What can I do to make my casts more opaque?

[BigguyZ]

I did a cast for a special project/ idea that I had, and after I glued everything up, I could see right through the blank! I used about a half bottle of testors acrylic paint to 8 oz of PR.

On one blank, I painted it black with Testors Model Master paint, and another was an old bottle of testors white paint. Both paints didn't cover too well, and the black must have still been wet inside, because that blank blew up and the paint was wet on the tube.

I want to try again with my idea (I think it's pretty cool...), but I would like to get the PR to be more solid. I recently bought some blue pearlex powder and it seems pretty solid in (though I haven't turned it yet or anything). But I want a red color. However, I didn't see that color/ shade when I went to the craft store.

Any suggestions? I like the bright red color I got with the blank backpainted white, but the paint still allowed me to see the glue bubbles through the PR...

Thanks!
Travis

 

[PTownSubbie]

I have a local place that I purchase PR from and they have what is labeled as Polyester Pigment. The stuff is very solid and mixes like a dream.

If you can't find any, I may be able to buy and ship to you but the shipping may make it cost prohibitive.

 

[RHunter]

Travis,

This may sound like an insulting question, but did you let the paint dry in the blanks before you glued in the tubes?

I use Testor's all the time, and I let it dry overnight- not to be sure its dry, but mainly I only get shop time between the time the kids go to bed and I drop from exhaustion...

Also, I use Testor's Enamel, not Acrylic. Which are you using, I can't remember if the Master's is water based or not....

Just dip a Q-Tip into the little bottle and paint the inside of the blank- let sit over night, then glue up...

I cast using Silmar 41 and have used PearlEx, HF Powder Coating, and Testor's Enamel to color/tint the resin and haven't had any problems with the resin not curing.

-Doug

 

[bitshird]

I use epoxy to both color my tubes and blanks, and glue the tubes in, I get my Polyester resin dyes from US Composites, and use either the white or black mixed very sparingly with 5 minute epoxy. First I coat the inside of the blanks, then smear some on the tubes and insert them while twisting, also they have a wide range of colors, in both opaque and transparent, the transparent colors work great with pearl Ex, and in an hour or so I'm ready to turn.

 

[BigguyZ]

I thought I let the paint dry on the black-painted blank, but like I said, it was wet when it blew apart. I had let it sit for a day, but the temp in the shop must not be condusive to the paint curing...

I plan on taking a second stab at the project this week, so hopefully it'll come out better.

Though I'm still interested in what I could use to get a bright red color to the PR.

 

[Glass Scratcher]

For those of us old confused guys...

Are you:
A) adding the Testors to the resin as pigment?
or
B) painting your tubes with the paint?

 

[BigguyZ]

I'm adding Testors as a pigment, and using it to paint the insides of the blanks (Not the tubes).

 

[workinforwood]

I would spray paint the tubes and let them sit overnight and then glue them in with tinted 5 min epoxy. To make the blank a more solid color, add more paint. half a bottle of testors in 8 ounces of liquid is quite diluted. This is why testors is junk. It's not the product, it's the price. I just buy a whole quart of enamel oil paint. I hold the cup over the open can and using a Popsicle stick I dip into the paint and wipe it into the side of the cup. For 8 ouces I'd fill that stick and wipe into the cup about 5 times. That's probably as much or a bit more than an entire bottle of testors..and the testors is 1.50 a bottle, but you can buy a whole quart of oil based paint as low as $7 if you shop around! Pearlex looks solid, but as you just found out, looks are deceiving! Pearlex is far from solid. If I was using Pearlex, I would have gone with half as much paint and then added the pearlex. Paint will neutralize the pearl effect, so you have to reduce the paint quantity and increase the pearl to balance it out while keeping some solidity.