Styrene VS Cardboard (Practical knowledge: tools and materials)

Card VS Styrene

Since I will be making an architectural model (and need to do so from home due to COVID) I wanted to use materials that don’t require machines to work with. I also wanted to avoid more ‘natural’ materials as Farnsworth house is modernist and sleek.

Image 1 (Styrene sheet)

Polystyrene (often called styrene for short) is a synthetic polymer plastic. It is more commonly known in it’s foam form (used for packaging) but can also be made into hard smooth sheets used in model making. It comes in a wide range of thicknesses, the thinner of which can be scored with a scalpel and snapped cleanly. Thicker sheets may require a bandsaw to cut. It can be glued together using the solvent Dichloromethane (Dichlo for short) which melts the plastic to bind it.

Image 2 (Different types of card)

Cardboard is the common term for thicker paper based products. It can be any number of colours and thicknesses, and can be smooth, textured or corrugated. For my project I am using a smooth white card.

Both materials are readily available online and through model shops. Card can be bought from any number of shops, depending on the type required.

In architecture, Styrene is typically used for finished buildings, and for the base of a model. Card can also be used this way but is also often used for sketch models as it is cheap, readily available and easy to work with.

Both materials come in sheets so minimising waste requires careful planning of your model before you begin cutting pieces out. Waste is slightly less of a concern when modelling with card as almost all types of cardboard are recyclable. Styrene is not usually recycled so trying to avoid waste as much as possible is more important with this material.

Links

Image 1: https://modelshop.co.uk/Shop/Item/Styrene-sheet-white-1-0mm-large/ITM2494

Image 2: Own Image

Image 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling_symbol