Painting Blue/pink foam

Hello

I have been searching this forum for a solution, but i'm not convinced yet.

My brother and I have made a 120x120cm table from foamcore. See below:



My headace is now how to paint it. There are SO many opinions that im getting very confused

This is some peoples opinions:

- Some say that basing with normal acryllic paint and a brush is the way to go.
- Some say that you have to mix PVA glue and water and spray/paint the whole thing, before spraying with can paint.
- Others say that you can buy spray paint, who wont melt the foam.

My question is:
- What is the easiest / fastest way to base coat the board in all black?

It seems like a lot of work to paint the whole thing with mixed PVA glue and water, before you base coat.

What would you guys advice me to do? It's a really big table and therefore i'm looking for both the fastest, but of course also the best way to do this.

I wont under no circumstances risk melting the foam

Thanks in advance!

I paint my stuff black; then dry brush it white to pick out the texture. After that comes the color. I use Americana, Folk Art, & Ceramcoat paints...I use them for my miniatures also.

This how a W.I.P. Board looks:

Spoiler:

...& a finished one:

Spoiler:

Looks great DeafNala!

So you basically just paint the whole thing with Acryllic paint as a base coat? :-)

That's it. The initial coat of black is watered down to get to all the cracks & outline the details. Then the white dry brush pick out the highlights & details.  

DeafNala how did u make the texture on your buildings? :-)

With the fan foam, the texture is pretty natural with the help of some Woodland Scenic Foam Putty. The rest of the foam is the result of some aesthetic sawing & rough sanding.  

I use paint samples from the hardware store, so regular interior paint. The texture is on the foam itself, it's easy to impress into the foam.

You definitely need *something* to seal the foam before spraying. The best solution is probably a high volume low pressure spray gun, this gives all the advantages of spray paint but is powered by compressed air so there's no propellant to melt the foam. Otherwise, a large soft brush, watered down PVA and patience is the way to go.

DarkLordDaniel wrote:

You definitely need *something* to seal the foam before spraying. The best solution is probably a high volume low pressure spray gun, this gives all the advantages of spray paint but is powered by compressed air so there's no propellant to melt the foam. Otherwise, a large soft brush, watered down PVA and patience is the way to go.

Actually all you need is a coat of paint...I use American/FolkArt/Ceramcoat. Once you have a coat of paint on the foam you can spray, glue, whatever to it. It's only the bare foam that reacts badly to the spray propellant & glues. I've been using insulation foam for better than twenty years & I haven't had any problem spraying painted foam.   

DeafNala wrote:

Actually all you need is a coat of paint...I use American/FolkArt/Ceramcoat. Once you have a coat of paint on the foam you can spray, glue, whatever to it. It's only the bare foam that reacts badly to the spray propellant & glues. I've been using insulation foam for better than twenty years & I haven't had any problem spraying painted foam.   

Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that paint wasn't included in 'something'. I just prefer PVA as it's a little tougher and I normally have it out when I'm constructing buildings so it's trivial to apply a little to exposed foam. I would also suspect that if you were to glue something to it afterwards the bond would be stronger if you glued it to the pva coated foam rather than painted foam.

That is a good point. Other glue sticks better to PVA or Tacky Glue...tacky has the advantage in that  it doesn't crack as it ages.  If a little grit is mixed with the glue you can regain any lost texture...may be enhance the natural texture.