Gelcoat

I’ve just come across some links saying that some German latex weapons are top-coated using something called Gelcoat, a flexible finish used on fibreglass boats.

Does anyone have any experience with this stuff, and know whether it can be acquired in appropriately small quantities in New Zealand?

Finding a good top-coat for latex in NZ is still one of the gaps in our knowledge, I think.

The internet tells me these guys do:

chemspec.co.nz/syn_prd_gelc.htm#369iso (Onehunga-based)
auroraglass.co.nz/products_gelcoat.htm (Manukau)
nzfibreglass.co.nz/ (Panmure) (prices listed in their catalogue range from $28 for 1KG of clear to $70 for 1KG of clear - this is ‘Velspar’ which is the brand name I saw on multiple sites).

Interestingly, it looks like it can only be sprayed on, so finding the right kind of sprayer would be key.

Also, it appears to have a shelf life of 4 months. So if we could get a hold of some it’d be good to plan on doing a whole bunch of weapons at once and sharing the cost.

Interesting. If it needs an airbrush, then we could acquire an airbrush and use it to coat on the latex layers, clean the airbrush, then use it for the gelcoat top-coat. Airbrushing on latex is supposed to give a nice finish, and would be faster than using a fine brush.

Good point. Latex shields could benefit from top-coating too, and they’d have a lot of surface area.

I would have though this would have cracked and not flexed enough.

Plastidip is another possibility.

A very quick look around the internet seems to confirm what Ryan found - that overseas, professionally produced weapons use gelcoat as their finish.

I would have thought a boat-coating material would be brittle too, but apparently it’s flexible.

Just got off the phone with Ross from NZ Fibreglass Ltd.

He’s pretty amazing - and keen to give adivce.

Gelcoat probably isn’t what we’re after, but it sounds like he’s got multiple other products that would be ideal.

Apparently he’s supplied a lot of stuff to film/prop makers - started talking about coatings for movie weapons and fibreglass armour and the like.

The 1:1 silicone sounded like it’d be good (can be sprayed or painted).

They have gravity-fed spray guns for $95 that can handle latex (and things like silicone) - just hook up to a compressor.

I’m gong to go down there at some point (June at the earliest) and bring him one of my swords that I’ve made, plus one of the commercially purchased ones I have to show him the difference and get his thoughts.

Really, really good customer service on this guy’s part.

Awesome, nice work.