Decoy painting

[Dirtdigger]

I got some free decoys. Made from stryofoam they need some painting. They are mallards and ringbills. I'm not a painter any suggestions?

[Slimdart]

I have done some crude painting in the past. I feel like divers are the easiest. For the ringbills I have primed then painted the whole bird white then masked off the white wing patches and panted black. I used spray cans and liked the results. used model paint for the eyes and bill. Done the same for blue bills and just sprayed the backs with a little black over the white at a distance for the speckled look.

[onthefly]

You may wanna burlap them or restle coat them first.

I use Kilz oil based primer, Rustoleum oil based enamel in black and white. I mix those to get grays. Bills, eyes, etc. I do with acrylic art paints.

If you don't burlap/restle, the foam could dent easily, absorb moisture, then rot. That said, I did a half dozen ringers that were foam with just primer, then 2 layers of flocking. We'll see how they hold up! Got em in a slotted bag.

[Gissert]

Ditto on the burlap coating. I coated some old Herters and they work great.

Here is one from a hunt in November last year. These kept floating naturally, some of the plastic ones started to turn turtle with the ice build up.

I love my foamers!

[Duffman]

Cool pic Giss!

[Dirtdigger]

Thanks for the tips guys!

[WALLEYENUTZ]

I'd stay away from oil based paints, as some may eat your foam. Exterior latex works great. after a waterbased primer.

Burlaping is for sure the way to go. Lots or work tho