Hello guys 'n gals! Here this morning to give a quick tool tip! Something every terrain maker should have in their arsenal, the foam knife.
Almost anyone that has made a hill from pink insulation before knows about a foam cutter. Its basically a wire that's connected from point A to point B to complete a circuit with a battery. The result is a wire that heats up to melt foam and thus give you a quicker and smoother cut. The age old tool looks something like this.



These are great but recently I found a tool that took it one step further. The foam knife. Basically it's the same principle as the foam cutter except it has no point B. Its simply a rod that heats up and can be used to cut foam like a knife. The result is a tool that is extremely flexible when it comes to different techniques. My favorite is being able to cut out circles without having to cut a path to the area through perfectly good foam. You can also"engrave" detail into foam such as brick walls.  From what I understand Foam Factory makes great wands (as well as many other great resources for any foam work). For starters I invested in a cheap foam want from Joanne Fabrics for 19.99$ just to see how the tool works. I plan on upgrading down the line because of how happy I am with it. I will most likely be going with a Hot Wire Foam Factory Starter Kit which includes multiple foam tools which also includes a foam knife.