A couple weekends ago I resumed working on my suit. I was working on the two halves of my torso, bondoing, sanding, bondoing, sanding... when I discovered a problem with my pieces. The front and the back halves had warped a little while sitting on the shelf for a few months and no longer lined up very well. See the pics below
I had been wondering how I was going to rejoin the pieces, but now the problem got more complicated because of the misalignment. I had planned on using nylon straps or velcro, but I don't think that either will be strong enough to hold the warped fiberglass where it needs to be to look good. I did not want to rebuild the HD torso again so here's what I came up with.
A male/female joint at each cut in the torso to re-align the two halves. The M/F joint will hold the tension on the warped parts, then I can just use some 2" wide velcro to keep it all together.
Here's how I did it.
First I borrowed some play dough from my kids, then used it to build the male section of the joint. (clay would have been alot better, but this is what I had)
Make sure you do not create any undercuts when forming the male joint. Also I made this half short and stubby. I planned on using rondo (mud) to cast the joint, so if I had made this part too thin it would probably crack without any fiberglass reinforcing in it.
PROFILE VIEW
Once I was satisfied with the profile I taped the torso halves together. Tape the joint you are working on last so that you can make sure it is properly aligned. Also be sure to seal it good so that the mud doesn't run out.
Next create a tape dam on the inside to contain the mud. I used blue painters masking tape, 3-4 layers thick for this.
Now you can go ahead and mix your mud. (1 ounce resin + 1 ounce bondo + 15 drops of hardener = mud)
I used about six ounces of mud for each half of the joint and had to scrape the container each time to have enough.
Pour the mud in above your dam and just let it run down inside your form. Prop the torso up so that the mud can harden. Mine got pretty hot once it began curing, but I added about 50% more hardener than normal to speed it up
Here's a pic with the tape dam removed:
Next I removed all the tape and play dough from the torso and used my dremel to clean up the new socket. This is the time to remove any undercuts or major flaws. I also added a few indents with the dremel.
FINISHED SOCKET
You need to use some type of release inside the socket to keep it from sticking together permanently. I used three coats of automobile paste wax. Now you can go ahead and tape the torso back together, starting wth the other three joints. Again, make sure the joint you are working on lines up perfectly and then seal it up with some tape.
Build another dam for this half. Make sure your dam overlaps the socket you poured last time. I had a little bit of trouble here because I got a little crazy with the car wax and the tape didn't want to stick. A little bit of sanding fixed that.
Here's a pic with the male part poured:
And here's some pics of the finished joint:
Let me know what you all think.
I had been wondering how I was going to rejoin the pieces, but now the problem got more complicated because of the misalignment. I had planned on using nylon straps or velcro, but I don't think that either will be strong enough to hold the warped fiberglass where it needs to be to look good. I did not want to rebuild the HD torso again so here's what I came up with.
A male/female joint at each cut in the torso to re-align the two halves. The M/F joint will hold the tension on the warped parts, then I can just use some 2" wide velcro to keep it all together.
Here's how I did it.
First I borrowed some play dough from my kids, then used it to build the male section of the joint. (clay would have been alot better, but this is what I had)
Make sure you do not create any undercuts when forming the male joint. Also I made this half short and stubby. I planned on using rondo (mud) to cast the joint, so if I had made this part too thin it would probably crack without any fiberglass reinforcing in it.
PROFILE VIEW
Once I was satisfied with the profile I taped the torso halves together. Tape the joint you are working on last so that you can make sure it is properly aligned. Also be sure to seal it good so that the mud doesn't run out.
Next create a tape dam on the inside to contain the mud. I used blue painters masking tape, 3-4 layers thick for this.
Now you can go ahead and mix your mud. (1 ounce resin + 1 ounce bondo + 15 drops of hardener = mud)
I used about six ounces of mud for each half of the joint and had to scrape the container each time to have enough.
Pour the mud in above your dam and just let it run down inside your form. Prop the torso up so that the mud can harden. Mine got pretty hot once it began curing, but I added about 50% more hardener than normal to speed it up
Here's a pic with the tape dam removed:
Next I removed all the tape and play dough from the torso and used my dremel to clean up the new socket. This is the time to remove any undercuts or major flaws. I also added a few indents with the dremel.
FINISHED SOCKET
You need to use some type of release inside the socket to keep it from sticking together permanently. I used three coats of automobile paste wax. Now you can go ahead and tape the torso back together, starting wth the other three joints. Again, make sure the joint you are working on lines up perfectly and then seal it up with some tape.
Build another dam for this half. Make sure your dam overlaps the socket you poured last time. I had a little bit of trouble here because I got a little crazy with the car wax and the tape didn't want to stick. A little bit of sanding fixed that.
Here's a pic with the male part poured:
And here's some pics of the finished joint:
Let me know what you all think.
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