Architectural Techniques

Creating Surfaces with Kapa-line Foamboard

This guide explains how to use Kapa-Line foamboard to create highly detailed architectural and scenic surfaces for scale models. It describes how the board’s peelable paper layer reveals a dense, workable polyurethane foam that can be carved, inscribed, textured, or embossed using simple tools. The document covers methods for preparing foamboard panels, bonding them to backing structures, and forming brickwork, stone, wood grain, cobbles, and weathered or damaged surfaces. It also highlights techniques using pencils, scalpels, wire brushes, and pressed objects to achieve varied textures, alongside notes on painting, layering colours, and reinforcing larger constructions. Written by modelmaking author David Neat, the guide provides practical insight into achieving realistic, durable surface finishes with Kapa-Line foam.