Painting blue styrofoam help please!

[Guest]

Hi Guys and girls,

Just joined your forum after being a lurker for a while.

I'm hoping that someone can help me with a dilemma - I am having a hell of a job getting a good finish on a panel I'm wanting to paint. Its made from standard blue styro but having cut it and sanded it to death it looks really fine to the naked eye - but when I paint it I cannot seem to get a nice smooth enamel type finish without any lumps bumbs or grazes showing.... can anyone advise whats the best paints to use so that I can dip the panel and get a really high quality paint finish without having to keep rubbing down and panting and then putting another coat on - surely there is a way to dip it and get a nice finish straight away. All help appreciated.

[Guest]

I got a nice satin finish (could have laquered it for a good gloss i suppose) by painting a styrofoam piece with PVA glue (two applications with a very light rub down in between) for painting i used Citadel acrylics paints but any brand would do i'm sure.

If the PVA glue didn't work i was going to use an acrylic varnish and sand between a few light coats.... not tried this method but it should work in theory.