So in regards to my last post on painting foam I thought I would post some photos as I go.
(thanks thirdshade/rich for your help and recommendation with paint choice). I went with a mattise background acrylic (water based) wasnt too sure which one to get in the art supply as they had many acrylic paints, but the mattise didnt seem so thick so I went with that one.
I will be glassing and sanding the board once the paint has dried so if anyone has some pointers, feel free to shoot them my way.
So I finished shaping the little 5’7’’ fish and went for a light blue/ white streaked finish. The paint went on quite easily and dried within 30 minutes. as per rich’s recommendation im going to let it dry overnight before hitting the deck.
Hey ZAC, nice clean shape and really like that tail detail…I dont paint the stringers when I apply colour - always mask off with thin tape than pull it when the paint has almost dried…I’m not sure for certain but I think I’ve heard of adhesion issues if the string is painted - maybe someone else could chip in here if they know more. Having said that if your paint was applied pretty thin you shouldnt have a problem. cheers rich www.thirdshade.com
To avoid a painted stringer crystallizing under a polyester lamination, mix a small batch of laminating resin and completely seal the stringer. Let the resin kick. Then glass as usual.
You can paint over the stringer when glassing with epoxy. Epoxy doesn’t crystallize over paint like polyester. But the weave of the fiberglass tends to show a bit over dark colors on a painted blank when glassed with epoxy.
Thanks atomized ill give that a go.
So I just returned to my test strip and I started thinking maybe I should try and pull the glass to see how well it has bonded to the paint/ foam. Im not sure if I laminated while the paint was still abit wet but the glass peeled of quite easily. I then compared this to a strip i did without paint, and the glass was bonded very well and was hard to pull off. I’ve decided to do another test strip and let the paint dry for a day then i’ll glass it again and see if i still have bonding issues.
If the second test strip doesnt work out is there anything I can do to make sure the glass gets a strong bond ?
So heres my test strip
I painted my last board with acryllic. It was rather thick, so I diluted it with a bit of water and went at it. I made sure not to make a solid layer of piant, more like staining the foam and having the paint sink in. I let it dry overnight .Then I roughed it up with sandpaper, since I was going for that look anyway. I let that dry for a few days more, cause I wasn’t in a rush, then glassed it. It seems fine, haven’t surfed the board yet though. So it could fall apart once it hits water, but it doesn’t seem like it will.
I’m not an expert. But I’d imagine if you have a solid, thick layer of paint, the resin will be bonding to that, and so your glass is really only bound to the foam as well as the paint is. I made sure mine still had texture, it was eps so it was easy to tell.
thanks zoid
I took too my second test strip with sandpaper and made three zones, one without paint, one with the paint sanded to 320 and the other i sanded all the paint off just to clarify if that could be an option. Will post tommorow how the test goes.
ok so my second test strip came out relatively the same. Looks like I may have to sand off all the paint. Im just wondering is it normal for the fibreglass to peel off easier due to the paint layer or should it be stuck on quite firm ?
