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Hi folks,
I was in my local art supplier yesterday picking up a pack of A3 5mm foamcore for the next superheavy I'm intending to scratchbuild, and noticed that as well as white, they had black (not just black coated, black core as well). It's about 10% more expensive, which isn't really an issue, but I wonder whether it might be good as a base: I'm concerned that, well, being black it won't show up pencil lines for cutting for one thing, and I'm slightly worried about how it'll take to a primer colour.

On a side note, has anyone had any experience of airbrushing foamcore? Presumably, not using a chemical propellant (I'd be using a compressor), it wouldn't risk meltdown?

Every time I've primed foam with spray paint, it melts.
Hand priming is tedious, but it works.

If you're spray priming, the foam will melt. I use spackle/DAP to seal the edges, and
I've read that using watered down PVA will do the trick as well.

Ah, but I'm talking about airbrushed, rather than sprayed per se. Yes, I know first hand the sludgey joys of sprayed foamcore. PVA and patience do indeed do the trick, or a primer with a really high mordant. Just looking at alternatives.

malfred wrote:If you're spray priming, the foam will melt. I use spackle/DAP to seal the edges, and
I've read that using watered down PVA will do the trick as well.

Really? Chaos Black Spray will melt the foam core?

Chemical propellant + foam = nurglings.

Well - I'm glad I found that out *before* I tried it... my poor Deffkopta avatar would be a right mess! I take it it is just the foam core, not the coating that is the issue? I imagine I can hand base coat the foam core and then safely spray the rest?

I've airbrushed foamcore without problems - key word being "airbrush".

Just use an Air compressor and it should be fine. It is afterall just thinned paint being pushed through with air, it's the added chemicals that cause it to melt down.

As for spraying the Deff Kopta, I'd base coat some spare stuff then try spraying that first just to be sure. If it melts try again on another spare bit, but coat it in slightly watered down PVA first before the initial basecoat.

As always with foam, and infact plastic, if you think there's a chance it can melt it, try on some spare stuff first.

it only melts the foam part in the center.

But yes you should be just fine shooting primer thru the airbrush.

Pencil will show up just fine on black foam core... graphite is a shiny grey vs foam core's flat black, so all you need is a little directional lighting to make the pencil lines "pop" and you'll be good to go.

If you use a water based spray like Krylon H2O there are no problems with melting foam. Any Acrylic spray paint that is labled as "Cleans up with soap and water" should work fine with any type of foam

If you're worried about lines not showing up you could always invest in a colored pen. A white marker should do perfectly fine