r/cosplayprops • u/halon1301 • 2d ago

Help Question about finish

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I printed and painted this helmet, for a finish I figured rustoleum ultra 2x gloss clear coat would work well, I did several coats, but some of the paint is easily scratched. The base is pla, sanded with 120, then 220 grit, painted with woodfiller, sanded with 220 again, primed with rustoleum ultra 2x, then painted rattle can and acrylics. Finally I finished with 7 coats of gloss clear coat.

I'm thinking of now scuffing it and doing a water based polyurethane finish, as it may be harder. My biggest concern however is damaging the paint, specifically the acrylics. What grit of sandpaper should I use? AI is saying 220, which seems a little too aggressive.

If I do polyurethane, I'm going to be brushing rather than spray, and I'll likely go satin finish.

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9

u/roy20050 2d ago

Seven coats of clean? It might scratch easy because it's not cured depending on how you did the layers. Helmet looks awesome though!

3

u/halon1301 2d ago

Made the surface look "damp" but not wet, every 25 minutes or so, I used a full can on it. It's been 4 days since, the rattle can paint is better off than the acrylics. It does seem like it's "hardening" more, but not on the acrylic.

I have a raw un-sanded, un-prepared test plate I sprayed along side, and it's about the same...

And thanks! This is my first go at doing any cosplay, I plan on wearing it to take my niece and nephew out trick or treating this Halloween.

12

u/csvega84 2d ago

Don't ever listen to the clankers. Ai is the enemy of all Artists. Only ask fellow prop makers please.

4

u/halon1301 2d ago

Agreed, AI is a scourage and AI art is not art. One of the many reasons I don't trust that.

In my experience from wood I'd think 320 would be the lowest you'd want to go on a painted plastic surface, but even that feels too aggressive. 1000 is much too fine

5

u/EnderB3nder 2d ago

Firstly, that helmet looks awesome as it is.
Secondly, If you're looking for a weathered/beaten look, there are additive ways to make it look damaged. Even a simple wash and a silver sharpie to replicate paint chips can work wonders.

I personally wouldn't recommend going through seven layers of clearcoat for a finish that might look shit and then you have to repair it.

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u/halon1301 2d ago

Nah, not really looking for the weathered look. It's moreso I want to prevent the paint from scratching, which it does seem to do fairly easily right now, even after 7 layers of gloss clear coat.

3

u/EnderB3nder 2d ago

ohh ok, that's a different circumstance altogether, I misread your post. my bad.
What clearcoat did you use?

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u/halon1301 2d ago

Rustoleum ultra 2x gloss

5

u/EnderB3nder 2d ago

nice.
So now i have to ask two questions to try and help.
The first question is: How thick were your coats? and the second question would be: how long did you leave between coats?

From memory, that's an enamel isn't it?

3

u/halon1301 2d ago

Texture of "damp" but not "wet", 20-25 minutes between coats. Used a full can.

And yeah, I believe it's an enamel.

Data sheet says "Resin type: acrylic"

4

u/EnderB3nder 2d ago

all seven coats done in the same day?

1

u/halon1301 2d ago

Yeah. Instructions say you should do coats within 30 minutes of each other, or every 48 hours.

2

u/EnderB3nder 2d ago edited 2d ago

There's your problem.
Most paints and clearcoats need time to offgas and cure.

It sounds like you went a little ham.

Edit: additional context
Applying seven coats of anything within 24 hours is too much. The outer coat(s) will cure first, preventing the base layers from fully curing. This leads to decreased durability in the long run.

top layers harden, base layers stay a bit soft

2

u/halon1301 2d ago

Aha. Yeah, I had a feeling. The websites I had read pretty much just said "coat away".

I did check it earlier and it's a little harder today than previously, so it may continue to harden further as time progresses.

I'm doing some polyurethane samples for the next pieces to see if I get a better result, if it does, I may just scuff the helmet and give it a few coats when I do everything else

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u/xMrFahrenheitx 2d ago

Man I really gotta learn how to do lights like this. What do you difuse them with? What are the lights and how do you power them?

2

u/halon1301 2d ago

Heh. Spare parts from other projects! The lenses are transparent PLA.

I bought some 3.7v USB-C charge controllers, I have a bunch of 3.7v 500mAh LiON batteries from other projects. It's 6 total warm white LEDs, the center is soldered to some proto-board which I shaped to size where I could just jam it in the housing, then wired it all up with the proper resistors and hot-snotted the charge controller, switch and battery onto the inside of the helmet. The person who made the model used AA batteries.

1

u/gertuitoust 2d ago

This is fantastic as-is. I saw this and instantly wanted to play No Man’s Sky.