Using thinned fiberglass resin to make a hard leather grain on interior panels - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

speedo · 01-06-2010, 01:40 AM

A long time ago I was watching an episode of "American hotrod" (The boyd coddington show RIP) I don't remember what episode. But in the episode they thinned some mixed fiberglass resin and sprayed a thin coat over a smooth gel-coated fiberglass dash panel and then wrapped the dash with a leather looking vinyl backwards, so the leather grain print was face down in the fiberglass resin. After the resin cured they pulled the vinyl/leather off and it left a perfect factory leather looking imprint on the dash. They sprayed it with a Tan/Khaki colored single stage urethane with a flattening additive for a hard satin finish. It looked perfect. Just like the hard plastic interior trim.

It was real interesting and creative.. Something Ive wanted to try for a wile now. After a few attempts Im out of ideas on how to thin down fiberglass resin and keep its harding property's. Does anyone know of a fiberglass resin thinner?

here is what I have already used that has failed.

Lacquer thinner:
Thinned the resin, Sprayed milky white & never hardened.
MEK (methyl ethyl ketone):
same as the lacquer thinner.
Mineral spirits: Would not mix. The mineral spirits floated on top like oil and water.
Urethane reducer (nason med):
Turned the resin in to jello and took 24hrs to harden. could not be sprayed.

Anyone know anything about this process? Or how to thin fiberglass resin so it can be sprayed from a cheap Harbor freight 1.5 gravity spray gun.

And do you think I could do this process and use urethane 2K clear rather then fiberglass?

Thanks for your time!

aarivers · 01-07-2010, 04:13 PM

If I were in your shoes I would just call up a resin supplier and speak with one of the support agents. i would think they would be able to direct you to a solution.

I did a quick Google search, but not knowing what type of resin your using I wasn't able to come up with a thinner other than the ones you have tried.

The issue i would think with using 2K clear would be removing the vinyl, you would need to coat it with some type or release agent (I would think you need this for the resin also) the wouldn't react against the clear.

Is there a reason you don't think you could brush the resin on and then lay the vinyl over it? Is it curing too fast to do that?