What's Better?

  • Thread starter Migrate from As You Wish
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Migrate from As You Wish

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Okay guys what's better fiberglass, sintra, resin, styrene, etc... in production of armor pieces? When I say better I include procuring the material in question, ease of use in shaping and forming, taking paint, and so forth.
 
This is a very hard question to answer, only because we seem to pick a material and just work with that. I would say sintra would be good for the armor plates, because there is very little detail. Fiberglass can be intimidating, but is good for medium detailed parts (Gauntlets, multi curved pieces such as knee guards, and cod piece.) these parts can't be too flimsy but can also be built up with other materials. Resin is good for small detailed parts, perfect example is BB's calc pad. These parts need to be detailed but not strong. Make a part out of resin that is too big and thin and it may crack unless it is reinforced. So you can see each material has its advantages, and others may be difficult to work with but yeald better results.
 
I agree with Fettcicle that Sintra is probably the easiest to work with for the chest, collar, back, and butt plates. All you really need to do is cut out the shape you want, run it under hot water, and <poof!> it is flexible. When you get the shape you are after, just run it under cold water and the shape stays. Mess up? Reheat, reform, and chill it. You 'can' use Sintra for all of the armor, but I personally prefer either vacuuformed or fiberglass for the more detailed pieces (i.e. gauntlets, knees, and jet pack). Being that a 4'x8' sheet of 1/8" thick Sintra generally runs around $25, it is fairly cost effective and shouldn't be too hard to find if you check with sign makers or plastic suppliers in the yellow pages.
 
For some reason in my area (Boston, MA) I could NEVER find Sintra. No matter where I went. I ended up using Styrene to cut and shape my armor. I thought that it worked well. It's apparently a little harder to work with then Sintra because you have to heat it with a heat gun in order to get enough bending ability but... it still worked well. My jet pack and guantlets are my only vacuformed peices.
 
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