Re: [SG2] Not OT at all! CNN "Urban Combat" Graphics

>
>I use 1/4" foamcore for all of my buildings and I've
>never had warping troubles. Applying paint can warp
>some materials from absorbing the moisture. There are
>two remedies to this; One is to paint the side of the
>material that you don't care about first so that it
>warps one way, then paint the side you do want so it
>warps back to about straight. No really, it works.
>Another method is to seal the material before you
>paint with a spray matte. This works even better but
>can melt the internal foam in the foamcore due to the
>acetone used in most spray product.

I built a series of foamcore buildings (multistory, sized for WH40k)
about
9 or 10 years ago.  I still have them, they still work fine, and no
warping, even on the bases which were also foamcore.

I painted them after assembly with a basecoat of black, but it was
water-soluable acrylic sprayed through an airbrush, and I painted every
surface except the bottom.

Sealing them with matte sealer first or painting them with straight
primer
would work well, though I would first paint the exposed foam edges with
white glue (maybe watered down a little) and let that act as a sealer to
stop the foam disolving. 

Another option, if you're interested in a "rough-stoney" sort of finish
(which would be great for stucco, now that I think about it) is to get
some
of the stuff that goes by the name of "Speckle Stone" or it's
equivalent.
This is a paint with suspended fibrous particles that gives a rough
"stone
like" texture when it sprays.  I'm not sure how "stone like" it really
is,
but it's a nice texture anyway.  I've found this in several brands with
both water-based and solvent-based paint, in a variety of colours.  I
painted all of those foamcore buildings with this stuff relatively
recently, and it worked great - though they were already sealed.  If you
were using a water-based version, it would act as a sealer.  If you used
a
solvent-based version, then do the white-glue-edge-seal thing first.

Also, as a building technique, if your design suits this, try to avoid
large areas of open unsupported/reinforced space.  If you're going to
have
long wide walls, use buttresses or something. Interior walls are good.
Details around windows or "fake columns" up the outside work too.  This
provides anti-warping support.	On my buildings, I beveled the edges of
the
foamcore going into corners so the corners were nice and square, and
that
also acted as an anti-warping measure I think.

Hope that helps.

Adrian

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Adrian Johnson
adrian@stargrunt.ca
http://www.stargrunt.ca

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