Indoor Painting w/ EVA Foam?

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Phauxelate

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"Greetings, humans, and welcome to Installation 405. Ignore prior warnings, and please continue on this thread."

So here the gist: I'm almost done hot-gluing my Mk. IV Spartan Armor, and it's coming high timey time to start to paintn' the pieces silly. Now, I live in the sweet, sweet college dorms where everyone lives on caffine, pizza, and sleep deprivation. But alas...

I can't use spray paint inside.

HOWEVER! I have thought of grand plan of how to paint (that's totally 100% fool-proof), and I'm wondering how well you all think it will work (or not be 100% fool-proof 'n turn into a living ball of foam and sludge). Now normally someone would use something like plexidip to seal the EVA foam, but I'm of the.... Socially exotic kind. So I'm just thinking I can melt the tushens off of it with a heat gun for a latta damage. But my granderyest plan that I need help with is.............. PAINT!

....More specifically paint you'd normally back-hand slap onto a wall to make it feel pretty, then call it a day cracking a cold one with all the friends you don't have.

Now, I haven't seen anyone else ask (within a reasonable time of within, like, 5 years) about how to paint armor indoors and I was wondering how well you guys think using interior paint would work. You know, the wet goopy stuff that's Fun to Play with, Not to Eat!™ and stains anything tangible within darn near close to a 30 foot radius?

What are all of your thoughts of how well that'd work?

Edit: All is said and done. Final decision: Use a heat gun to seal and liquid acrylic paint to paint the sucker. Worked out rather well if I do say so meself. I'll be posting photos in a separate thread soon my little titanium armored dudes of death.
 
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Eeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...............

Are you asking about applying interior wall paint to the surface of your armor? Without sealing it?

IF SO:

You will need to use a LOT (alot is NOT a word!) more paint that normal because the foam will suck it up like a sponge.

You will need to be careful to minimize brush strokes which will give you a tacky and n00b-like finish.

It will take a lot longer, since you'll need to brush on the paint in all the tiny places that spray or airbrush paint will get to easily.

Don't mess up your dorm. Used to work for a university and slobby students suck.

IF NOT:

Good.

It's (easier? Better? More efficient???) to use spray paint or an airbrush.
 
Welcome to the 405th!
I have not seen anyone else use interior house paint to paint a suit. Wouldn't that stuff kind of smell still? There could also be a potential of cracking.
If painting indoors is your only option wouldn't using standard acrylic artist paint be your best bet?
 
Who was the blackwell translator back in the day? I think they need to come back and start work interpreting Foxeler. That was something.

Interior paint is commonly a latex base but not mixed in the same proportions that you'd see in other flexible coatings. I'd expect to see cracking at first flex and chipping not too long after.

If you want an indoor-safe surface coating, use brush on watered down PVA glue or Mod Podge (pre-watered down) in a few coats. After that, I second an airbrush. Airbrush paint is usually cheaper by coverage and you get way more control on the colour.
 
I heard from somewhere that using a heat gun will sort of "shrink" the foam cells, allowing you to paint it without the foam soaking it as if you had coated it with plastidip. Is that correct?

And no, I'm not planning on using interior paint without sealing it. That'd be a whole latta crazy that I don't wanna date with. I'm just wondering how well that might work opposed to spray paint.

Edit: I saw someone mention acrylic paint. I've only seen small bottles of it for painting miniature models. Isn't that stuff expensive? If not, yeah, that would be a much more viable option.
 
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Acrylic paints come in different volume sizes. Price can vary also. The high end stuff is obviously more expensive but best quality. On the flip side the really cheap stuff is really thin and will take 20 coats just to get a good solid colour. My go to brand is Liquitex Basics.
 
My go to brand is Liquitex Basics.

How much square footage can you lather on with those paints? I'd assume using a bit of thinner would definitely help.

Also, can anyone tell me how well pointing a heat gun at it and demanding money would work for sealing to prepare it for painting? I have ready access to a heat gun, and If I don't have to go through the process of slapping it silly with goop that'd make my existence a bit easier for me. You pickin' up what I'm slammin' down?
 
