The Ship Model Forum

Wondering if anyone has had practical experience with Sintra or Gatorboard. I've seen gatorboard superstructure kits on the web and am curious if it could be used as hull planking under fiberglass.
As always any input is appreciated.

Hello,

I have never used either but from what I have read, they are foam core boards. I believe one is soft foam and the other being more rigid. I have thought of using these but went with balsa because I have a pile of it siting around. (never finished that ship though...) One issue could be that if you use polyester resin, it might attack the foam core. You would need a barrier between the resin and foam and the heavy paper coating may not be enough. (I used paper mache over the foam I used for my hull. It was two layers thick and a heavy glue to water ratio) If you are planning to use epoxy resin then this will not be an issue.

One thing you might want to try is 1/8" (3mm) hard board sold in lumber yards. These are 2'x4' sheets and are about $5 Canadian. I use the 1/4" sheets to make the bulkheads for my ships. I have never tried using it for planking but it cuts well on a table saw with a fine tooth blade. I should handle gentle curves well but could break on any sharp bends. I have been meaning to try it myself but just haven't. I am thinking of using it on a 1/72 Foundation Franklin tug for my kids but that is a side project to my DDE. (the kids are helping with the build so it goes on when they are interested in doing it)

Good luck on the build.