If you guys think this thread is a flame war, you should visit the political forum my wife frequents....you can toast marshmallows at ten yards from the monitor! As far as my input....I am a modeler, and whatever works, works. I personally am very attracted to card medium because of the wide diversity of subjects, scales, and dirt cheap (at least mostly, unless you have a major desire for a USS Forrestal....and I hope my wife never finds that invoice). So far as I am concerned, use of foam as a filler in boat hulls is totally acceptable, and indistinguishable from building the thing up as a solid block of laminated 2-mm cardboard, stuffing it with kleenex, etc. I prefer limiting it to use as a backing material to keep the paper from assuming the starved puppy look, but if you just think of the hull as being a platform for putting the paper really good stuff on, go for resin. Unless the end use is serious competion stuff, who really cares so long as the builder is happy with it? I wouldn't mind seeing the "traditional" and "unlimited" divisions for competition, so long as "tradional" means strict limitation to paper products, wire, thread, and clear acetate....no photoetch allowed.