Hi guys,

Hi Dave,

Welcome to the forum.

I will take them to a paint shop to have to 2k primer filler applied and get it to a gloss finish as i don't have good enough equipment for 2k paint. Is it possible for the paint shop to get the finish i want just using 2k filler primer?

A full gloss cannot really be achieved with just a filler-primer, however for most applications it will be good enough, you can normally finish it with wet and dry sandpaper and polishing compound to a soft sheen, the release is fine of this, the mould will need a final compound polish to get it looking like glass but that will be really quick to do. If you need to get a full gloss on the pattern the it will need a colour finishing coat that is flatted and polished.

Secondly how should i prepare the foam for them? Should i coat it in a thin layer of FG tissue and resin or will it be fine bringing it to them showing foam?

The foam will definatly need a hard surface before paint is applied, to standard method it to apply a layer of 160g glass cloth then give this a light sand, then smooth the surface with car body filler and finish smooth with 120grit paper this will provide a solid base for the paint to be applied to. If you were to just paint straight to the foam it would take a huge number of coats to fill the foams porosity and you would be left with a very fragile pattern.

Paul Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical

Okay thanks for your advice Paul! 

Yes you can get the finish up on the filler primer by hand sanding, it sands really quickly and easily I woudl suggest starting with a 400 grit followed by 800 and then 1200, from here just buff over with the T10 and you should be ready to go.

Then when it comes to getting the finish up on the mould, the T10 should get you a really good glassy gloss, you could follow it with an even finer compound but it's not normally needed, this can be done by hand, a polishing machine will make it quicker, especially on larger shapes, but it's not a requirment if you're prepared to stick in a bit of elbow grease!

We often find that a pattern has the odd imperfection, rather than worrying about perfection at that stage is is often easier to do a little bit of finishing on the mould, we will often flat a mould with 1500 then 2000 grit paper before compounding this removes any fine scratches and nibs.

I look forward to seeing some pics of your project.

Paul Statham
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical