How Do I Paint A Muscle Flex Body Suit?

djjalles

New Member
Hello fellow hunters.I use a muscle flex body suit,(which built with foam muscles and streachy fabric) for my Predator skin instead of a latex suit.
I have completly taken the old paint job off off the suit,and now i would like to know if anyone knows step by step what i have to do to re-pain it successfully so the paint job won't crack/flake.
I know after taking the old paint,i have to coat it with latex,but what kind do i need so the latex will stick to the muscle suit?
What kind of paint do i need to paint it with so it won't crack and/or flake?
Please if anyone knows how to do this properly and successfully please let me know,id appreciate the help.
Thank you guys!
 
If I understand correctly, you have a suit, upon which you glued open celled polyurethane foam muscles. Then you covered this in stretch fabric. If you are going to coat with latex, the fabric may have been overkill. If the fabric is penetrable, then I would get a small bit of balloon rubber latex and paint that on. It should soak through the fabric well. Gets stuck in my clothes like motherf%&^*$#. Then, if you are a lover of Ye Ole Moster Makers, follow it with some of there thickened product. The best thing to get a killer bond and a lot of stretch to latex, is rubber cement based paints. You need to mix them yourself, but they stretch with the latex, the colors do not change as they dry. They are rubber based so you get a super strong chemical bond that no other paint base really provides for painting latex. Let me know if you need a ratio. These are best when airbrushed. The more expensive option would be special stamping inks from Union Process.

I hope this helps. Some pics would help more.
 
The lair has a section with huntorials, "how to do" things, wich i really like!
MacGuyver has a good one about turning a fabric suit into a latex skin, tho, i don't know if i misunderstood or something, but you said you want a stretchy fabric suit "instead" of a latex one.
But then you ask what kind you need to make the latex will stick to the muscle suit o_O

About preventing paint to crack and flake.
50% Acrylic paint with 25% Pros-Aid and 25% water. Pros-Aid is an adhesive which will allow the paint to stick to the Latex. Use this with all your colors. Once you are done, you can seal it with Perma-wet. You can add a small amount of water to your perma-wet if you want it less shiny.
There are several options, think i've read somewhere that Liquitex gloss works the same as perma-wet, but it has UV protection, unlike perma-wet (latex can't handle sunlight very well).

I'm trying Liant Acrylique as a binder at the moment.
Anyways, huntorials are awesome, can't thank people enough for sharing them.
 
If you are doing Prosaide and Acrylic, your paint will last like a million times longer if you flip the ratio, 50% ProsAide 25% acrylic 25% water, though that is a fair bit of water. You probably don't need that much. Also, if you airbrushing, use a Paasche H, not a double action. I am just sayin though, seriously, you guys should give rubber cement paints a chance. Seems so many people shoot me down on this one. It is cheaper than prosaide, and no separate sealer is required. Most of you should be able to get everything you need locally. Just saying. Once I tried them, I never went back. Kicks PAX to the curb in terms of durability. Pretinting your latex also helps with the UV factor quite a bit.
 
Never tried or heard about rubber cement before, how it works etc, i might give it a go next time i'll paint latex after your words, i haven't ment to shoot you down on it EG.
And i'm not experienced about airbrushes, i've got 2 double action ones(AB-300) that works very well and that i got 50% discount on by a weird employee =)
Just wish it had a bigger paintcup.
 
LOL, sorry to sound bitter. I am not. I suggest this method a lot and because everyone on here uses PAX, they think I am crazy.

The reason I like Paasche, the H specifically, is because it does not feed the paint through the brush, and thus clogs less on thicker paints, like PAX and Rubber Cement and silicone. There is a set that comes with three sizes of tip and needle. It works off a bottle. If you use an Iwata hose, you need to get an adapter, or buy quick disconnectors for both and that will solve the size issue too.

Rubber cement bits into the latex, surgically attaching itself, which is why I love it so much.

Basically Rubber cement, thinned a little with naphtha to make it the consistency of maple syrup or so, and then you mix in some oil paint (a tiny bit. If you use too much it will get gummy) or finely powdered pigments. Stir thoroughly and add more naphtha until watery enough to spray. You need to use a good quality cement, not a cheap kids one. It is just as stretchy as the latex

it has fumes, so paint in a well ventilated area and wear a respirator. Small cup brushes are great but for large scale work, buy a large cup brush or one that takes a bottle. Worth the money.
 
Cheers for explaination!
It sounds fairly simple to use, mixing it all up in a paintcup and just paint, without having to clean for the seal after, but wont acrylic paint worK with the rubber cement?

Now i have to find this in Sweden, i think monstermakers has it, but it's gonna be even more expensive, i have to wait longer, and the product could get damaged during the shipping(cold weather).

And sorry djjalles if you think i ruin this thread with me discussing this, but i just thought maybe people could find answears when reading this discussion, wich is alittle related to your first post :)
Will use personal messenger in future.
 
No need to get rubber cement from overseas, or at least certainly not as far as the US. That is for sure. Source it through craft stores, industrial suppliers, or hardware stores. Damn near every country has it. Worst case you might have to venture as far as the UK or another Scandanavian country. Acrylic is not solvent based, and oil based products, just like petroleum solvents, work better. Nature of the material. Acrylic just does not get along with rubber cement.
 
Ostberg, I would say this conversation is totally on point with what Jalles is asking. It seems like a good way to paint his latex coated suit.

More and more these days I am leaning the way of ditching the prosaid / acrylic method. It just does not ever hold up perfectly.

Rubber stamping inks, like the ones used by larry kidd, gkasylum here on the lair. DO NOT SHOW ANY DAMAGE. Very little over a LOONG period of time. I owned a suit painted by larry and I BEAT THE HELL out of the suit and it never showed any signs of wear. It totally sold me on using RUBBER STAMPING INKS. BUT I was told they are pretty expensive and when sprayed are just super toxic.

Positives and negatives on both sides of the fence.... Guess it is just up to the individual to decide. All things considered, no one way is more expensive or more difficult. This is a good discussion. Paint work is always cause for debate and discussion.
 
My feeling is the actual process stamping inks are a bit overkill. They are more useful on foam latex, especially when metallics are needed. This is how the suits on Watchmen and Tron were painted. Rubber Cement base paints will create the same long term and tough bond at a lower cost, and you can get the materials locally. In some cases, they can cause slight wrinkling if painted to heavily, but this is only on foam latex, and in heavy amounts. On slip latex, which is what most of you guys are using, you would never see the difference under any circumstances. The toxicity is the same, but if you take precautions, like wearing gloves and a respirator and using adequate ventilation, then you really have nothing to worry about. The bond is just unbeatable. I totally see the benefits of the Prosaide system you guys are using, in that is it nontoxic, but that is literally the only benefit, because the rubber based systems win out in every other category with flying colors.
 
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