thomasholmphoto

Making stands for styrofoam plates

Added 2024-12-04 15:00:10 +0000 UTC

One of my Patrons asked where I got the stands I use for my Styrofoam plates. The short answer is I had them welded and galvanized by a blacksmith.
In case anyone else wants to have a go, here are the specifics:

I’ve added a measurement stick in the pictures in Centimeters.

1 inch = 2.54cm

A couple of points:

The distance between the vertical brackets stabilizing the upright rods is just under 5cm, and my Styrofoam is 4cm thick. The extra centimeter makes it easier to insert the plate.
However, increasing the height of the brackets by 50-70% would stabilize the plates even more (you can see in the first image that sometimes they tilt forward).
It’s better to have the brackets as close to one end as possible; this makes them stackable and allows closer placement to a full-figure model—or up against a wall.
You could, in principle, replace the brackets with a (thick) sheet plate; it’ll just make them a bit heavier but likely cheaper.
The baseplate is 1 cm thick and needs to have the necessary width; otherwise, the Styrofoam would make it tumble if pushed just a little.
Finally, mine is galvanized, but you could also paint it with hammerlite or other rust-prevention paint.
Adding duct tape around the edges of the styrofoam will save you a lot of cleaning as the plates won’t chip when inserted into the brackets once they are taped up.

PS: In case you consider doing these in wood, you could, but you would need a sandbag or similar to weigh them down sufficiently so they would not tumble over. Moving them would be a three-step operation (styrofoam + bracket + weight).
Personally, I prefer something I can move in one go (I only have two hands.)