Today’s lesson learned the hard way–do not use a can of automobile primer to paint foam. It sort of dissolves the foam. [:O] Luckily it was on a piece that is easily replaced.
I paint my foam with cheap latex I buy at Walmrt,
It won’t harm the foam and yoiu can get any color you need or they can mix it for you.
Yeah, wrong primer. Try Zinser 1-2-3 instead. I used it to prime a lot of foam on my Cascade Branch extension, then spray-painted it. It comes out well so long as you coat the foam completely. This pic of the liftout at Crater Lake Junction shows some of it. The upright sheet of foam that’s cut to form the mountain outline along the back is simply primed foam oversprayed with Krylon or Rustoleum.
If you look closely at the low hills between the tracks and the trees, you’ll see that it looks as if it’s eroded. This was one of the first liftouts I did and I did get enough primer on near the edge of the foam. I was going to pitch it, then decided it actually worked. So you can use the erosion effects to your advantage sometimes if you’re careful.