Painting rubber

[Birdie]

I've recently been experimenting with spraypainting a pair of rubber goggles for a prop project.

The problem I'm having is that the paint simply won't dry properley, and remains tacky (after over a month)

The paint I used was Tamiya acrylic on auto plastic primer.

Does anyone know how I should approach this? Correct paint? Preparation?

Any tips welcome.

Thanks,

Simon

 

[GeneralMayhem]

Is the rubber a real natural rubber, or perhaps a vinyl? Sounds like the auto paint's solvent reacted with what may be a vinyl based rubber, resulting in a paint job that will never dry.

 

[Birdie]

Originally posted by GeneralMayhem@Feb 8 2006, 11:28 PM
Is the rubber a real natural rubber, or perhaps a vinyl?  Sounds like the auto paint's solvent reacted with what may be a vinyl based rubber, resulting in a paint job that will never dry.

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I think it's probably vinyl.

 

[GeneralMayhem]

What color is the vinyl, and what color are you trying to make it. Have you considered dying or staining it instead?

 

[Magic Man]

You can try sprayable Plasti-Dip.

Brad

 

[Birdie]

Originally posted by GeneralMayhem@Feb 9 2006, 01:23 AM
What color is the vinyl, and what color are you trying to make it.  Have you considered dying or staining it instead?

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The vinyl is green, I want to spray it silver.

 

[Gigatron]

Try duplicolor bumper paint. It's flexible and designed for aplications like this

-Fred

 

[temponaut]

Originally posted by Birdie@Feb 9 2006, 10:28 AM
The vinyl is green, I want to spray it silver.

A Japanese company called Nagashima makes a line of hobby paints called "Sofvi," designed specifically for painting on vinyl. When dry, the paint flexes freely with the vinyl and will not peel or chip. The line of paints includes a metallic silver.

It's a brush on paint. When dry, it's basically like a layer of vinyl. It tends to be rough on brushes, and I doubt it can be put through an airbrush. Apart from the hassle of cleanup, I've been very pleased with the results.

I'm not sure whether Sofvi is sold outside of Japan, but I should think that an equivalent product must be available in your city or online.

EDIT: No Website info on the Sofvi bottle, sorry.