[W3B D3V1L]

TL,DR; I need a UV & weather protection solution for plywood painted with acrylics that will not alter the color of the paint.

Hello my fellow haunters...I need your help and expertise. My wife and I have a Haunted Mansion theme this year and we were inspired by this other hitchhiking ghosts thread. So we've taken the time to paint the ghosts in acrylic and now we want to seal the plywood and paint from the elements and fading since we'll be displaying them outside, uncovered...it was a lot of work and we don't want to have to do them over each year. Below is a (crappy) pic of them.



I started with Epifanes Varnish because I heard it was the best for UV and weather protection, but not having used varnish before, I didn't realize it would turn out to be yellowish in color. Fortunately, I was starting with the white back so not really much harm done, but after two coats they are noticeably yellow so I can't do that to the front. So after my momentary freak out this morning, I started looking for an alternate solution.

Here's what I've found so far:

• Krylon makes a spray on UV protector, so I'm thinking maybe I can seal them with something that dries colorless, like a polycrylic, and then spray them with the UV protector
• Seal them with a some type of colorless sealer and then buy UV film, like you put on windows, and apply that over the sealer
• Other Options???

Any help or experience is greatly appreciated!

 

[Jenn&MattFromPA]

My DH isn't home right now, but I know he uses a different variety of products to help protect surfaces on his boat. So, don't forget that marine products often work really well for this kind of thing.

For example, this marine product says it's good for painted surfaces too - http://www.starbrite.com/item/boat-guard-speed-detailer-protectant

Your hitchhikers look great, by the way!

 

[W3B D3V1L]

Thanks Jenn & Matt...sorry for the slow reply. I read this and totally forgot to reply...because we went to Disney World, so I had good reason. ;-)

So where we ended up is we kept sealing the back, then we used a urethane to seal the edges as well. We Used the UV spray protector on the front, but we decided acrylic should be waterproof enough so we'll see how it goes. We finishing up the last coats for sealer now so I think we'll have them outside tomorrow for all to see.