Using a new forumal on seams

[GoldCylon]

A few of my prop building buddies have told me a little bit about gelcoat. Most they have told me they used gelcoat in their projects. I really had no idea how it work, or really what it was. When I was at the local Tap Plastic last week picking up a couple of supplies I saw a few cans of gelcoat. I thought I would pick some up, and give it a try out. First off the thing that grab me was the price. It runs the same price for a 8 oz can of gelcoat, and it does for a 1 gallon can of fiber glass by Bondo. So to say the least it isn't cheap, but yes I know if I shop around I can buy larger amounts at a much lower price per oz than what I just paid for this. Anyway it was a trail sample can so cost wasn't the point at the time. Well after getting home and opening the can I see a thick gray milky like substance in the can. I thought I would try it out to repair a damaged Cylon piece. I wasn't really to sure about it at first after mixing it with the harder. It wasn't easy to work with, and it was very sticky, but I did what I needed to do, and then took note it stayed were I placed it. It really didn't run it just puddled in the area I put it. I was able to us some tongue depressors to shape and form it. It was cool to work with that is wasn't like Bondo that was like a thick red clay that you had a limited time to work with before it locked up, and it didn't run like fiberglass all over the place, and took forever to harden before you could work on it. This new stuff gelcoat was a perfect in the middle cross over of Bondo, and fiberglass. I was liken this stuff right from the get go. I let it dry, and that only took about 1 hour to do that. Much faster than fiberglass, but it had plenty of work time unlike Bondo. Here was the next test how was it to bend, shape, and sand. The surface of the gelcoat had a tacky touch still, but not too bad. I applied the 100 grit sandpaper and BAM!!!! it took to form in a arched curved shape I needed it to be in less than 1 minute. I was in shock that it sanded down into the perfect form I needed so quickly unlike fiberglass that would have taken 10 minutes to achieve the same thing. I was able to move up the ladder with the different grits 220, 330, 400, 600, 800, and 1000 grit sand paper in less than 5 minutes total. I was in awe that something I thought might take longer to dry, as hard as fiberglass to take down I had finished in less than 2 hours start to finish, less clean, less dust from sanding, and much more friendly to wet sanding. Sure the price is much more, and I am not sure about how it holds up over time. Like fiberglass over a period of time will pull away from just about everything it is attached to. So far I am loving this new stuff, and lets see how it chromes up.

[sean]

I've heard of this stuff before.but for the life of me I can't remember were or for what purpose.thanks for the info always looking for new materials.