scratch build roadblock

crow86

Active Hunter
Currently my gf and i are making our own scratch build helmets, and we are following Antman's build. My question is on the domes. Before putting the bondo on is it necessary to put a layer of resin down or just go ahead with the bondo?
 
Cool, I like your build it looks good and thanks for the input. I might put a couple coats of resin on the inside just to be safe.
 
I'm actually in the process of laying another coat of resin on the inside.
messed up the resin to hardener mix and made it too cold... taking forever to Gel.
 
I went yesterday after work and picked up a small resin fiberglass kit and some bondo so ill give it a try on my helmet first before I tackle my gf's bucket. Ive never worked with it before so cross your fingers and lets see how this turns out :D
 
when it comes to resin, USE GLOVES. also wearing clothes you dont care about is a good idea too.
wear a REAL respirator with active charcoal cartridges, cuts down the fumes almost totally.
I used a hacked of coke can to mix my resin in this last time... worked like a charm. mixed it with a Popsicle stick.
Just poured it in, in small batches, then used a scrap of cardboard to spread it around.
brushes are kinda pricey figuring they will be trashed in one or two batches of resin.
DON'T MIX IT ACCORDING TO INSTRUCTIONS ON THE CAN!!!
It comes out way hot and gel's really fast, try half the hardener first and see how you like it.
the hardener really only accelerates the gelling, you need some but let me tell you... 7 drops per ounce is HOT.
did i mention make small batches? you have two buckets, you can afford to switch between the two while one is curing a little longer than standard.
so much for the resin part...
CUT THE MAT SMALL! small strips beats large custom fit pieces... I learned that the hard way. no matter how precisely you cut a giant piece of matting it will bubble up / lift off the resin and it becomes a pain in the shebs to smooth it back down or to fill the hollow area later. cut your mat before hand, lay it in small strips, use a Popsicle stick or something to press it down and smooth it. if you have throwaway tweezers it's a good idea to use those to lay the mat into the bucket, keep those gloves resin free as long as you can.

do the dome first, then let it cure upside down. setting it on a roll of tape is a good way to keep the bucket from rolling off the dome.
work on the other bucket, same scenario, when bucket 1 is cured start working on the back. let it cure on its back so the strips don't slide around or lift off.
work same area on bucket #2... then comes the cheeks and visor area, if you already cut those, like i did, you are in for a ride...
resin will drip and run, strips slide down etc etc etc.. just get it on there smooth and with the least amount of bubbles.
you can always go back and add a coat of resin over the top of the mat and totally seal it in.

try not to leave resin snot (partially gelled resin) inside the bucket, i did and it's a pain in the shebs to sand inside the bucket.

Good Luck ner'vod.
 
I do have a respirator, went and picked up two new filters for it yesterday. Thanks for the tip on the hardener, ill try that first. Ive been reading a lot of builds that involve resin here on TDH and on the interwebz. Ive seen some people use aluminum foil in their containers so if the resin hardens before it gets used you can just throw it away and you can still use the same container. Ive also heard that you can use acetone to clean the brushes off right after you use them before the resin gets hard.

The gf's bucket has its dome on it, mine doesn't yet so ill get started on hers first. Been watching a few youtube videos of folks fiberglassing their buckets and after seeing vids and reading how they've done theirs I'm feeling more confident doing it.

And thank you for all your input too Ghostwalker its been very helpful.
 
I didn't get any acetone, trying to keep the amount of flammable oxidizers to a minimum.
cheapest brushes i found were foam brushes at home depot and michaels for around 87 cents ea.
I used a single container per day, once it has some leftover hardened resin in the bottom i either break it out or ignore it.
It's not like hard resin in my mixing container does anything to a later batch chemically and i don't reuse containers from a previous resin job.
the aluminum foil liner route sounds great if you plan on reusing your resin container. acetone or lacquer thinner same deal for gloves and brushes.

I'm glad my mistakes and lessons learned are helping you out.
I too built alot of confidence from other's WIP and my Father's advice.

When the osik hits the fan and things are going south in a hurry, slow down take a deep breath and resign yourself to wasting the unused resin.
Things suddenly work out for the better and you will have a better chance at fixing the problem of the moment, most likely you won't even waste the extra resin.

Preparation of your work area goes along way to alleviating "Oh! OSIK!" moments. Cover your table in some plastic foil (i cut up a large trash bag) to save it from drops of resin. Wear longs sleeves/pants and closed shoes, not like me ... shorts t-shirt and flip flops. yes i have a few chemical burn marks as memories of my idiocy. one on my right elbow form when i rested my arms on a drop of curing resin.

Keep your head, use it and remember what you can of everyone else's mistakes.
It really isn't hard at all and you will pull of a great glassing job.
 
Well I screwed up with cleaning the brushes with the acetone. I waited to long and the resin already hardened so there was no saving them, oh well lesson learned. I fiberglassed my gf's helmet first I might be throwing another layer on the inside of the dome, not sure yet.

IMG00087-20100929-1820.jpg

And got the front and cheek areas glassed as well.
IMG00100-20100930-1730.jpg



Ill be starting on mine this week as soon as I get the dome finished. The plan for my dome was seeing I'm going the steampunk route with my build to use leather vinyl to make the dome, but seeing its now October and as of today I have 30 days to complete this I'm just going to build it out of illustration board and then glass and bondo it. I sat with WOF's templates and the vinyl in front of me last night going how am I going to sew this and make it work. So I will save that for the rebuild of the helmet so that I can take the time to do it right and better.
 
sew it the same way its done in cardboard... just gotta leave overlap on each triangle for seam material.
maybe get away with less triangles... but what do I know? I hire seamstresses to do my sewing for me.
gotta know your limits and mine start right after uniform patches.
 
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