I want to make a gaming board, all I can find at B&Q is a foam board that has a silver cover front and back! Would this still be ok to use and cut with my hot knife?

The boards with foil backing are more expensive than the regular boards. If you all ready have one, then I'd cut it with a sharp carpet knife or bread knife. The foil might damage the wire to the hot knife.

I can't find any regular boards, the board is 2inch thick and it 4 foot by 8 foot and cost £24. So not bad price I thought. It says its insulation board. I wondered weather or not to try a peel off all the foil first, what do you think? I have never used insulation board before, just wanted to make sure what I had got was ok to use.

Where are you located? I've acquired form though DYI and lumber yards. Look up hardware stores or lumber yards in your area. I suspect that removing the foil will be a bit of a job.

It's a little different in the UK to USA. B&Q is a large wearhouse like your Home Depot, Iv got it now, so hopefully it works out ok. It says its insulation foam, so I'm guessing its the same stuff, just with silver foil on it.

Yes it is. Good luck removing the foil.

I used to sell Insulation and the two main brands that wargamers use for modelling are the blue foam (Styrofoam) and the pink foam (Polyfoam). These are in effect the same material made by two different manufacturers.

I would recommend you try both the following companies who I used to be in competition with, Sheffield Insulations or Minster Insulation as they have national networks so may be local to you to source these boards from, always if you can pop in to their trade counters and ask if they have any damaged boards as they will discount any damaged boards and for most of our modelling projects a smaller or damaged board is not a problem.

Links to companies mentioned.
http://www.sheffins.co.uk/contact.asp
http://www.minsteronline.co.uk/branches

Hope this helps you.

Final tip, this material melts with traditional glue so go water based like pva and if you melt it the smoke is harmful so do so in well ventilated area, but otherwise they are safe and excellent modelling materials.

Could I use this board I have though?

http://search.wickes.co.uk/search?p=R&s ... &view=grid
Would that be the pink board?

Yes its pink foam.

It's only white here in the UK though. I had a similar issue when I bought the polystyrene for my board but I eventually found the normal white stuff in B&Q.
http://www.diy.com/nav/build/insulation/constructional-insulation/insulation_boards/Jablite-Universal-Insulation-Board-Single-White-L-1200mm-x-W-450mm-x-T-50mm-9273749?skuId=9283449 I got this stuff in a 4 pack.

Cant tell from description, but most likely is the same, if you see the board and its lightweight and like polystyrene then it is the same under their own brand name.

No in the UK you can get the pink polyfoam and the blue stryofoam , they are the best insulation boards to use as you do not have the little beads that normal polystyrene has and are very easy to cut with a sharp knife.

WHERE DID YOU FIND IT?! I spent ages looking for that, damned balls of polystyrene are still rolling about on my floor like 6 months after using it!

I have a load of Knauf polyboard - it is the same sort of insulating material as the blue and pink stuff mentioned above.
Hobby suppliers like Antenociti also have a range of materials that can come in very useful for making boards and terrain pieces - http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/warg ... d-pvc.html
And 4d modelshop - http://www.modelshop.co.uk/styrofoam-141-c.asp

_________________
Published ebooks:
Instrument of the Empire
A Note of Defiance
Phantom Ships, Ghost Flotilla
More to come!