Smooth On: UreCoat

RockitScience · Jun 7, 2017

So I've just seen smooth on's 'UreCoat' brush on urethane rubber coating in their product demo for making a Wonder Woman costume. I've not come across this product before and it looks as though it's just recently come into stock from my go-to smooth on supplier in the UK. Given how they bend the costume around in the demo video, it looks pretty amazing.
Has anyone had experience with it? Did it give you good results and how is it to use?

Ein · Jun 7, 2017

I don't have much experience to compare to other flexible materials like latex, but the brief interactions I've had with UreCoat have been fairly impressive. I used it as a face coat on a cast flexible foam item to retain the surface detail I was after. The finished product has a nice finish and is fairly flexible. I have not tried painting with it yet, but the painting instructions seem to suggest that you can just mix coloration of your choice into the UreCoat and brush an additional layer on.

Snikt · Jun 7, 2017

Yeah the only bummer is painting it. like Ein said, you have to mix in colorant in order to tint it. I havent had enough experimentation with it, but you cant get it an opaque color as far as I have got with it. I wanted to make some gold thanos armor that had to be flexible but tough, but I couldnt get the stuff tinted right. I have tried a number of paints, even with adhesion promoter, and man. Nothing sticks to this stuff.

Zinger · Jun 7, 2017

Snikt said:
Yeah the only bummer is painting it. like Ein said, you have to mix in colorant in order to tint it. I havent had enough experimentation with it, but you cant get it an opaque color as far as I have got with it. I wanted to make some gold thanos armor that had to be flexible but tough, but I couldnt get the stuff tinted right. I have tried a number of paints, even with adhesion promoter, and man. Nothing sticks to this stuff.

Smooth-on suggests using Plasti-Kote Sandable Primer or Bulldog Adhesion Promoter on urethane plastic castings. Also, don't use a mold release if you intend to paint the part. Mold release is hard to remove and will cause any primer/paint to just bead up on the surface.

I'm going to test this on my next prop.

https://www.smooth-on.com/support/faq/141/

RockitScience · Jun 7, 2017

Thanks for the useful responses, especially on colouring - Zinger I'll be interested to see how you get on with it. Also has anyone tried really bending it and beating it up like they do in their product demo? I worry that's a little too good to be true.

Zinger · Jun 7, 2017

RockitScience said:
Thanks for the useful responses, especially on colouring - Zinger I'll be interested to see how you get on with it. Also has anyone tried really bending it and beating it up like they do in their product demo? I worry that's a little too good to be true.

I won't be using UreCoat (Smooth-on already has enough of my money for this project). I'll be using one of the primers to paint some leftover Smooth-Cast 57D. If it works for that, there's a good chance it will work with UreCoat.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Zinger · Jun 9, 2017

RockitScience said:
Zinger I'll be interested to see how you get on with it. Also has anyone tried really bending it and beating it up like they do in their product demo? I worry that's a little too good to be true.

The PlastiKote worked well. I tested it on some Smooth-Cast 57D I spilled last night. I roughed up the Smooth-Cast with 220 grit, cleaned it with isopropyl alcohol and gave it 2 coats of primer. Then I hit it with some black acrylic. The primer adhered well to the plastic and the paint bonded well with the primer.

57D is semi-rigid. I folded it almost in half a couple of times. The paint didn't crack.

PlastiKote is going to work for my application. It looks promising for yours.

Good luck.

RockitScience · Jun 10, 2017

Zinger said:
The PlastiKote worked well. I tested it on some Smooth-Cast 57D I spilled last night. I roughed up the Smooth-Cast with 220 grit, cleaned it with isopropyl alcohol and gave it 2 coats of primer. Then I hit it with some black acrylic. The primer adhered well to the plastic and the paint bonded well with the primer.

View attachment 735096 View attachment 735097 View attachment 735095

57D is semi-rigid. I folded it almost in half a couple of times. The paint didn't crack.

PlastiKote is going to work for my application. It looks promising for yours.

Good luck.

Thanks for sharing your test Zinger, it does look hopeful. Good luck with your build too.

Smooth On: UreCoat

RockitScience

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Ein

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Snikt

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Zinger

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