flowcoat

don't the foam rollers fall apart due to the chemicals?

i ended up using an ansa 4" roller today and it was much better to apply the flowcoat with.

im still not happy with the flowcoat even with the styrene mixed in.

it went on a lot better and had a smoother finish.

i'll get some pics tomorrow as it was still tacky when i left my workshop.

 

I've never had a problem with the foam rollers yet, with all kinds of paint (2k inc), epoxy, polyester resin, gelcoat etc. It may be that so far I have been lucky but generally as these are throw away, I buy them as cheap as possible from wherever has the best price - usually a local garden centre! Yup cheaper than any F/glass suppliers etc.

The only material that might give trouble for certain would be a polystyrene (based) polymer and not too many of these foam as far as I am aware. However polythene foams easily and I think that is what the material is, or a polyprop foam. Only other exception might be if the foam is old and yellowing it might fall to bits whilst working it and leave lots of small 'pips' of foam in the work. If your foam roller started out white when bought and the sun turned it yellow, likely it will have lost enough strength to hold together.

 

heres some pics of the 4 compatments.

first 2 pics is the first one i did with the flowcoat before i thinned it down a bit.

the other 3 pics are with thinned down flowcoat and they have come out much better.

still may sand them down at a later date and re do them.





you can't really see the difference in the flowcoat in the pics.

 

Looking pretty good Gary. Nice work, I'll bet your already itching to try her out. Best of luck with the rest of the build.

 

thanks mate.

the more i look at the flowcoating that ive done it don't look too bad.

will probably leave it as it is as when parts start getting fitted in the compartments you won't really notice it.

 

Looks very nice Gary with neat laminating to begin with.

 

thanks mate.

when i glass something in i like to sand it down once its gone off.

i hate leaving it towards the end to start sanding down as its a boring job so do it as i go and its not too bad to do.

 

You might have better luck with a product like Duratec High Gloss Clear
it will give the gelcoat a nice shine, it substantially reduces the viscosity and it is air dry, no need for wax

I have used it mixed 50/50 with gelcoat for the same thing you are doing.
be aware it does reduce the ability of the gelcoat to hide what is underneath

 

thanks for that idea mate.

i may give that a go at some point on something smaller to see how it comes out.

only problem is getting hold of the duratec in small tins.

i can only get it in gallon tins and over here in the UK there around £70-£80 a gallon.