Sealing pink roofing foam prop

[Darkproductions]

Ok. So I have run aground of an issue. I am currently working on an emperors champions sword and have carved the blade from a piece of pink roofing insulation sheet foam. The problem is that fiberglass will eat the foam. I have tested several methods to try and seal the foam ranging from glue to clear coat and they eat through and dissolve the pink foam. Any help in sealing this stuff would help as I really want to get this done.

 

[Sean]

What glue's have you tried? I'm sure someone here can help with this. I took a quick search on surf board building. but there putting the glass mat strait to the foam. I will look further..

 

[Sean]

Found something called sculpt or coat.

 

[albinobat]

The stuff I use for coating my foam props is Easyflo 120 from polytek, It doesn't require any under coating and it will not eat through the foam, plus it's pretty strong.

There may be better options, but this is what I found to work best for me

 

[drjag]

2 part Epoxy resin is likely the best resin to use; it doesn't eat foam like other resins; it's always wise to try it on a test piece first if you do use it.

 

[Maskull]

I have used gesso in the past. It is used by artists to seal their canvases. It gives you a very hard finish.

 

[Duncanator]

I believe if you use epoxy resin for your fiberglassing instead of polyester resin, your foam will be fine.

Also, the epoxy fiberglassing resin doesn't have the nasty smell that polyester resin has.

 

[nick daring]

I use acrylic paint before coating with a more caustic material. Works pretty goo.

 

[pandatrooper]

Try Smooth on Epsilon. I've used it, works great on pink foam.
http://www.smooth-on.com/a129/Introducing-NEW-Epsilon=-EPS-Foam-Coating!/article_info.html

 

[Darth Lars]

There are several "foam coat" products out there, as well as recipes for mixing e.g. West Systems epoxy with additives.
There are also some "foam coat" products that are based on recipes for "Scenic Dope" that instead use latex paint as base, but I think they would be more suitable for large set pieces than a handheld prop.

 

[thelangley]

I recently used some pink foam for a project, and never even thought about fiberglass resin eating it. However, I coated it with "monster mud" first just because I wanted it to look like it was part of a statue for the project I was doing, but I sealed it up with fiberglass resin afterwards and saw no evidence of erosion. You might try painting it first with something. I'd be careful with spray paints though, a lot of those can eat foam. (Monster mud, btw is house paint and drywall compound)

 

[Westies14]

You can either use epoxy resin as noted above (it's much easier to work with and less smelly than the yellow poly resin) or seal it up with PVA. If PVA is hard to come by or epoxy resin is too expensive, use latex house paint.

 

[Darkproductions]

Unfortunately I can't afford epoxy right now BUT I mixed my ow scenic dope and it appears to be working. Updates to follow. Thanks for all the advice!!!

 

[Spyhunter2k]

Styrospray 1000 from Industrial Polymers or Shell Shock from Smooth-on would work. In a pinch, or when $$$ is tight, acrylic latex house paint can serve as a barrier between foam and polyester-based resins and fillers, but I've never risked a sculpture by trying to go that cheap.