simonharris1

Thanks Frosty. I dont do animals normally, I am a Kinetic sculptor.  I enjoyed doing something different though so might do another bird.  You are right about the music. I have done a lot of video so am conscious of the fact that no one likes too much volume..... me especially!

Cheers

Guys, thank you so very much for your help, especially you Das!  The pictures are great and pretty well cover what I need.  Das, do you put linseed over your VHT?  I would have thought the hot sun would make short work of the Linseed?  Over where I am from we get some pretty hot summers, that's for sure. 

You seemed to like my Eagle, if you wish there is a short video of it here.  

Mate I forgot to ask you a question....   Does that VHT clearcoat darken the metal much?

4 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Nice work, beautiful sculpture!

I prefer VHT Flame Proof exhaust paint in satin clear for my sculptures. Over rust has been fine in my experience.  It has curing instructions but i have had good experience just air drying. Being outside, sunlight can really heat metal up. 

It does darken the appearance a bit. 

The hard part is getting it fully coated. I'd suggest being able to hang it different ways to get in the nooks and crannies with coats. 

Make sure the piece is Dry and Warm when spraying. A heat gun can help to prep the piece. 

I've also not had issues touching up spots later on that started rusting again because I didn't get into a crevice. 

I've used other clearcoats that just didn't hold up. I've not yet tried automotive clearcoat, but that is expensive and would need a flattening agent added if you didn't want high gloss. 

Another I have used was satin or matte clear Duplicolor engine paint in spray can. It worked well too. I just prefer the exhaust paint more. 

The name brands i mention are just the ones I have found to spray the best, dry fairly fast, and work well. Other brands may work as well. 

Hope this helps. 

Thanks very much. That's great information.  I will see if I can source that locally here in Aus.  Do you have to apply heat to set it or can a hot day in the sun set it?

Hi All, My name is Simon and I am from Western Aus.... Perth.

9 hours ago, Nodebt said:

  Hi Simon.  Are you trying to stop your sculpture rusting at a certain point in the rusting process?

  You know, pictures help! 

Sorry about that.  More information would be helpful of course.  As you can see in the image, my Sculpture is of an Australian Wedge Tail Eagle.  He is made from Mild steel than his beak which is Stainless steel.  It is all thin steel really. His "Under body " is about an 1/8 of an inch but everything covering his body, as in feathers is 1mm.  Sorry I am not good with converting metric to imperial.

He is intentionally rusted but I dont want him to rust away completely.  Too many hours of work for that!  If there is no fix for this, I guess I have to accept that he is an indoor Eagle.

Hi All,

A quick question.....   Can anyone recommend a clear coat to put on my intentionally rusted steel sculpture?   My other question is, do all clearcoats darken the steel?  I suspect they do.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Simon.