Topic: Styro help needed!

[DocOutlands]

For those of you who have worked with it - how do you seal off the styro in order to use stuff like spraypaints?  Krylon has its "Fusion for plastics" line, but it still eats into the foam.  Stone texture paint eats at it.  I've got a slab of styro covered in spackling paste so as to give the stone paint a base to grip.  What other products will work?

Here's a list of items I'd be interested in hearing about, as far as covering styro so as to prevent spray paints from eating into the material:

acrylic paint coat
mod podge
lacquer paint
acrylic sealer (I need to go try this out, since I have some)
thinned-down white glue

What else?

[spudafett]

bondo?  it's automotive filler. only thing is that it heats up as it cures and might melt the foam.

layers of duct tape covering the entire thing....

paper machae?

spray on glue products?

idk... just randomly thinking of stuff.  I don't think spray acrylics are going to work either, I'm pretty sure it's the aerosol that eats the foam. 

the spackle is probably going to be your best bet bud....

[Clonehead]

That paper mâché idea might work.try mixing white glue and water and apply other before and after a layer of thin tissue. You might want
To use tissue without a pattern of raised bumps on it.
After the tissue dries, try the paint and see what
Happens.

[Psyclone]

I have a few things I've done with styrofoam . For Tatooine buildings I put a coat of plaster over it and then painted it with regular old latex house paint using a brush.  This was for a Cantina and Jabba's Palace (and will work for any Tatooine building).  The house paint will work without the plaster but you have to really put it on thick to sink into the air pockets.  If you want to do something other that a Tatooine building I've painted some foam that was for packaging (TV's, appliancs and some hobby store foam, etc...) and just brushed on  a latex primer like Kilz and a then sprayed it with an acrylic  gray (not spray can - an airbrush).  It  holds up OK.  Try it out on a piece and see if it works for you.

[narceron]

yeah, roll on paint is a good fit.

[hangarbay94]

I had the same issue,  I found the most amazing piece of Styro the other day only to see it melt as I sprayed it, I was gutted. I'm watching this one with interest.

Have you tried PVA glue?

Let us know how you get on and the solution to your problem as it will help me out too.

[Psyclone]

I forgot to mention, I've used Subterrain Foam Putty with success which is found in the model train section or online.  You can make it so that it looks like plaster or sand it down with a fine paper to make it smooth.  I use various sized  spackling blades to apply it. It's down side is that it is kind of pricey but it works really well.

[Tamer]

I would cover the entire thing in drywall "mudd" and let it dry good and then sand it to taste if you don't like the look after it dries. Then, I would think you could paint it with any type of paint.

[Psyclone]

I would cover the entire thing in drywall "mudd" and let it dry good and then sand it to taste if you don't like the look after it dries. Then, I would think you could paint it with any type of paint.

I never tried Joint Compound, funny since I work with it in my trade, but I know it is quite brittle when it dries and it needs a good surface to bond to or it will flake off.  Have you used it before on foam, Tamer?  I'll try it out and see how it works.  That would certainly be the least expensive route to go if it does.

[Tamer]

I would cover the entire thing in drywall "mudd" and let it dry good and then sand it to taste if you don't like the look after it dries. Then, I would think you could paint it with any type of paint.

I never tried Joint Compound, funny since I work with it in my trade, but I know it is quite brittle when it dries and it needs a good surface to bond to or it will flake off.  Have you used it before on foam, Tamer?  I'll try it out and see how it works.  That would certainly be the least expensive route to go if it does.

Yeah, can't argue with the brittle thing, but if its not too thick I would think it would hold. I have never tried it on foam though.  Good idea on a test run psyclone. Thanks for trying it out and letting me know if my hairbrained idear would actually work. Remember guys, I just have tons of ideas, but leave my building to basically wood applications. I can make a cabinet, but this fine detail stuff I don't know if I have the patience or the eyesight! You guys just amaze me.

[spudafett]

tamer it's about 5% eyesight and about 90% patience... the other 5, well that's usually dumb luck (at least for me!)

drywall mud was an idea that I'd had but thought it'd be too brittle. 

while we are on the subject of fabricating and building has anyone tried the resin/fiberglass combonation stuff?  It's in the automotive section at wal-mart next to the bondo.  You use strips of fiberglass over whatever your building and then "glue" it on with a resin compound.  I've never tried it but have seen it used to make some awesome stuff back in my potato gunning days...

[Clonehead]

tamer it's about 5% eyesight and about 90% patience... the other 5, well that's usually dumb luck (at least for me!)

drywall mud was an idea that I'd had but thought it'd be too brittle. 

while we are on the subject of fabricating and building has anyone tried the resin/fiberglass combonation stuff?  It's in the automotive section at wal-mart next to the bondo.  You use strips of fiberglass over whatever your building and then "glue" it on with a resin compound.  I've never tried it but have seen it used to make some awesome stuff back in my potato gunning days...

Those potato gun days are where Spudafett got his name, by the way.

Tamer knows that for me, it's more like 25% eyesight.

[DocOutlands]

I know costumers use that stuff, spud.  I figure I'll be trying it out on non-styro bldgs and on roughed-in vehicles.  eventually...

[DocOutlands]

Mod-Podge.  Has anyone tried it as a styro sealer?  From reading its label, it might do the trick.  Would be nice, as I have some styro balls I need to seal over and smooth out for painting.

[Clonehead]

thin tissue soaked in white glue and water could do the trick. john Wayne cheapo toilet paper without an embossed pattern could do the trick. think of it as thin paper mache.