Tradgedy has struck....

I am afraid that during a recent application of Bondo outdoors, Boba has taken a tumble. A gust of wind pushed him over the edge of the surface I was working on and he fell cheek first into my deck. I hate winter in the Northeast, and now, it's personal! In any event, here is his current state; I will attempt to revive and repair him. Oh yes, we can rebuild him!!!!

Eric

oh wow that is a bad looking break. Hope you can repair him

What is your lid made out of?
Thats a bad crack! I'm sure he can be mended though

Oh my! That is pretty bad. Sorry to hear about this. But was it backed up with anything like fiberglass on the inside or is it just cardstock and bondo? Seeing as you made this really nice, I think you can repair it well too.

its a bad break, but!!! what goes in your favour is that the visor area is not trimmed out yet, so! You can probably patch it up and then fibreglass the inside for strength, dont give up yet!!

From one Eric to another... my sympathies!
Good luck with the repairs.

Yeeouch!

Get too it mate! You can fix him and inspire us all!

Best of luck with it!!!

Dave

When I opened the thread, the first thing to pop into my mind was "I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced." Good luck on the repair!

Ouch! I hope you can fix it!

I had a fall during my helmet build but it was nothing so bad as this! I just had hair line cracks around the cheeks where i had bondo seems those cracks were a pin the whole build!!! i bondoed them like 4 time then the fall happened just before the final coat of paint!!! my heart goes out to you man. I to am courious as to what your bucket is made from.

Thanks for the support gang! It is made from Sintra, 2mm. I had not reinforced the inside of the lid yet. I was actually waiting for that step until I was comfortable with the outside. Man, in retrospect, it should have been done a lot sooner. For that I had purchased Elmer's fiberglass resin and cloth, but it has been sitting on my bench since I bought it in September. So, that will be the plan, once the outer damage is worked out. I have begun some repairs, I will of course send the photos into this thread tomorrow. Man, after he fell, I think I was just numb afterwards, speechless and not really sure what to do! I will keep it together though and make him whole again!!

E

So it's sintra? Try super glue, that stuff holds sintra together better than I've ever seen anything before. Also, be sure to glass the inside though, super glue alone won't make it bulletproof.

Good luck on the fix

Wow, that does look bad! I hope you can fix it up real nice!

ahw man, that is a painfull sight... the only positive I can find about this... is that it fell nefore you painted it... that would have been an ever bigger waste of energy... I know... it's not exactly something that should cheer you up...

I hope you can repair it!!

Coming back to this I am confident you can repair it, its going to take a lot of work but once done you will be glad you saved it I am sure

Brother, it must be very mad at you, good luck on the mend

Okay, here we go.... I started at 7 am this morning and got cracking. Last night I had used Super Glue to reconnect the cracked pieces to start. I let those areas set overnight and this morning began working with Epoxy putty to reinforce the cracks from the inside of the cheek area. I also had to add some in a couple of other spots because after I pieced things back together, I noticed that some chunks of Bondo had popped out. So, pieces have come together okay, not great. I had hoped for better, but they just would not fit back together well in some spots. So, some areas are raised or stick out a little. THis should be okay, some sanding and filler should bring things back in line. This afternoon I will hopefully have the time to apply the fiberglass resin and some fabric to the inner pieces so that the entire lid is solidly reinforced. I was really hoping to bring a primed version of Boba to Thanksgiving to share with my nephews, they are really excited about seeing it; this "setback" could not have come at a worse time!! I would have tried with the Aves Fixit that was suggested, but I do not have time right now to order it and wait, etc. If my fixes do not work then I may look into it then, but I will keep my fingers crossed that it does!

E

Brother, this is getting pretty good! Good luck



Irmão, isso está ficando muito bom! Boa sorte

Excellent, I am glad to see you are giving this ago and its looking very very promising!!

Originally Posted by kebh020727

Okay, here we go.... I started at 7 am this morning and got cracking.

E

Don't you mean "uncracking?"

Sorry... I know.... I just couldn't help but say it.

Looks like it's going back together really well. With a little TLC I believe you can get it back good as new. Good luck on the rest of the work.

T

I have worked most of the day on my lid and I think I may have recovered. I still need to add the fiberglass to the inside, but in terms of repairing damage, I may have succeeded. I have a couple of spots now that need some Bondo touch up, but the Epoxy putty seems to have worked well. It is a bear to sand, but I am happy to see that things are smoothing out really nicely. You can see the cracks still, but once it is primed, that will be the true test of wether I have ben really successful.

I can't thank everyone enough for all the support and great advice. You're all a great group to be a part of!

Thanks,
E

Looks like you've succeeded in repairing your helmet! Great job Eric!

Now DON'T DROP IT AGAIN!

Originally Posted by TD2253

Looks like you've succeeded in repairing your helmet! Great job Eric!

Now DON'T DROP IT AGAIN!

Dude, I have taken multiple precautions to prevent another mishap! One is using foam from the interior packaging of materials shipped for work that have a soft base and walls, this way, it cannot go from side to side. I have actually just completed sanding with 800 grit wet paper and I am going to hit it with primer to see how I made out. Keep fingers crossed gang!!

E

The EXACT same thing just happened to me..... Look at my post, but my cracks only went to the fiberglass layer, it didn't break apart like yours... I will use epoxy like you did, I was gonna use my drimel to go down to the glass and refill the bondo, but your idea seems easier.

Good job on the fix buddy, looks like you will have that primed boba for your nephews.

Very clean fix! Great job with the whole thing!

Well, after working on it all day, I suppose it could be worse, but I am not really happy with it either. I have lost all of the sharp lines that I had before and now the cheeks look soft and not as rigid. Granted, I worked on it all day and taking a break to think about it will help, I just hope I can get the sharp angles that I had before. In any event, the photos are below. THanks again for all the support!!

E

It looks pretty good to me! I would go ahead and finish this one. By the time you get it painted, it will take very close scrutiny to even notice.

Just stay out the wind next time

You seem to have the same luck I do

glad to see you got it mostly fixed.

be careful in the future with flimsier buckets. You really should make an effort to reinforce the whole inside.

That way if it cracks next time it will be a crack, not cracked apart.



Yes, it will add weight, but save a lot of hardship. My heftier buckets have mostly all taken some sort of spill or gotten bumped and they are all in one piece

Once you have her all painted up, you may not even notice it at all!!

Heck when I had to get my friends helmet painted in time for a con, I left out the ear details and Joe public and Fett savvy folks didn't even notice.

get'er done

Kandosii, Kehbo. seeing as i got here late, i WAS gonna suggest to patch it "Ugly/sloppy":
that would have been super unique, ads wicked. i think, anyhow.

well i think its coming along great

Hope you can get it back together!