My husband is building composite sandwich boards. I paint them usually when they are done. Usually, there is a balsa veneer that he epoxys over, then hotcoats. I then airbrush using acrylic with future, accent with paint pens, and seal with acrylic clear coat sealer in a can. This works very well because I don't use much paint when airbrushing.
However, this time, he decided to leave the rails foam. The foam is blue, with fill marks and lines that are very hard to cover with a couple thin layers of paint. I thought it was a bad idea to paint the rails b/c it would take too much paint to cover the rails, and I was right. We sealed it with kokua's formula and the paint bunched up underneath...it was a disaster.
So, he sanded it all off and we start again on an epoxy hotcoat.
I have three options now...my husband is also concerned with the paint edges making bumps after it is sealed.
1. Put on the pinline with a paint pen using 1/8 tape. Cover penline with tape. Tint epoxy with red and do the rails. Epoxy over. I am concerned for this option b/c we once put an epoxy coat over acrylic paint and it wicked off over black paint pen. Doing the penline with the paint pen is frustrating b/c it bleeds under the tape sometimes, so it worked better to do it first and then cover any bleed with the rail color.
2. Same as above, seal with kokua's formula.
3. Tint epoxy with red and do the rails. Put on a pinstrip ahesive I found at Kragens. Epoxy over. We did a test strip over the pinstripe ahesive and it kind of wicked, but not that bad.
4. Tint epoxy with red and do the rails. Airbrush the penline on with acrylic mixed with future. Seal with epoxy.
5. Same as above, but seal with Kokua's formula.
If anyone has any advice on which method is best, let me know. I guess another option would be to seal with acrylic clear coat in a can, but the last time I did that, the coat came out foggy white-ish, like a bad batch or something. And I suppose it wears down after awhile.
-Sasha