Does anyone have a recommendation to produce a stucco finish on polystyrene foamboard to resemble a French or Spanish station external wall.

Not sure what to use to create the bobbly bits. Thought about sand and PVA but would have to test that to see if it sticks to polystyrene.

Maybe there is a off the shelf trade solution e.g. anyone remember Artex.



Thanks for any help. David.

Mikey is the main for this I would say David.

I did my chapel, a small shelter and a lamp hut with a mix of mortier colle and ciment blanc.
You can buy very fine mortier colle in small 2kg bags from Castorama. If you can get it, mortier colle blanc is best (even finer). For good contact I added about 10% PVA glue to the mixture and then I just sort of dabbed and brushed it on with an old stiff brush. After it was dry I painted it with cheap matt white paint.

But have a word with Mikey first.

I agree with Carl as to the materials. The most important thing is preparation of the surface and the 'wetness' of them (cant think of the word). With foamboard models i give them a coat of exterior PVA first to create a better surface (it doesnt have to be exterior 'cos its all going to be covered), then let it dry. Whatever texture you use; fine sand, plaster, 'chaux'( a french crushed limestone that houses are covered in), The secret is to put it on with virtually a dry brush technique, the mix must be wet enough to adhere but dry enough to stipple and leave a texture behind. sounds complicated but its not, as long as your mix is right. I finish of with acrylic paints (a bit of black at the base of walls to represent dampness, and a bit of green for moss. would imagine in spain the rendering would turn a different colour under strong sunlight!) hope this helps.

mikey

Thanks Mikey and Carl for the advice. David.

How about textured Masonry Paint.

Hard wearing, matt and contains, in the UK, some fine texturing.

Only problem is I need to splash out 10 euros to test some. Has anyone tried this ?

No I haven't tried it David but I have tried real façade paint.
Crepi;
You can buy this in all DIY (bricolage) stores in France.
Buy the stuff for 'Murs neufs bon etat'. That's finer than the 'Murs ecrasés' which has a lot of filler in it.

This isn't cheap though and is difficult to buy in small quantities.

I would try Mikey's recipe first, Chaux (lime) is good and will give a nice texture.

Or another idea is to get some kiddies play sand and mix with paint. That is much finer than ordinary sand.

Nobody wants to pay a lot of money if its only for one model. I would suggest getting 1 or 2 'tester pots' (really cheap) and normally emulsion. choose your colour carefully and then mix in a little pva and some fine sand until the mix is (as i said before) wet enough to adhere but dry enough to stipple the finish. I have used this method several times if i want a model of a particular colour. If its emulsion you will have to give it a coat of varnish if it is to remain outdoors. If you can get an oil-based satin finish it will not need varnishing and the addition of the sand will tone down the satin 'sheen'.

Mikey

I used a mix of builders sand (the "soft" stuff) and waterproof PVA on my Garsten shed replica.........matt spray paint over by Plasticote - "grey beige"

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Thanks guys. I will start experimenting.

David.

I used exterior masonry paint from a tester pot and mixed in some dry sand. It has adhered well to whatever plastic Piko use for their kits.

After a number of experiments I cannot get PVA to adhere to the foamboard I am using.

The foamboard I am using is dense plastic foam with a hotplated surface on the outside which superficially appears to be two sheets of plasticard outside a foam insert but is in fact a single non laminated entity. I wonder if others have used the other foamboard which is two external card layers separated by foam.

Now there must be some method of adhering to my foamboard. More experiments to follow.

David, not sure if this helps but I did a google of "gluing foam board" and came up with this:

http://www.barrule.com/Workshop/images/info/foams/index.htm

It mentions "foam-2-foam" glue which seems to be available here: http://www.ema-models.co.uk/products/04350-foam-foam-glue.html among other places.

In any event, good luck with your continued experiments!

Clive , thank you for the link.


David.