I am making a replica of an antique motion picture camera as a stage prop. It won't get handled on stage, but it will be used year after year. I don't want it to get banged up, but it can't weigh too much. Would All Purpose Foam Coat with Bounce be my best bet?

Normally to get a really rubbery coating you add just a little All Purpose Foam Coat to the Bounce to give the Bounce body, but in your project I think you should mix the 10-20% Bounce with 90-80% water and go heavy on the Foam Coat. This will make it chip resistant, but not too rubbery. This won't be sandable once it dries, but you can smooth it by tapping on the camera prop while the Foam Coat is liquidy, to make it smooth out. You can further smooth it as it dries.

Hi there, I'm planning on creating a 5-foot tall foam stake for a Halloween costume (witch burning at the stake). I'll be wearing the stake, and it will be tied with rope to me. I'm worried the rope will fray and beat up the foam, so I want to coat it. I will be carving details (like knots and lines) into the foam to make it look like wood. I also need it to be light, as I'll be wearing it all night. I've purchased your foam coat kit, so I have most of them, but I'm really not sure which will give me the right effect. I don't want it to go on so thick that it fills all the grooves, and I don't want it to go on rough so that the foam doesn't look like wood. Can you help me determine what foam coat to use? Thank you! Susan

Hi Susan,

Most Cosplay people are using mostly Bounce and adding All Purpose Foam Coat to thicken it. I'd use 90-95% Bounce to 5-10% Foam Coat. This will be fairly light and strong. My wife made a large 'wooden' shield using this formula. It's not rock solid but it's held up through a few trade shows. Anywhere the rope will be touching the foam prop you should wrap with Mesh. You might have to use a thicker mix (higher percentage of Foam Coat to Bounce) where you cover the Mesh so it doesn't show through the coating.

The other option is to use Styroplast, our plastic coating. This is used for props and backdrops in amusement parks where they will get a lot of abuse. Check out the Durability Test video that one of our customers made!

Outrageous idea for a costume. You've got to send us pictures of the build and finished piece!

We need to make soft rocks to use as stage props. We are creating a landslide for a motion picture, and don't want our stunt people to get bruised up.

Bounce and All Purpose Foam Coat will give you a fairly soft yet durable and rocky looking coating. We usually mix small amounts of All Purpose Foam Coat into the Bounce until we get it just pasty enough to not run off vertical surfaces when applied. It's best to have one person pour it onto the prop while a second person spreads it with a big stucco brush. You can't sand it once it dries, so you have to get the look you want while it is setting up.  

A second choice is Styroplast, which dries into a soft plastic. In the Styroplast Follow Up Review near the bottom of our Video Tutorial page you will find a method of making Styroplast look like rock:
http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/customer/video/video.htm

For a 50/50 mix of Bounce to All Purpose Foam Coat, how much of each will I need?

Good morning, i had a question in regards to Bounce. Can i use Bounce on the pink insulation foam or would that require a different product?

When using bounce with apfc, can I add acrylic paint to tint the mixture, or do I have to wait until it is cured to paint it?

I have not found a real strong need for this product in my applications. It does offer another option that maybe you will find a need for it. Apply it by itself in a thick enough coat. It will make your foam items bounce. In all with it either by it self or applied with the addition of foam coat to toughen it up. You can give your products the feel of rubber on the outer surface. Again I have not used it in this manner. But if applied to a foam rubber. It could make some cool rubber boulders. Maybe for the use as theatrical props that will be dumped onto actors.

This product has turned out to be one of my favorites from this company! I build custom portable indoor/outdoor pond/pond-less waterfalls. No part takes more than 2 people to carry. This means that parts will sit on top of each other and need to have a seamless look. With this product I have found it allows my seams to give a little which resulted in them maintaining the tight fit and I have no more chipping. It gives me more confidence in my finished products and their ability to remain stable and beautiful!

We've used Hot Wire Foam Factory Bounce on a few of our builds now and the results have been fantastic. We specialize in large scale cosplay builds and the biggest problem we encounter is things getting bumped into and damaged. Mixing Bounce with a little bit of the All Purpose Foam Coat creates a great durable shell on our Styrofoam and XPS props while still keeping them lightweight enough to be held by arm extensions or carried all day and tough enough to survive repeated convention use. It is easy to use and takes very well to painting and weathering effects. We highly recommend Bounce to anyone wanting to build props from XPS or Styrofoam.

I'm very new to cosplay. I'm still trying to find my footing with all the different products and methods there are out there to create things. I also live in a condo, and have neighbors on both sides of me. This kind of limits both space, and the ability to use certain types of products. Mainly things with fumes, or things that are very messy to spray or clean up.
I found out about Bounce Rubberizer from my cosplay hero Evil Ted Smith. I was looking for a way to seal my armor build without having to buy a bunch of plasti-dip. Not to sound cheap, but for what I was doing, that would definitely add up. Bounce seemed like a good fit.
All I can say is...I love this stuff! Seriously, for the stuff I like to try to build (mechs/armor) it's amazing. It has NO smell, I can brush it on, and the fact that it basically self levels after you brush it on....kind of blew my mind.
Unless you really gob it on and leave drips, it always seems to dry smooth and flexible. I went with the "several thin coats" method, and it worked out really well. It also dries fast (like 30 minutes for me) making multiple coats feasible. It also plays well with acrylic paints. I used several different brands, and it all went on buttery smooth. I also randomly discovered it makes seaming foam with Barge Rubber Cement way easier, at least for me, and really appreciate the fact that it cleans up with soap and water.
I absolutely recommend this product! It's now an official staple in my build arsenal. I do recommend wiping the threading around the opening of your bottle and the cap though. Otherwise, it may rubberize itself shut. I did this once.....after that I wiped it with a damp paper towel after every use.

Cool product. Unfortunately-(if I am understanding the tech data correctly)- this product is not recommended for the Exterior Foam Coat, which is what we really needed it for. But overall it does what it says its supposed to do in the correct application.

Love this. No fumes, easy clean up. Great final surface. I highly recommend this.