We assembled the nose cones with screws and PB Bond 240 - a one part glue ( formulated for HDU) from Coastal Enterprises. It is activated with a spritz of water and tends to expand some as it cures. As a result, we have to do a little cleanup and shaping with a die grinder before covering the nose cones with some sculpting epoxy (to add some detail).

The finished sculpt on the nose cones (as well as the hand crafted cables around the balloon) give the balloon a hand made look — matching the gondola underneath.

Once the epoxy sculpting medium had cured to was time to apply a coat of FSC-88 WB primer. This primer is heavy bodies water base primer from Coastal Enterprises. (We call it “marshmallow paint” in our shop.) We applied it by hand with a small brush to introduce a little more texture over the entire surface.

Once the primer had cured it was time to start in on some colour. As usual, we used acrylic paints. The metallics are from Modern Masters and look great - even on the first coat. Everything will get a second cot and before we start on the glazes to add depth and some aging.