I'm curious what people like to go with for a release agent for plugs. I personally like to go with a semi perm release agent on everything (plugs and molds) whenever possible just because it is so easy for demold if it can be used. 

Depends what the plug is made from as to what release I use, but for something painted in 2k, I'd put down a few coats of easy lease semi perm and then a coat of wax to bring the gloss back.

Do all semi perm release agents leave a matte finish just on their own? I can't find a chemical release agent locally here that leaves a high gloss finish, but is that because you need to wax afterwards to bring that back? Or is that just easi-lease? 

I also put wax over semi perm release as normal for me.

On some recent plugs with temp flanges the gaps were filled with plasticine and waxed over carefully to clean up. Works every time.

Hi Guys, I need some help here.

In your videos you mention that a chemical release agent wasused before the waxing of the bonnet. 

Last week we did our fist plug with our sample bonnet.Unfortunately the bonnet was stuck to the plug. After a long battle with thebonnet and plug we eventually managed to pull it free.

Unfortunately the bonnet is damaged – oops!

My question is this – Even though we tried several layers ofwax, this didn’t help much. I also tried to find a local chemical release agentbut had no luck.

Will a Silicon release agent we acceptable?  We are planning resin infusion and I am justworried this might transfer with the plug.

Was the surface preparation good enough, on the stuck areas ? (tipycally sanded over 800 or 1000 grain up to 2000  / polished / shine buffed )

Wax is not like an impenetrable barrier for moulding. If the pattern coatings are not suitable or not fully cured then it will try to stick to your resin system when applied regardless of the number of wax coats.




Basically the pattern surface coating/paint needs to be a fully cured and non porous surface.

Composite shops will often use the semipermanent release systems sealer and release which is enough on it's own. You can then also wax too.

The only problem with the semipermanent release is the cost for a backyarder or one off project. The sealer system is usually pretty expensive.




If you have any experience with shellac this will also make a good pattern coating and can work with just wax on top.