I want to weather my tracks and instead of removing them, taking them to the garage and painting them I was thinking of spraying them in place. Will it eat the foam I have them on?
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I used the Camo brown from Krylon weathering my track on top of pink foam. No issues whatsoever. Paint away!
It depends on the type of foam. I know the white sheets of foam will dissolve with most types of paint.
Steve
You had better try a sample. It will definitely eat away the foam if you get enough on it.
"Solvent"-based paint will react with and even dissolve foams depending on:
1 - the solvent
2 - the foam; most house-quality foam is probably(?) OK
As stated above, test before applying, and I would recommend letting the paint sit on the foam for a while before deciding it's safe. Most bad reactions will be immediate, but occasionally they appear later.
Water-based paints, usually acrylics, I guess, are pretty inert on most surfaces, as the "solvent" is the water.
Test everything.
I just got done painting my foam mountain. I used rust oleum camouflage and it turned out great. However you get the paint to thick it will cause minor melting of foam, nothing to worry about. Since I had it handy I tried weathering my tracks with it and I really liked the result. Not the green color HotWater suggested but a very dark brown. I really like HotWater's green color.
I'm thinking that the most logical thing to do would be to take a separate piece of your foam, and spray it with the paint you are planning to use.
D500 posted:"Solvent"-based paint will react with and even dissolve foams depending on:
1 - the solvent
2 - the foam; most house-quality foam is probably(?) OK
As stated above, test before applying, and I would recommend letting the paint sit on the foam for a while before deciding it's safe. Most bad reactions will be immediate, but occasionally they appear later.
Water-based paints, usually acrylics, I guess, are pretty inert on most surfaces, as the "solvent" is the water.
Test everything.
What D says. Solvent paint will definitely dissolve blue or pink foam. Less likely to dissolve urethane foam, the expanding type in a can.
These pieces were cut from the blue foam on the right by simply slicing it in half. This is the result after spraying it with black Krylon.
Not a total loss as I was using them to reduce the amount of coal needed to fill the tender. Just cost me more coal.
Pete
Jdevleerjr posted:I want to weather my tracks and instead of removing them, taking them to the garage and painting them I was thinking of spraying them in place. Will it eat the foam I have them on?
Are you in a hurry? I ask because recently you started a thread about temporarily installing your track and asked about how to attach the track for easy removal.
In any event, I'd suggest you stick with your original plan and remove the track for painting in a location where overspray will not be a potential problem or issue--you'll probably do a better job in the garage or outside.
