I’m a rookie when it comes to spray painting. Here’s a few questions I need answered from the pros.
What’s the best spray paint to use for something that is primarily foamboard, but also has cardboard, some plastics, and the metal cake pan/washers?
Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but I’d assume that it’d be easier to paint the booster, frame, and pvc type parts before adding them to the rest of the pack. Right? Anything else I should paint before adding it to the rest of the pack?
After I paint, I’ll add the metal connectors and wires. Any advice is very appreciated.
you dont want to glue a painted surface to another painted surface without “pinning” an item…One small bump and it will tear off the paint on one of the surfaces and your pieces will fall apart…Krylon will work good on the board portion , but will eat away at the inner styrofoam core if sprayed on…I would test the paint on a scrap piece before spraying your finished pack…
Oh, I forgot to mention, I sealed up the foam portion with filler. I used bondo, but I guess wood filler would work fine too. And yes, always test on an inconspicuous portion before working on your project.
Well my painting has started and is going well so far. I didn’t have any trouble with the foam being eaten away, but it did wrinkle/bubble up in a few places where I guess I overdid it. It was dark, so sue me.
I’m not worried about the wrinkles, most will be covered with parts I haven’t added yet, or with labels.
By the way, I used the Krylon paint that is for plastics and just about anything else, and it worked very well.
I’ll post pictures one day when I’m happy with the way it is looking. I’ve just got a few more pieces to get the major parts of the pack done before adding the wires and small metal pieces/connectors.
what’s dangerous when painting foam is that the chemicals in the spraying agent of the spray paint can combine with the foam - thus the eating it away - the result is a chemical is released in the air. And you don’t want to breath this chemical, its nocive.
I would highly recommend sealing the foam portions before painting anything. Not only will it keep the paint from eating it away, but it will use less paint because it won’t get sucked into the foam. Use several light coats, rather than one or two heavy ones. The paper on the foamboard won’t like being very wet. :walterpeck:
By the way, for those of you out there that might not be big fans of the painting aspect, you can buy black foamboard at craft/hobby stores. I didn’t know this until I’d gotten too far along with the white foam, or I would have gone that route.
