My wife and children have gone to the in-laws for a couple of days and I might take this opportunity to paint the 2" blue foam as I can spread out the buildings and trains throughout the basement without worry that something will get broken.
I am still a long way from applying ground foam but I am tired of looking at blue.
My question: What type of paint should I use? Enamal or Acrylic or something else?? I think I have heard somewhere that some paints will melt the foam, what paints should I avoid?
I use plain old dirt colored Latex paint. By dirt colored, I mean whatever the soil color is for where you are modeling. Different parts of the country actually do have different colored dirt… I had mine mixed to order at a local paint store based on a photo I made of some topsoil. Some stock colors a el cheapo stores (like home dump, mal wart, etc.) can work very well. Have fun, and don’t make a mess. Don’t want “you know who” to be upset when she gets home! [:D]
I just did that yesterday. I used a flat green Latex paint that I had mixed up at my local hardware store. After two coats it looks great, I was really sick of looking at PINK foam.
A tip for you: when it comes time to paint the terrain (foam) an earhty colour, find a light shade of greyi***an, and then pick the next lighter colour on the sample chart. Indoors, your ‘perfect’ shade will appear considerably darker.
I use acrylic artist colors to add some variation. On large scenes I, too, use latex paint first. If I plan to finish an area through to grass, bushes, rocks etc, I use the artist paints first. I start pretty straight and water down to washes as the terrain seems to dictate. Usually a Mars black wash at the end to get shadow lines.
I use latex paint, but I vary the color–kinda like a brown camouflage. That way when I cover it with what ever landscaping, what shows through is less obnoxious.
Home Depot has an OOPS area in the paint section, find cheap latex paint there, several colors that are sort of close to the dirt in the area you are modeling. You do NOT want it uniform. After a couple coats of latex, use artists paint to further add color variation and depth.
It is the aerosol in the spay can that is eating the foam, not the paint. If you use a latex spray can paint it will do the same thing.
Latex (Acrylic) is your best bet because it cleans up with soap and water, you can thin it with water, etc. As someone mentioned to go cheaper hang out at the paint area of the hardware store and look for bad mixes; they seem to tend to be earh tones or hot pink.
Once you have sealed the foam you can use spray paint all you want. For areas that you want to use spray paint on, but don’t want to lay down a coat of latex first, just take Elmer’s White Glue (the Brits call it PVA Glue) and water it down with water. Spread a layer of this over the foam (making sure you get edges and stuff) once that is dried you can paint whatever you want on it.
Thanks for the tips everyone! No Chemical reactions in my basement!
I ended up getting a flat light tan color of a Latex acrilyc paint. I think it turned out well.
Right now it is all one color, but I intend to add some variation when I start to add ground foam and other landscaping. No strange brew of a usable color was in the mistake bin.
It’s will be nice to have my track and buildings look like they are on ground instead of floating on a big blue ocean.[;)]