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Building Tips and technical articles. => Paint and finishing => Topic started by: Dennis Toth on May 07, 2016, 05:53:15 PM
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Guys,
What is a good paint to use on EPS foam surfaces? I tried some stuff recommended by a person at a Craft store and although it didn't melt is got a little funny looking. I then tried some spray Miniwax Poly (think it is water based) and if it stays smooth will over coat with the color. Any better type of paint?
Best, DennisT
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Try Krylon H20. Rattle can. I've used it on depron with very good results. Does not damage the foam.
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Guys,
What is a good paint to use on EPS foam surfaces? I tried some stuff recommended by a person at a Craft store and although it didn't melt is got a little funny looking. I then tried some spray Miniwax Poly (think it is water based) and if it stays smooth will over coat with the color. Any better type of paint?
Best, DennisT
Dennis,
Any water base paint from your local artist supply store should stick quite well. Won't be fuel proof though.
I have water base paint on the Mig-3 and ALL the paint on the Stuka Tank Buster is water base. I mentioned this in my Threads.
Charles
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If you have the bad habit (as I do) of holding the can too close to the foam when you spray, the propellant will eat the foam, even if you're using foam safe paint. I can't remember the brand I was using, but holding the can a good 12" away and not painting in heavy coats kept the foam intact.
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True about the propellant eating the foam, especially if applied too heavy. Best method is cover with SLC from Corehouse and then spray paint after rubbing the gloss off the covering with Scotch Brite pad.
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It seems that minwax Polycrylic has some thermal adhesive properties. The SLC from corehouse sticks way better to a foam surface with the polycrylic on it than without.
I am using dilluted latex paint between layers of dilluted polycryllic on some lil hackers I am building. I went 1:1 with denatured alcohol for all the three layers.
Phil
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I built a lot of foam wing planes the last few years and do not like the grain so I usually put on a watery slurry of Dap lite weight spackling, sand most off, completely coat with 50/50 diluted (with plain water) Tite bond or Elmer's wood glue...lightly sand and spray on just about any color I desire, mostly preferring the water based Creativ craft paints (cheap) but rattle can Rustoleum works as well with light coats initially
I have painted the inside of Doculam clear or the outside of SLC with good result
BTW a total coverage finish above the color using thinned Wood glue is fairly fuel proof but I still prefer to lay down a layer of SLC...lite, fuel proof, and glossy
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Keith Sparks has published some remarkable all foam airplanes over the years. (C-130, B-58, DC-9 just to name a few.) He has a book that details all sort of ideas on building with foam, including several proven methods of painting those airplanes. There is a lot of stuff in that book that shows good ideas on all aspects of building our toy airplanes. It is well worth the purchase. The book can be found on his website
http://parkflyerplastics.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=29&products_id=644
Also, many other things of interest worth looking at on his website. Lots of other things to purchase there. Mentioned his pilots not long ago. He has canopies for all sorts of sizes and types. The website is a treat to look at.
Keith