quickest painting foam? plastidip, duplicolor, etc.

[Masternewbie]

Hi,
If one wanted the quickest,easiest, way to paint armor, is it plastidip?
They have camo green available now, so that might be cool, $13 a can. :-(

It might be as cost effective as other methods savefor brush on acrylic...

With plastidip there is no reason to seal with pva, and I havent seen anyone that did their final coat in plastidip...any reason? What am I missing here?

I liked the duplicolor vinyl paint too...but they dont have green.

If I needed to fill seam gaps, could I always plastidip over pva?

Thoughts?

 

[DBmike]

Hopefully this might help you:
When your filling small gaps and seams use a silicon sealer. It's easy to smooth on with your finger an sticks well and of course fills the gaps.
some people do use PVA but it has a tendency to just peel right off from the edges, my method and same for a lot of people is too paint on a clear plasti dip (paint t on not spray. Does the same job but paint on is more cost effective) and then spray paint or paint on acrylic over the top.
There's no reason you couldn't one coat some colored plasti dip on but I think the reason most don't is because there's a pretty limited range of colours available.

Hope that helps. Drop me a pm if you need any more help

 

[Masternewbie]

Thanks! Silicone sealer.....like caulk? I haven't seen the new camo green color in person yet, so I hope it looks close to the halo green. I was trying to eliminate a few steps, i.e. time....as a newbie I just know the foam work will take 3x longer for me, and work will 1/2 the available time.

Thanks for the help.

 

[DBmike]

Yh I think it's the same stuff. As long at its a dark olive green then it should be right,
Good luck with your build buddy

 

[Masternewbie]

I am not allowed to do attachments I guess...or I can't figure it out....I have made my avatar an example of the newish camo plastidip color.

It's kind of close, right?

Is most armor matte or shiny?

Thanks

 

[DBmike]

I guess, it's kinda hard to tell from that picture.
Any who matte or shiny is really down to your preference. If you want shiny then nothing beats some metallic spray paint. And acrylic paint for matte.

If you've got some time on your hands then hold up for now. I can put this into my new tutorial for you.

 

[Kangabox]

Plastidip, all the way.

1-2 coats of Plasti-dip, then some primer, and then the paint itself.

If you want to well, "cheat" (I use this term loosely, because I actually like this method) on your armor to make it look cooler, I would highly recommend "distressing it", usually dry-brushing the corners and defined edges works best. Don't go overboard with it, just some metallic wear here and there, gives the illusion that your build isn't foam.

My main concern with foam at the moment is the creases tho, I'm going to try a layer of rubber cement before plasti-dip and see how that works out.

 

[Masternewbie]

Thanks for the replies. Is it possible to get okay results with just foam straight to plastidip?
Is plastidip durable, or will it peel right away if someone "picks" at it?
Does the plastidip crease alot? Enough to be a problem for one day/evening?

This is only a one-off for halloween for a 7 yr. old....half of his 2nd grade class still pick their nose, so I think they won't be too critical

Thanks again, I'm amazed how creative people are on here.

 

[Carpathia]

Plasti-Dip is meant to be applied to and seal foam. A lot of people recommend the brush-on stuff since you get a thicker coating that way (I've only used the spray, so I couldn't tell you for sure). It's made to be a bit flexible and adhere to the foam nicely, so there shouldn't be any flaking, peeling or creasing if it's applied correctly.

 

[Kangabox]

I haven't seen any issues with Plasti-Dip peeling, most of the cases where it happens is because it was applied unevenly/too little.

 

[FLYzilla]

tell me if i got this right

mod podge gloss
paint brush (the kind with bristles)
plasti-dip spray
primer spray
spray paint/auto paint
gloss spray

Step #1 Seal
Step #2 Plasti-dip
Step #3 Primer
Step #4 Spray Paint
Step #5 Gloss

 

[U513]

just plastidip straight on the foam. its a sealer and basecoat all in one.

I didn't bother with primer for my suit and just airbrushed some watered down liquitex paint straight on top. I could probably paint on top of it with a gloss but I don't want the shine.

 

[EVAkura]

Shiny vs. Matte is a personal preference... but tactically it is obvious that matte is the way to go. Military vehicles are matte for two main reasons. One is to reduce/eliminate glare, and second is because it is made of a special compound that helps absorb radar, thus reducing their signature.

As far as Cosplay armor goes, shiny is typically for perfect or near perfect builds as it will show ALL imperfections. Matte really helps disguise imperfections.

I hope this helps with your earlier question.

 

[FLYzilla]

Shiny vs. Matte is a personal preference... but tactically it is obvious that matte is the way to go. Military vehicles are matte for two main reasons. One is to reduce/eliminate glare, and second is because it is made of a special compound that helps absorb radar, thus reducing their signature.

As far as Cosplay armor goes, shiny is typically for perfect or near perfect builds as it will show ALL imperfections. Matte really helps disguise imperfections.

I hope this helps with your earlier question.

thanks Im learning a lot thanks for your input

 

[FLYzilla]

just plastidip straight on the foam. its a sealer and basecoat all in one.

I didn't bother with primer for my suit and just airbrushed some watered down liquitex paint straight on top. I could probably paint on top of it with a gloss but I don't want the shine.

i see where your coming from.....i will be adding mustard lines for damage areas. to give it the battle feel

 

[Chainsaw ninja]

Heres something i discovered thats pretty neat, but it may not work so well with foam. When i was working with my pep helmet i got a lil bit of water on it and it was on my helmet in a good few lil specks and small globs, so when i spray painted over it it looked like some splash plasma globs these were somewhat tiny so youll need a small brush to paint in those holes but i thought it looked cool

 

[colbs]

No photo of it?

 

[FLYzilla]

heres something i discovered thats pretty neat, but it may not work so well with foam. When i was working with my pep helmet i got a lil bit of water on it and it was on my helmet in a good few lil specks and small globs, so when i spray painted over it it looked like some splash plasma globs these were somewhat tiny so youll need a small brush to paint in those holes but i thought it looked cool

thanks for the info

 

[Combaticron]

My first one-off for my kid, I just spray-painted (Rustoleum olive drab), Modpodged, and dry-brushed it. OK, backwards, but I didn't see the sense in spending a lot of time and money sealing it, and it's held up well for three outings. And touch-ups are a breeze.

 

[NayrDeath]

I generally start with plasti-dip, and next spray paint, then I weather it with acrylic craft paint, and seal with Krylon matte finish.
Simple yet effective.



Not trying to thread jack, just want to show the (in my opinion) awesome results that can be achieved with minimal effort!
And remember, Grif gives laziness a Thumbs up!

-Ryan M-82