Modeling foam, industrial designers / model makers. Advice.

[RV8]

Hello. For some fun I'm thinking of scratch building a freestanding model (sci-fi spaceship) from some designs I have, one of the reasons I decided to make a space ship is so I can just learn by creating nice interesting shapes. Has anyone on here had any experience with modeling foam, if you have I'd be grateful if you could share your views or offer me some tips on using this stuff as it seems quite expensive.

I've never used it before but after a few moments looking on the web I can see that some really great results can be achieved (presumably after many years of practice). Before starting in this media (I'm used to working with wood mainly) my questions are; how do you go about painting these models, I believe certain paints may risk dissolving the foam. Secondly, can car body filler or fiberglass be used to build up areas or create seamless joins between sections, can a very smooth result be gained by sanding the foam after cutting? What sort of tools will do the job most effectively, I dont have a hot wire cutter (I could make one I guess), would hand tools leave a scraggy edge? Lastly any tips for creating accurate symmetry in the modeling process?

Any advice would be superb! I'd love to see some of your work, regardless of what it is. I'm really starting to get interested in scratch building and would like to have a go.

Many thanks.

[RV8]

Exactly the type of reply I was hoping for, thanks very much guys. I have some more ideas about which type of products to look for which helps loads when looking for supplies in an internet search, feel free to PM the details of suppliers across. I want to build something a bit Japanese looking, along the lines of those old shoot em up games, I doubt I'd be good enough to get something in the air for some time - unless I chuck it out of frustration when it goes pear shaped.
I'd love to see some pictures of any of your foam models if you have some handy, work in progress ones would be good to show technique in how they build up.

I'd quite like to move on to cars eventually as there are so many that are only available as 1:43 and it'd be nice to have a large model to display - I guess making a replica of something like a car or thunderbird 2 would be difficult because the proportions / measurements have to be bang on, as everyone knows what it's supposed to look like, whereas if I invent something I can say 'it's supposed to look like that' - as it sits there lopsided Which is another thing - do you make an actual size drawing from all sides and transfer it to the foam to help model in scale / symmetry?

Thanks again!