Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Ok, for those of you who are overseas, foam board is a thin (1/8" sheet of styrofoam that is sandwiched between two sheets of heavy paper or posterboard.  It is nice and rigid, easily cut and shaped, and glues together nicely with good old white glue.  In a nutshell, it is great for making buildings from.

The question I have is this:  What can I coat/paint the finished buildings with to prevent spray paint solvent from disolving the exposed styrofoam that will also give some sort of texture to the boards?

I'm looking for something relatively simple and inexpensive.  I don't feel like buying cans of spakle or drywall putty and trowelling out pounds of material and creating paperweights for terrain.  I might like textured paint, but that kind of paint made for homes is usually applied by roller because it completely ruins brushes.  I have heard that GW makes a "rough coat" product for covering styrofoam, but odds are, if they make it, someone else makes something similar for 1/3 the price.

Any ideas?

Sal.

This is a messy, but cheap solution:

Use your good old-fashioned white glue. Run a bead along the edges and follow up with a putty knife to scrape it into the foam and ensure even coating. I prefer wood glue--it works pretty much the same, but you can see where you missed easier than white glue (unless you use the fancy black foamcore).

I've heard a good coat of paint will protect foam from spray issues. I'll let you know if it works, as I will be testing this option tonight.  I have a display board I need to paint quickly and would like to spray the whole thing with grey primer but I've got unbased areas (foam 'rocks').

There's a technique of butting the walls of your buildings together so that the exposed styrofoam is covered. It's called rabbetting, and involves a little fancy cutting on your part, but no extra costs, see the link.

http://zeitcom.com/majgen/39howst.html

Alternatively, slopping on thick (or slightly watered) white glue onto the exposed foam works as well, but you'll have to consider the issues of warping and the like.

As a side note, you have to be careful using white glue on foam board.

When the glue dries it shrinks, and warps the foam board. Just something for you to be aware of.

If you just put it on the exposed edges, you will be ok, but if you have to put it all over the building be careful.

 

I just paint the exposed edges.  Works fine. 
I also use crazy/super glue to assemble.  So I paint all the edges first.