Projects: From London Cafés to The Big Screen. Epoxy in the Entertainment Industry
Tucked away on the outskirts of Winchester, the most wild and wonderful creations are coming to life thanks to CNC Polystyrene.
“We work for pretty much every corner of the entertainment industry,” says Nick Pearce-Everd – Manager at CNC Polystyrene. “We’ve made items for TV, films, media, retail stores and for sculptors and artists.”
The company’s been building its business for over twenty years and using WEST SYSTEM® epoxy as a hard coat to finish off many of its products.
“Sometimes people want a shiny item inside,” Nick says, “to really draw attention to the work. That’s when we use WEST SYSTEM epoxy, to finish off an item so it gleams. If it’s going outside, we use epoxy and glass fibre, to add strength and protection from the elements.”
He lists a series of projects which have been epoxy-coated, including a Spitfire with a 5m wingspan that hangs in a London café, two glittering dogs for the Dogs Trust Awards, a helmet, an oversize rugby ball, giant letters and even the sofa on Blue Peter.
Currently CNC Polystyrene is using WEST SYSTEM 105 epoxy resin and 205 Fast Hardener.
Nick says the designs are milled out of polystyrene with a high end 5 axis CNC Milling machine – but there’s no waste.
“We recycle 100% of our material,” he explains. “All our waste material is mulched into ingots, palletised and later converted into picture frames or insulation to name but a few applications. This is possible because we have no mixed materials in the polystyrene.” The company, he explains, uses best quality Virgin bead and fire-retardant polystyrene.
Although CNC Polystyrene can craft bespoke items from a huge range of materials including wood, perspex, plastics, acrylics, lightweight metals and composites, polystyrene can be cut into almost any object or shape imaginable. Nick says it’s by far one of the best and flexible materials you can use as it’s diverse, lightweight, durable and has great structural properties.
And when it’s coupled with a brilliant WEST SYSTEM epoxy finish, it’s beautiful too.
You can find out more about CNC Polystyrene and their wonderful work over on their website here.