Went to a con in Charlotte and a vendor told me my $35 armor paint job looked store bought, then showed me the $3 secret

Robert Smith · 2026-10-16T07:25:06.411575+00:00

I was at the Carolina Fear Fest back in May and this guy at a bootleg prop table looks at my Mandalorian chest piece and asks what I paid for the paint. I told him about $35 for the whole kit and he kind of laughs and pulls out a quart of clear matte floor finish from a hardware store that cost him $11. He said he mixes it 50/50 with cheap acrylic craft paint you get for $1 a bottle, and the finish hides brush marks way better than the $9 cans of model spray at the hobby shop. I tried it on a scrap piece of EVA foam two weeks later and honestly it dried smoother than the stuff I was buying. Just make sure you do it outside because the fumes are no joke. Anyone else tried thinning craft paint with floor sealer or is that just a local thing?

Librear

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Went to a con in Charlotte and a vendor told me my $35 armor paint job looked store bought, then showed me the $3 secret | Budget Cosplay Builds - Librear