Painting your scenery can, occasionally, be more complex than you might think; so, I thought I'd share some of the things that I have, usually regretfully, discovered over the years. This article isn't about how to paint scenery in an artistic fashion; it's about using paint that is compatible with the material that your scenery is made from.

I'll start with foam terrain since that is what I use most frequently. Latex house paint will usually work, but sometimes causes the foam to warp. The paint shrinks as it dries, and warps the corners upward. Painting the backside of the foam may help, but doesn't always counter-warp the piece back to shape. I've never used household oil based paints and wouldn't try because of the drying time.

Do not use lacquer based paints; they eat foam. Lacquer paints can create some interesting surface effects on foam, but I wouldn't advise trying it; since, the fumes are extremely toxic.

Artists acrylics and acrylic craft paints have universally worked for me, but I would be cautious about the warping problem with extremely cheap paints. I prefer artists acrylics; because, I can control the thickness of the paint and create a thick (for paint), protective skin on the foam. It also dries quickly and custom colors are easily blended.

Most hobby spray paint, such as Testors. works well. It doesn't give the foam a protective skin, but it's fast and is good for base coating under flocking.

Paper products, such as matte board, are frequently used for buildings, and occasionally used for stepped terrain in small scales. All paints mentioned above will work, just don't saturate the paper stock,: you want to paint the paper's surface, not its intestines. If you saturate the paper, it will warp.

Sheet plastic will need to be primed, if you are going to use acrylic paints. Use hobby (i.e. model) acrylics, don't waste your time with artist acrylics and latex house paint. It peels off. Most non acrylic paints work well. Don't over spray with lacquers; if there are puddles, the thinner in the paint might liquefy the surface of the plastic and cause an undesired variation in the surface finish.

Plaster is the last of the materials that I will mention. Plaster can be a great material for terrain, but its weight and brittleness are a hindrance during transportation. The only problem that I have had on plaster is with artists acrylics. They don't stick to it. They are okay until scraped, and then they just keep peeling. Prime the plaster with laytex or model spray paint and the artists paints are great. I've had great success with Testors and Polly-S paints in particular.

Though, this isn't the most fascinating subject; I have run into a surprising number of gainers over the years that had made some of the same unpleasant discoveries that I have. Hopefully this information will help you avoid similar experiences.