Layouts and layout building

 A latex primer couldn't hurt but there is no need to seal the foam per se.  I covered mine with a flat latex medium tan in one coat.

burke19:

uilding my benchwork using blue foam insulation, and was just wondering, would I be better off using a prime

No, you wouldn't be "better off" but you might get tried of seeing blue, so cheap brown latex paint will fix that problem.

Midnight Railroader:

burke19:

uilding my benchwork using blue foam insulation, and was just wondering, would I be better off using a prime

 

No, you wouldn't be "better off" but you might get tried of seeing blue, so cheap brown latex paint will fix that problem.

Yeah, I agree. The blue desert gets pretty boring pretty quick. I painted mine straight out brown latex and it's much easier on the eyes than all that blue. That is unless you're creating some alien world with a weird space train on it. LOL

You need not worry about a primer on blue (or pink for that matter) foam.  Ordinary flat latex  indoor paint sticks well and covers well.  In fact mine covered well even after thinning it a good deal with water.  While you are at it, sprinkle "grass" (ground foam or dyed sawdust) in the wet paint and obtain even better looks on the layout. 

 Go to Home Depot (any bix box store) and check the paint department for discards or returns. I was able to pick up 3 different colors, chocolate brown (satan) for the fascia, tan (flat) for the pink foam and light blue (flat) for backdrops, all for $9 each. Basically I got 3 for the price of 1, all premium paint.

If you happen to have  a recycler , such as Habitat for humanity etc, they always have ends and mismatches of paint all grades and all colors at most times.  Price is very cheap and it all works the same and saves those dollars for more exclusive irems.

These are also great places for hollow core doors from 16 inches on up for table surfaces or shelves (layout or storage).

Johnboy out.

May the rails never be Silent.

burke19:

I'm building my benchwork using blue foam insulation, and was just wondering, would I be better off using a primer to seal the blue off before painting my ground colour? Thanks

You don't nead to 'seal' foam as it's already waterproof.  It also takes latex or acrylic paints well.  I'd go right in on the ground color, and use whatever acrylic paints are on sale at Micheal's.  There has to be a couple of dozen different shades of brown you can use for soil.  And shades of Green?  You could be in the paint isle for an hour trying to decide...