Rondo vs Fiberglass

Status
Not open for further replies.

Running Man

New Member
Just about ready to harden the inside of all my Pep pieces, but I'm not sure which to use: Rondo or Fiberglass. I have researched both but my mind is still not made up. I understand that fiberglass is lightweight but is a pain to work with, seeing as how it gets sticky when applying it. And rondo is as effective and dries quicker, but consequently, its heavy. I'm wondering, how much heavier would a full Mk VI armor weigh with a rondo inside, or helmet or any piece for comparison. Thoughts?
 
well with my helmet it has fiber glass in it and it weight's around 2 pounds now i would thinks that if it had rondo rather then fiber glass it would weigh more.
 
I rondoed and glassed my own helmet. While it does add a bit of weight, in the grand scheme of things, you probably won't notice it. I was able to wear my armor for about 5 hours straight during the H4 launch, and had no issues.

If you do add rondo to the helmet, be sure to add adequate padding, and you won't notice the weight much. Here's what my own padding looks like...

DSC04881.jpg
 

Attachments

  • DSC04881.jpg
    DSC04881.jpg
    127 KB · Views: 102
It's polyfil foam enclosed in black cotton/poly cloth. You can find the foam at just about any craft store (Hobby Lobby, Michael's, even Walmart), same thing for the cloth. Check my Mk VI build, post #225 for a short tutorial on how I pad my armor.

But back to your concern about the helmet being too heavy; if you do the strapping/padding right, the weight won't matter so much.
 
I agree w/ Carpathia, the combo of both rondo & fiberglass really doesn't make things too heavy in the grand scheme of things. I was working on my 'Rookie' ODST helm this afternoon and started w/ fiberglass cloth along the top of the helmet then switched to rondo for the sides where there's more fine details.

I suppose if you really get down to it, from a standpoint of realism, if these parts were made of the real materials our suits would weigh half a ton (Spartans) and probably something like 50-100lbs for ODSTs (not counting weapons, ammo, equipment, dedicated comms, etc) But thankfully we don't have to be super real to look awesome :D.
It's all about balance: strength vs. appearance...you just have to work with your chosen medium and know how much you need to get the job done, and how much you can add for rigidity without detracting from how it looks. Tons of rondo will be strong/stiff, so will fiberglass cloth/resin, but using a whole bunch of just one of them presents its own issues.

TL;DR fiberglass the easy to reach spots, Rondo the tough spots, let it all cure, then see what you can reinforce ON TOP of (rondo).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top