Thermocol models of city

Last year I became busy with my school work where we did  a lot of projects for arts anscience fair.

Building  models can be a fun way to meet course requirements or display a concept for a class project. This post  can help you create models  to fill out your diorama or model scene.

You can use  a shoebox for your model display, or build a custom sized display box or roombox from bookboard (Davey board)or as a beginner you can try with thermocols which are inexpensive form of base materials available from art supply stores. Thermocol  or Styrofoam sheets are very popular among the school kids. 

 A custom built roombox is easy to make and lets you show your skills while you create a custom sized showcase for your model.

If you need to use roombox building components (windows or doors) decide on the scale you will be working in, based on the main pieces you need for your model. Common scales for school and club projects include: 1:12 scale, 1:1.24 scale or 1:48 scale

If your display or model project needs to be stored between displays, a break away box with hinged sides that fold up to fit under the lid is often a good way to display model scenes.

Here are a few   techniques to make your thermocol crafting easy.

1. Cutter. Cutting a thermocol is surely a hard work. We designed a simple method to cut thermocols easily and  without creating a mess. For this we used two long nails, wire and power supply.

The wire is wound between the two nails. The other two ends are connected to the power supply. When current is passed on , the wire gets heated up and easily cuts off not only thermocols but also plastics!

  2. Paints: Thermocol often comes in white color, and making crafts with thermocol means adding lots of color. But beware, some paints will melt the thermocol as soon as you paint them on. It would be a huge disappointment if the thermocol crafts melts away after the project has been completed. We suggest that you try a blob of paint on small thermocol pieces before you put it on the main project. That way, you can be sure that the paint sticks and doesn’t melt the thermocol base.

  3. Hot Glue Gun: Glue gun is any crafters’ best friend . With the various uses and applications of glue gun, it is a very versatile tool and safe too. The tip of the glue gun (metal part) is usually very hot and can easily melt away thermocol. It is best to avoid touching the tip of the glue gun to the thermocol while crafting. If you want to use glue gun as an adhesive – we suggest that you use the glue on the embellishment and then stick that embellishment onto the thermocol base.

​Clean up!

The after effects of thermocol crafting (apart from the beautiful end product made) are very tiny bits if thermocol that loves to fly around! The best way to gather these little devils is using a static cloth. They tend to stick onto the static cloth. You can later dust them off in the bin.