Does Anybody Know A Different Smoothing Method?

[Wasp2100]

Hey guys, I have recently been fiberglassing a lot and I was like, this sucks. So I was wondering If it would harm the craftmanship at all if I put a whole bunch of painters tape over it to smooth it and then to harden it, put a couple coats of resin over it, WITHOUT THE CLOTH OR MAT.

Any constructive criticisms?

 

[kolinrulz]

yes bondo body filler

it's really easy to sand

 

[ImaGonnaGetYou]

Painter's Tape won't do anything. Fiberglass becomes rock hard when it is covered in cured resin, which is why it's used (it's also used in boat hulls, fyi), and bondo both hardens and is easy to sand and detail. There are plenty of ways to make fiberglassing easier. As well, you're not supposed to fiberglass the outside unless you want it to have no detail at all.



What I do is resin the outside a few times, give the inside a single coat of resin, use spray on adhesive once the inside is cured, then just slap in the fiberglass without time constraints or the fumes. Then, all I have to do is give it another coat of resin. More time consuming, but more simple.



As for smoothing the outside, you'll either wanted bondo or rondo. None of these improvised materials ever end up working, from what I've seen.

 

[Psychopanda]

I have no experience in any of this, I just finished pepping my first set of armor today, heh. But what you stated sounded okay until I read imagonnagetyou's post lol. after reading and thinking over his post it shot down my idea of using normal paper to smooth out some areas.

 

[NZTK]

It really depends on what you're trying to do. If you're just trying to make a pepakura costume part then fibre glassing the cardboard box seems to be a the common method. If you're trying to use pepakura as an armature for a sculpture then, you can do whatever you like, fibreglass or bondo the cardboard for strength, then you can use bondo to sculpt and detail or plastilina (plasticine) . Plastilina is great but does take some experience and skill to get looking good, a common prop making method is use a plastilina then make a throw away mould, cast a tooling copy that you do your hard detailing on, then you use that as your final moulding master. I would avoid covering it in painters tape, but that's just me.

There are no right or wrong methods when it comes to prop making, only what works. I use painters tape quite a lot for doing edges, if I need a raised detail with a hard edge, I lay a strip of tape down and bondo the line I want, wait for it to get to a "cheesy" consistency then pull the tape out, the edge can then be cut with a razor. Bondo goes through a few different stages while it cures, each stage has different opportunities for tooling. I do most my work while the bondo is still soft. then once it has fully hardened and cooled generally it only needs a quick sand to get (almost) perfect. You will usually need a nitrocellulose putty to clean up the surface.

Here are two projects I've been doodling about with, using the methods I've just described. Just find what what works for you and take your time.

I'll also point out, there is not a shred of glass fibre in either of those sculptures. I don't like fibreglass and I only ever use it in prop making when there is absolutely no alternative.

 

[Kaya Tetsu]

Theres always mud-glassing.



Oh you ment for the ousite...nevermind glassing the outside is bad.

 

[JediStumpy]

Or you can use polyurethane resin (plastic - SmoothCast 300)

Link to my youtube vid if you want to know more about that.

 

[Wasp2100]

Welllll....... I kind of already mostly fiberglassed the outside.... so what should I do?

 

[JediStumpy]

Welllll....... I kind of already mostly fiberglassed the outside.... so what should I do?

Why did you do the outside? Mistake or misread the stickies?



If you did that..umm...you might be able to sand it down? Bondo on top? What pep model did you use? Low, Med, or HD?

 

[Wasp2100]

I used SKG's landfall ODST helm and yes, the sticky I read said I cover the outside.

 

[boryenko]

Cover the outside in a coat of Resin to give it strength when you fiberglass then inside. Putting your fiberglass cloth on the outside loses detail and is also extremely hard to sand. I personally suggest you start over and don't put the fiberglass cloth on the outside this time.

 

[NAGA]

+1 On never putting fiberglass on the outside. That is a bad idea and specifically noted as such in the stickies. I would just start over, personally.