I'm making a Drop Pod for my Space Marines and as I am using foamboard (or foamcore) as the frame work, it dawned on me that I won't be able to just spray paint my usual primer coat on them.

Does anyone have any experience and/or tips for painting foamboard?

I've thought of putting down an acrylic base coat on the edges that have exposed styrene, but then I realized the spray paint may soak through the paper and eat away the styrene. I would run a test right now, but it's raining like mad and won't let up for a while.

(I've heard this stuff called many different things, foam board, foam core, hard board, etc. It's just a 1/4" of styrene with a thick paper on either side, usually used to mount pictures on.)

Thanks!

If there is undamaged paper on the surfaces then you shouldn't have a problem. In my experience putting a thin coat of PVA over any exposed foam parts protects from spray meltage.

Just like to follow up and say that I tried out the PVA and it worked. I used Krylon spray paint (what I use for my models) and it didn't soak through the paper and the PVA stopped it from eating away the styrene. It was also interesting to note that the Krylon didn't really eat away the exposed edge of the foam. I'll still use the PVA as it does an ok job smoothing out the edge.

Thanks again!