I discovered a new Art Supply store yesterday, and I picked up some items
for making FT terrain -- two wooden balls (about 1/2" in diameter), a
strofoam ball (3" in diameter) and a strofoam hemisphere (8" in diameter). The
plan is to turn the hemisphere into a gas giant, and the smaller items
into moons -- all grossly out of scale with the ships, but they should
look neat.
Here's the question of the hour: how do I seal this styrofoam? It has a very
rough texture; not beaded, but very porous. I'm thinking of using miliput,
which is very easy to work with when you have enough water, and adds strength
besides. I'm not sure if this is the best option, though. Anyone done this
before? And if so, what'd you use?
John,
Mix some water putty (cheap stuff found in the paint aisle at the hardware
store) into whatever paint you wish to use as a base coat. This will help to
seal the surface and smooth it out. Do two thin coats rather than one heavy.
KR, Geo-Hex
[quoted original message omitted]
> very rough texture; not beaded, but very porous. I'm thinking of using
Paper kitchen roll/towel soaked in acrylic filler (this is the
modern white stuff they sell for filling the cracks when decorating) This
dries to a rockhard surface and protects the foam.
I think you can get this in a thicker form that's still called spackling
paste, though I'd think you'd have to watch out for the plaster stuff. Not
that you couldn't use plaster...
I'd think it would be difficult to get a smooth, non-seamed
surface with the towels. For asteroid to small moon objects, though, the rough
irregularities might be appropo, of course.
Just me meandering without actual facts again.
The_Beast
"Tim Jones" <Tim.Jones@Smallworld.co.uk>@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU on 08/23/99
01:39:48 AM
Please respond to gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
Sent by: owner-gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU
To: <gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU>
cc:
Subject: RE: [FT] Terraforming Styrofoam
> very rough texture; not beaded, but very porous. I'm thinking of using
Paper kitchen roll/towel soaked in acrylic filler (this is the
modern white stuff they sell for filling the cracks when decorating) This
dries to a rockhard surface and protects the foam.
-= tim jones =-
> I'd think it would be difficult to get a smooth, non-seamed
Yes you do get a seam, you could use a thinner mat such as a tissue and
elemers PVA glue, this also dries rock hard and if you use thin tissue paper
used on model planes or gift packaging it can be got to a near smooth finnish,
enough so that the undercoat can all but remove the surface detail.
The towel technique comes from terrian modelling where seams can easily be
flocked. Tissue & PVA can give you a very fine finnish, I know this from my
balsa plane modelling days where we used this technique to seal the grain on
balsa fuselages, it should be perfect on styrene.
> On 22-Aug-99 at 17:14, John Crimmins (johncrim@voicenet.com) wrote:
I use mod-podge, you can pick it up at about any craft or sewing store.
It looks like a big jug of white glue, paint it on and let it dry. Then
primer. I usually use two coats to make sure I don't leave holes the paint
will eat.
For primering the Krylon sandable primer has to be the best stuff I have ever
seen. I don't even worry about how light I get the coat any more, a big wet
blob will dry to a nice even coating that shows all the detail.
Also, if you check at a super-Walmart in the section where they have
flower arranging stuff you will find the spheres you are talking about.
From: John Crimmins <johncrim@voicenet.com>
> Subject: [FT] Terraforming Styrofoam
> Here's the question of the hour: how do I seal this styrofoam? It has
Well, there are a couple of ideas I can think of if your goal is not only to
seal it, but to also smooth out the surface a bit. Durham's Water Putty
(available at craft and DIY hardware stores) can be thinned down to a thin
paste and spread on the surface of styrfoam. It becomes very hard once dry and
seals it enough to use spray paint on it afterwards. It can also be sanded
down, so you can build up several layers and then sand down any bumps or
ridges. I use this product for hiding the joint between two pieces of
styrofoam when making hills and such. Messy, but works great.
Another product is Modge-Podge (available and craft stores). It's more
of a sealant than a filler, but it's thick and works well if you're working
towards a smooth surface. Again, several layers will probably be needed to get
a very smooth surface. I haven't used this product for gaming, but I did use
it to seal a small, underground cave system designed for my pet lizard's tank!
> On 23-Aug-99 at 13:29, W. Nitsche (bnitsche@u.washington.edu) wrote:
I'd be careful with that, the stuff is water soluble, of course if you
painted it that would solve the problem. I use Modge-Podge all the
time,
works wonders for flocking. Put a coat down on your hill/base and dip
in the flocking, let dry. remove. Make a thinned coat (I do about 50%
modge-podge 50% water) and saturate the flocking. It sticks as well as
any of the manufactured terrain I've seen. Used with ballast you can pry a
piece off, but it takes effort. With the flocking it's next to impossible to
remove. If you are really in a budget crunch and need terrain, some florists
styrofoam, a miracle cutter, some modge podge and flocking can work wonders.
You can get everything at walmart.