should i paint or floodcoat Foamex letters?

[Warren Beard]

Nobody? Has nobody had to do special colour Foamex cut letters?

Warren

[Harry Cleary]

Have painted foamex before Warren….I just keyed the surface with a scotchpad and radiused the edges and sprayed….never had any prob

[Warren Beard]

Thanks Harry, is that with just regular off the shelf spray paint?

[Harry Cleary]

I have used car paint on them Warren too. and spray cans for a quick job

[Warren Beard]

Thanks Harry

[Hugh Potter]

i’ve also painted foamex with a vinyl emulsion! key it up a bit, and put a number of rollered coats on to cover it. the first couple of applications just leave it mottled, which looks good too! i had to do it in the customers own ‘office’ colour, so he went and found half a tin under the stairs!

worked ok, and no comeback as far as…

Hugh

[Warren Beard]

quote Harry Cleary:

Have painted foamex before Warren….I just keyed the surface with a scotchpad and radiused the edges and sprayed….never had any prob

Sorry to dig this up again but about to receive these letters and need to get them painted.

I will key the surfaces lightly with a scotchpad but why did you radius the corners?

Halfords sell the vehicle spray paint so was thinking of using that, how many coats will I need? I’m sure they need to be many thin coats apposed to a few thick coats.

There’s about 40 letters to do so don’t want to mess them up as it’s about £200 worth.

Cheers

Warren

[Harry Cleary]

Warren, radius is perhaps the wrong word. If the corners are very sharp there is a danger that the skin of paint will split along the edge allowing moisture in. Has happened to me on wooden letters with disastrous results. I just slightly round the corners. Just take the usual precautions when spraying…..and build it up as you said. Be careful of dust though as they seem to be magnets for whatever is floating around.

Plasticote is the best off the shelf spray I have found, coverage depends on the colour, golds will cover easily while anything in the blue range takes a good few coats.

[Warren Beard]

Ah, thanks Harry

It’s a dark "chocolate" brown on to black foamex.

Thanks mate

Warren

[Russell Spencer]

the edges will be the problem, no matter how many coats you put on it just soaks up the paint and looks awful.
We have had some success with PVA glue, painted onto the edges neat before spraying and also cellulose thinners put onto a rag and wipe the edges, which melts the plastic slightly, but you have to be careful not to let the rag touch the face of the letters.
And if you spray them, stand them up and spray them vertically, there is less chance of dust settling on them.

[Tim Painter]

Warren out of curiosity why didn’t you use chocolate brown acrylic?

Tim.

[Martin Cole]

quote Tim Painter:

Warren out of curiosity why didn’t you use chocolate brown acrylic?

Would have been a lot easier Warren,
if comes down to price, the labour and hassle of painting far outways the cost.

Painting black dk brown aswell..hmm.

Saying that I have to paint 2 x 20ft foamex fascias today, when the stuff arrives.
Not looking forward to it 🙁