Painting Pink foam

What kind of coating should i apply to the pink foam exterior to allow me to paint it?

Maybe try Filler Primer? It might just soak in, but possibly worth a try. I have used Spackle before but I would not recommend that as it takes a very long time to get right.

you can actually paint it with Gesso first. I t might take 2 coats to really cover it. You can also paint it directly with a latex based paint. The latex paints won’t melt the foam. I’m not sure if there is a sandable latex primer though.

a few resources:

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=8380.0

Thank you both, been a long time since i used foam… personal project budget vs corporate i guess.

Unless the proto is going to be huge, I would strongly suggest going urethane foam and save the work. I remember some beautiful styrofoam models in university that would dent just picking them up. Plus, they took 10 times as long to get the same level of finish.

We used brush on several coats of wood glue ( you can thin with water). After, primer and paint any way you want.

Ditto on the gesso. (that’s fun to say)

It dries quick, sands well, fills some gaps, is cheap, and the contrast of white to the blue or pink of the foam helps show coverage. Two coats for full coverage depending on surface finish, and then you can go back in with spackle to buff out the form. When I was a lowly junior designer I did many many models this way (google 'Snell CLS.5)

Filler is better sandable than latex based paint plus it is more durable and UV resistant and allows you to smoothen out imperfections in the modeling as well. I never heard of Spackle, that will work best from what I see. Very easy to sand and paint.