Fibreglass Armour Backing

[CountCunning]

Hi all,

 

I've been waiting for the summer heat to ease up a bit before backing my Jimmi kit with something to prevent itching caused by loose fibreglass fibres. I'm most likely going to be using vinylester resin, but in my search for Canadian vendors I've discovered that something called Gelcoat that appears to have been designed to top coat fibreglass. I was wondering if anyone has any experience in using it, and whether it would be better to use it over vinylester resin. Additionally, I noticed that the vendor I'm intending to purchase from sells a Gelcoat applicator gun, so I'm wondering if I'd need that to apply Gelcoat or if I could get away with using cheap paintbrushes as my applicators.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Jim uses a flexible fiberglass not a rigid fiberglass so any coating you apply on the insides needs to also flex, most resins do not. Personally my Sithtrooper from Jim has some fibers inside but I sanded and coated in black spray paint and it's been fine for me.

 

For just sealing the surface on the inside you could use something like a truck bed spray similar to what some have been using in their helmets 

A few options

Rustoleum knock-off of FlexSeal

Plasti-Dip

Truck bed liner spary

Dupli-Color rubberized undercoating

[BigJasoni[TK]]

On 7/24/2022 at 9:49 PM, CountCunning said:

Hi all,

 

I've been waiting for the summer heat to ease up a bit before backing my Jimmi kit with something to prevent itching caused by loose fibreglass fibres..

Daniel,

Thanks for posting. I’m always excited to see ROTKs coming together. By selecting the Jimmiroquai kit, you’ve already done yourself some favors, but those fibers are a bit of a nuisance. When I first got mine, I immediately dug out the shin armor to try them on and was instantly reminded off how bad fiberglass can be. 

With that said, I found that Jim’s material is very forgiving once it’s washed, dried, and sprayed with primer. A lot of the builders here have experimented with different “top dressings” but when I began experimenting myself, I found negligible differences between bed liner, rubber coating, and filler primer. Honestly, the kit I currently have has a layer of sandable filler primer, as well as a layer of primer sealer on the backside and it almost has the same feel as the flex seal my friend used, and the bedliner I have in my helmet. Once I spray a layer of paint on it, I’m confident the fibers will be a thing of the past; even now, the itchy feel it has straight out of the box is completely gone.

Which ever path you choose, I would advise you to avoid trying to sand the interior. This only seems to further exasperate the issue and draw more fibers to the surface. 
 

Please reach out with any questions and I look forward to seeing this build take shape.