Textured spray paint that doesn't eat foam?


Beachbum

Member
Anybody know of a textured rattle can paint that doesn't attack foam aside from the "faux granite" stuff?

I found some sand texture, earthtone paint that I wanted to use for some scenery, but a test showed it dissolved the extruded foam I'm using.
 
easy fix, put a skim of plaster down first. Not sure where your headed with it but personally just painting foamboard will be awfully flat.Depending on the size of the area you can get some cheap craft paint and paint it and even while wet shake on some baseball diamond dirt, that would give you a nice base to start with.
 
Just go buy some cheap latex paint at Home Depot. Choose the color you want.

And like Lynn said, while its wet sprinkle in some sifted dirt.
 
People keep saying to use real dirt to give scenery texture. But when viewing a layout our eyes are about a scale 200'-300' away. If you go outside and look at natural dirt at that distance you shouldn't see ANY texture. If you do see any texture then there are a lot of pebbles & rocks mixed in w/ the dirt.
 
People keep saying to use real dirt to give scenery texture. But when viewing a layout our eyes are about a scale 200'-300' away. If you go outside and look at natural dirt at that distance you shouldn't see ANY texture. If you do see any texture then there are a lot of pebbles & rocks mixed in w/ the dirt.

Andy I wouldn't even think about leaving baseball diamond dirt ontop of the wet paint as is, it's put on just because the paint is wet, that is unless im making my dirt roads which just happens to be the way i do them.When I do my scenery I do many many layers.
 
Andy I wouldn't even think about leaving baseball diamond dirt ontop of the wet paint as is, it's put on just because the paint is wet, that is unless im making my dirt roads which just happens to be the way i do them.When I do my scenery I do many many layers.

If you want to see if your scenery dirt is out of scale, put a scale figure's foot down on it. Have seen many close up pix on MR forums showing real dirt for scenery. It looks like the figures & vehicles are on a field of stones!
 
Andy if you want really fine real dirt use clay clods dried and broken up. It is fine like powder. Otherwise you can use plain old sheet rock joint compound painted with acrylic paint to also get a really fine texture.

Beachbum you can just apply the sheet rock compound to your foam and solve a lot of problems, too. Gets rid of that pancake flat look also gives you something to paint or apply ground foam, etc. to.
 
Andy if you want really fine real dirt use clay clods dried and broken up. It is fine like powder. Otherwise you can use plain old sheet rock joint compound painted with acrylic paint to also get a really fine texture.

If there are any dirt areas on my layout will just paint it, i.e. there will be no need to mix or prep anything. My layout will be all industrial switching so any "scenery" will mostly be tracks, streets, structures, etc.
 
If you want to see if your scenery dirt is out of scale, put a scale figure's foot down on it. Have seen many close up pix on MR forums showing real dirt for scenery. It looks like the figures & vehicles are on a field of stones!
The trick is take the finest dirt and put it in a container with a panty hose for a lid.
 
On a nice summer afternoon, with the sunny shining down and a gentle breeze a-blowin', I was sitting outside sifting a small bucket of just good ole regular dirt through a couple of smaller and smaller screens. Got several nice levels of texture to use from "rough" down to nearly a power.
 
There's a local park where I often go for walks that has an asphalt footpath. There are a few places where rain water washes dirt from the grassy areas onto the footpath. This dirt tends to be very fine, almost like talcum powder. It still needs sifting to get some of the larger bits out, but the fine stuff should work well on a layout.

ETA: There are also a few trails around here that use pea gravel. The heavily worn areas have a fine gray powder that would work well for gravel roads and parking lots.


Steve S
 
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