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-----Painting ABS
I have a Kyosho sailboat with an ABS hull that I would like to paint. What kind of paint is water-proof and will adhere to ABS? What is the process for painting ABS. I have searched the internet and talked to modellers for answers, but to no avail. Please help.
LeRoy Oddie- Takoma Park, Maryland
Hi LeRoy!
Firstly, my background was in the 'heavy' side of plastics where we never, EVER painted them as they were for Go and not for Show!
ABS has a solvent called methyl ethyl ketone ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] ... which is not nearly as powerful as the solvent for PVC. acetone ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] Flammable! should attack it. Ah, why not use a solvent based lacquer paint? This should bond ... however to get a really good bond, please clean the surface and sand down slightly. Go try you wife's or your mother's nail polish first of all to see if it will give a good bite into your hull as they are acetone based, I believe.
Happy sailing!
Freeman Newton [deceased]
(It is our sad duty to advise that Freeman passed away
April 21, 2012. R.I.P. old friend).
Dear Mr. Oddie,
Painting or plating of A/CRYLENE B/UTADIENE S/TYRENE need adhesion. Best way to get this adhesion is etching ABS. Best way to etching ABSis using[400g/l H2SO4 +400 g/lCHROIC acid]. Best kind of paint to the same is epoxy based paint.
Thanks and best regards,
Raafat Albendary- Cairo, Egypt
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