How much square footage can you lather on with those paints? I'd assume using a bit of thinner would definitely help.
Hmmmm wouldn't be able to answer that question...
Using a thinner wouldn't make sense to use. You would be forcing yourself to apply more coats of paint to get a better finish.

Also, can anyone tell me how well pointing a heat gun at it and demanding money would work for sealing to prepare it for painting? I have ready access to a heat gun, and If I don't have to go through the process of slapping it silly with goop that'd make my existence a bit easier for me. You pickin' up what I'm slammin' down?
Using a heat gun will close the majority of the cells in the foam. If you apply paint right after, it will act like a primer coat and seal whatever cells haven't closed and have a dull matte finish. Thus more coats will be needed to get the desired finish.
 
Hmmmm wouldn't be able to answer that question...
Using a thinner wouldn't make sense to use. You would be forcing yourself to apply more coats of paint to get a better finish.

Bingo. Lather isn't the right concept here. Airbrushes are thin coats and a thinner is to promote flow through the brush so that the pigment properly atomizes. Airbrush coverage is based on how heavy your application is, but an average Vallejo bottle will cover 20sq.ft or more if used well.
 
Lemme just say you guys are being a fantastic help.

So, tell me if I'm wrong but this is how I'm understanding this. Yes, you can use a heat gun to seal the foam... But not all of the cells would be closed which would allow some of the paint to be absorbed. This would result in a bit more paint required, correct?

How much square footage can you lather on with those paints?
Hmmmm wouldn't be able to answer that question...
Well, on estimate how much of the armor do you think you could complete with one tube for primary color, and one tube for a secondary color? Like, just the chest, or the chest and forearms, ect....
 
My first Build - ODST foam: Complete
This is my build that I recently finished. It was mainly black and light grey. I would say that I used 3/4 of a 4 oz tube of each colour. I had about 3 coats of each colour on it.

OH! I see. I definitely would have attempted to use quite a bit more paint that what would be necessary. That would have been a pretty unhappy shindig. I'm understanding that a ~200ml would be sufficient for each color.

What kind of brush did you use to apply it? Foam, nylon, normal dolla tree brushes?

Edit: A roller?
 
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OH! I see. I definitely would have attempted to use quite a bit more paint that what would be necessary. That would have been a pretty unhappy shindig. I'm understanding that a ~200ml would be sufficient for each color.

What kind of brush did you use to apply it? Foam, nylon, normal dolla tree brushes?
I don't have an airbrush. This was hand painted.
 
I don't have an airbrush. This was hand painted.

No, no. I mean what kind of brush did you use? There's different brushes for different things. Did you use a roller like painting a wall, or a big classic rectangle bristle painting brush, or a big foam brush?

Each brush has different kind of patterns it leaves. Kind of like how artists use different types of brushes for different textures.
 
No, no. I mean what kind of brush did you use? There's different brushes for different things. Did you use a roller like painting a wall, or a big classic rectangle bristle painting brush, or a big foam brush?

Each brush has different kind of patterns it leaves. Kind of like how artists use different types of brushes for different textures.
Ah. Gotcha.
The brush I used was a 1 inch synthetic soft bristles. Also a 1/4 inch one to get into smaller areas.
 
OK, so here is now my revamped 100% fool-proof plan...

I still plan on using the heat gun to seal the foam. I don't mind having to apply a bit more paint if it's easier to use in a dorm.

Instead of using Interior paint, I'll use some acrylic paint and do about 4-5 coats with it. Don't use the cheapo paints, because it will take sufficiently more coats to get the same result.

I don't know about you peeps, but I feel like this was a success.

Doesn't this sound like the best plan ever or what?
 
Alrighty, you two have been wonderful helping me figure this out. I plan to post my finished product on this website, and I hope to see you guys later on. Stay crafty!
 
a bit late but there is also the option of paint on plastidip
unless that was said already

Yeah, a bit late...

Paint-on plasti-dip would work if it didn't have any fumes to go along with it. The main issue was living in dorms, it wouldn't really be nice if I stunk up the whole floor with a chemical smell.

My decision was to use a heat gun to seal it, and acrylic paint for the.... Well... Paint. Worked out rather well. I'll be posting a thread of it when I get some quality pictures of the finished product.
 
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