cut and attached together to create 3D objects instead of relying on the thickness of foamboard to make it 3D. However, as it is card, it is a little harder to cut as the density is a lot more, also, as it is thinner, the rigidity is a lot less. Fimo is another material that can be used to create models. This is a clay-type material that can be moulded and manipulated to create different objects that would be difficult to make out of plat planes, like bowls or pots. After the object is made, the fimo is placed in the oven which turns it into a plastic, which allows it to retain its shape and give it more rigidity. Balsa is also a good material for models as it is very light and easy to cut. It is also easy to carve, so that you can put details into the wood. However, this material is therefore not as strong and can easily break. Another material that could be used is wire. This is a good material for making organic stringy objects like vines or branches. It can also be used as a skeleton to apply fimo or any other material too. This, however, can be difficult to manipulate and can be very pricey. The last material we had access to was sheets of plastic. This could be used in the same way as the card, but was a lot harder to cut and work with. Although it was also considerably more expensive, it is a lot more rigid and can be used in my longer thinner lengths than card.
As there are many materials that we had access to, we also had access to a few different glues that could be used for different circumstances.
PVA is the most common glue and is effective for wood, paper and card where the air can get to the glue easily. This is because this glue dries when the air can get to it, making it harden. This glue is also the cheapest glue, but can sometimes not be very strong.
However, Bostick can be applied to the two surfaces, allow to become tacky and then place them together. This means that the glue is dry before the two materials are placed together so that the glue is properly adhered to the materials and the glue easily sticks to other glue. This has a stronger bond as it allows the air to get to it, making sure the glue has a strong bond with the materials. This glue is better than PVA but is also much more expensive.
Other glues like polyweld have a specific use. Polyweld is used to melt two pieces of plastic together creating a bond that is very strong.
Welding is another process but this is used to attach two pieces of metal together. This process is very similar to soldering, which requires a hot element to heat up some other metal between the two pieces it wants to attach so that when it cools, it bonds very well.
