Hi All;

Perhaps I don't have the technique down as yet, but my initial reaction to seats carved from Minicell foam is "OK, but there must be a better alternative." At this moment my feeling is that a seat carved from Minicell is standoff acceptable. That is to say, I don't believe they measure up to the quality of the strippers we are building, but look OK from a distance. They are probably comfortable as heck, but my first impression is that they don't look particularly finished, and will probably deteriorate further rather quickly.

Suffice to say I obtained my foam from one of our favorite designer/builders on this bbs, and I'm sure it's near the zenith of what's available. It carved excellently, and looks pretty darn good at standard picture taking distance. You can see the first stages of a "Greenley-styled" seat begun with this foam in the pic at the bottom.

My concern is the fact that producing a nice surface finish on the carved areas seems near impossible. Further, the surface seems very susceptible to damage. Paraphrasing Vaclav from his website, "Stick with the factory produced surfaces only, you'll never make anything as nice." At this time I tend to agree that the factory produced surface "crust" is not duplicable.

The problems I note are that sandpaper, used slowly by hand, will inexplicably tear the surface and generate new flaws as I am slowly correcting old tears. I prepare the sandpaper by working it for 20 minutes or so to make it like a piece of soft cloth. If I do not, the stiff edges will slice the Minicell mercilessly, requiring major resanding. I then sand in only one direction, because if I were to sand back and forth, the foam balls and produces deep holes. After working an area to reasonable smoothness, a pull of the paper will suddenly produce a series of gouges that set me back 2 sanding stages. Exasperating to say the least!

My feeling is a button on a swimsuit (or even a seam) could produce lots of tears & craters in the foam and make it rather ugly(er) in a single outing. In recent weeks and months we've sparingly discussed contact cementing cloth to the foam, or the use of a rubberized seal to Minicell to give it a sturdier surface. Today I investigated the availability of the rubber tool grip dip in spray form as had been reported earlier, and could not find it. In its standard form, it seems too viscous to apply with a brush or roller in a controlled fashion. There is a vinyl spray that produces a flexible skin, and I have a sample piece of Minicell in the garage sprayed with several coats & drying at the moment. Lastly are the elasomeric roof paints that dry to a rubbery suface, and are recommended for application over foam (and are sun-proof as well).

Any comments, recommendations, experiences, etc. are truly appreciated. I will fully report on any tests I do (such as the flexible vinyl spray), and encourage any and all thoughts.

Best Regards, Spidey