Help with house walls

Hey all. So, I've finally started on my own foamcore houses and ruins to expand my terrain. So far, so good, and I'll get pictures up when I can find batteries for the camera.

My question for the gurus here is: how best to paint and/or texture the walls so that it doesn't just look like paint on flat card? My wife suggested using some plaster mix that I have leftover from a craft project with the kids, and I think that may work as long as I don't layer it too thickly, but I'd like some other opinions. Thanks for the help!

Wall filler, it's cheap and you can get it everywhere. Mix some gravel or sand into it if you want more texture and work with layers, letting the filler dry between the sessions.

Texture paint is another option and widely available in cheap sampler pots from DIY stores.

There are many products commercially available, but you don't have to spend money. It is as the frugal Mrs Robb pointed out a craft project. The plaster you have left over will probably do the job, especially if you apply it in thin coats. Take a scrap of foamcore and do a test. Easy,

Another approach is to achieve the texture by dipping torn newspaper in watered down white glue then applying the resulting mess unevenly to the foamcore. This also works with tissue paper, or for a heavier texture, brown craft paper.

Also since you are using foamcore you don't need to coat it to texture it: Just tear and peel the paper layers until you have an interesting look. Again take a scrap of foamcore and do a test.
Many of the folks who post on this forum use the technique to expose bricks or lathe under the plaster.

Or use a faux painting technique and stipple different colors of paint on to the foamcore. Wingren and WarbossKurgan use the technique all the time.

You can also remove all or a portion of the outer paper layer of the foamcore, and then scribe a brick, stone or wood surface onto the foam.

Ah, now you see, this is the exact type of help I've been looking for! I have actually been sitting here watching football (although the refs screwed the Bears) and trying some stuff. I grabbed some spackle I forgot I had in the basement and applied it thinly, and it makes a perfect stucco-type texture. Don't have pictures of the textured walls (at least that are even remotely in focus) but here is a bit from the beginning yesterday afternoon.




Alright, I've done my damnedest to shrink the second picture, but I give up. There it is in all of its unfocused, quarter-finished glory. Used an ork box for the stone first floor and the wood second floor, and I've finished a shingled roof from the same material. Ah, cheap materials!

Sweet work man--hope I get to play on it soon!