Fiberglassing

Lath Toth

Jr Hunter
I’ve been a member of TDH since 2008. Due to obligations at work I had to put my builds on hold. Of all of the builds I’ve done I’ve never gotten passed the cardboard assembly. Finally, for the first time I’m ready to add the fiberglass. I know it has to be applied to the inside of the helmet. But, I’ve seen in some videos where the outside is coated in resin and some where fiberglass is also applied to the outside. So, my question is… Which way is correct? I want to get the best look I can with my bucket with minimal clean up. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
 
I'm not sure if there's a right way or wrong way. I recently had the same question though. I ended up fiberglassing the inside of the dome and using just the resin on the interior and exterior to harden everything else. I'm really happy with the results and it's minimal cleanup.
 
For strength and depending on how much work you want to do on the helmet, on the inside I would go with resin and fiberglass, as for the outside you could go with resin and fiberglass tissue which is very thin, once that has been done you can cover it in bondo or filler paste and sand it to a smooth surface before putting down primer, and the weight should not be too bad either.
 
I just did a fiberglass helmet. I used two coats of fiberglass resin (polyester) on the outside--resin ONLY. Then, I used fiberglass cloth and coated it with resin on the inside. The helmet is solid. Putting cloth on the outside will, in my opinion, substantially increase the time you spend working with Bondo filler. When using fiberglass cloth on the inside, you may have to do some grinding work after it cures to remove sharp edges...this causes a few other minor problems. If you're worried about durability and strength, I would use epoxy resin instead of polyester resin (the stuff sold at Home Depot and usually made by Bondo)--you can still use fiberglass cloth with the epoxy or you could even use Kevlar or carbon fiber (which you can't use with the polyester)...would make for a REALLY strong helmet. West System manufactures epoxy resin, if you decide to go that route.
 
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