Fiberglass resin - amber tint

[babyblues]

I have some fiberglass resin that is tinted. Two questions: 1) How does that affect colors if you're mixing in pigments? Don't want to have to buy more if I can use this stuff for now. 2) How long is resin useful? Is the age of the resin as much of an issue as the age of the catalyst? I bought it about a year ago. I never ended up using it for the project I bought it for and just found it again the other day. I can get some newer catalyst so I was wondering if the older resin would be a problem. Obviously it won't work for clear casting (duh!) but I wanted to try to use it for some homebrew colors.

 

[JohnU]

I dont know about the age. Ive read where others say it gets thick and eventually sets up without catalyst. As for the amber tint, that would work well with casting things like oatmeal, rice, birdseed, etc. since you would tint and paint tubes anyhow. I would take a little bit in a cut and add some tint to see what you get before making a large amount. Dark colors would probably be ok, but if your making yellow or white, it might be a problem. I use artist oil paint for most of my bright colors, and mica pearl x for the tints. Good Luck!

 

[redfishsc]

So long as it's a liquid, it should set up just fine. Be sure to mix it well, however.

I've considered using it (a bit cheaper in my area than clear PR) for casting gold-colored blanks, seems like it should work well.

Should also be good for casting worthless-wood type things with some dark colorant in it.

 

[stevers]

When I first started casting, I bought some Bondo brand fiber glass resin and tried mixing it up. What I found is it never really set up completely. It stayed almost rubbery. I tossed it out after a couple weeks. By then I had picked up some Silmar 41. I think it had to do with the fact that it was meant to be used as a "lay up" resin, not a casting resin. Silmar 41 is made specifically for "casting". Which means it can be cast and cured in thick applications. Lay up resin is only meant to be applied in thin layers, 1/4" or so at a time.
I don't know what you have, but play with it before you sacrifice any colorant or WW.
Good luck and have fun casting.

 

[bananajeep]

I actually have a can of FG resin for a boat repair project than never happened that I use for my dark colors Black and Blues etc. I have also used the resin with some of the lighter colors. The resin adds kind of an amber look to them. Almost an antique look. I did one with the resin no color with white made from the clear cast stuff and white pigment and it gave some nice subtle white streaks in the resin. Looked good IMO.

I figure its better than letting the stuff go bad or worse . . . Throwing it away!!!

Mike

 

[BullDurham]

Just depens on how old it! Ever thing has a shelf life, try it in a small batch and see what it does. Just may have to adjust tha amount of catalyst you use in it. Hope this helps some.

Mike