I live in the Seattle area, and our largest Train retailer has a layout that consists of using 2" Owens Corning pink Insulation Foam (from big box). I picked up a sheet yesterday. When you cut it into pieces, it amazingly resembles realistic basalt rocks, and the interesting thing is it’s not labor intensive. Again, I am very impressed with the effect.
Has anyone used this for scenery? My question is how do I color this, again it’s in a pink state right now.
The only baseline I have for a reference is the Woodland Scenics Burnt Umber, Yellow Ocher, and Black color pigments. I have not tried to color the pink foam yet, but need help with some tips for coloring?
This is foam. I Googled “how to paint the Rocky Mountains” to find the right colours to use. The list was long, so I bought about a dozen or so of those $2.00 bottles of Walmart acrylics. I have a 4 litre can of granite grey house paint from Walmart that cost $12.00. That is what went on first followed by lots of colours applied and dry brushed and used washes.
Nice work. Looks great. As I googled, all that came up was lessons for art acrylic and oil paintings. Nothing with foam. Can you share the link, if it’s foam related?
As far as what colours to use, It doesn’t matter if you are painting a picture or foam, the colours are the same. Room light will make a difference on the final result. It was an issue with me. A little experimentation will be required.
I have used foam, though not specifically for rocks. For my “dirt” areas I got some inexpensive interrior latex paint. Get an earth tone close to what you want, often found on the “oops” shelf at a bargin price. I would do the same for rocks. In my area there are many base colors for the rocks, again get a “close” gray or brown, whatever color is close to the area you are modeling. After you paint the pink foam you can use washes of different colors to shade and vary your outcroppings. When doing your earth areas, sprinkle your first layer of ground foam right onto the wet paint, saves a layer of gluing. I do a square foot or two at a time.
Although these are Cripplebush Rubber Rocks, they were pre-painted using various rattle can browns, tans, rust and gray (light and dark) prior to installation. They were light coated w/ gray then dusted w/ other varying colors of the brown shooting a oblique angles darker from bottom and lighter from top. After installation they were drybrushed w/ tans, rust green and highlighted upper tips w/ white.
The same method can be applied to foam, plaster etc. As mentioned, I would seal/ prime the foam first w/ a base color of the rock.
You’re off to a good start. My guess is the broken edges of the foam will absorb the paint and not give you the color you want. Easy enough to fix. One option would be to brush on a very dilute mix of drywall mud first. You could also try painting it with artist’s gesso first (available at Michaels).
For paint just swing by the craft store and pick up the acrylics of your choice.
You might want to practice first on some scraps first before moving on to the layout.
Another tip I picked up along the way is a good way to insert contrast. After your base color is dry, dry brush on some black artist’s tempura paint (looks like black powder) and then use a mister bottle to spray most of it off.
