Battle Damage from Vacuum Pull

[Liamthedevastator]

Alright folks, please don't stone me if this question seems a) ridiculous or b) has been asked before, but are there any tips or tricks for getting battle damage with some depth in a vacuum pulled armour piece?

I've searched as much as I could but can't seem to find anything (let's face it, the site search function isn't stupendous and Google can only do so much).

Baring the detail straight from a pull, how have some of you gone about adding battle damage -- with depth -- to an ABS or polyterene vacuum pull? I figure that bondo won't be good because the plastic will be quite flexible. Perhaps perforations in the buck where the damage is to draw in the plastic? Has this been done before?

Opinions and facts are all welcome!

 

[spartansonny]

i can't say that i have seen battle damage added to a vac formed piece. The only way i could even think of doing that is cutting out a section where you wanted said piece to be damaged, build an area behind the piece with a little depth... like a box that will be removed, and fill that in with bondo, smooth to the vac formed piece again and add your damage,remove this block.after that do small pull with that block of bondo you just made, cut the plastic pull to fit your already vac formed piece you cut your hole out of, and plastic weld or epoxy back together and smooth it back out :/ if you try this let me know how it works please. thats just an off the top of my head idea. Sounds good?

 

[Sara]

I'm planning on experimenting with battle damage when I vac-form a MkVI visor (to me it's always looked like it has nicks and scratches in it) I'm going to try heating up some metal and gently pressing it in to the surface. i guess it depends on what kind of damage you're after, chipping might be harder to achieve.

 

[misfitjh]

Battle damage with vac forming is possible. What you have to do is drill holes through your buck in the area with the damage. That will allow the vacuum to suck the plastic into the battle damage and give the affect you are looking for. http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-The-Prop...267?pt=US_Nonfiction_Book&hash=item589a317bcb this book has a lot of great info on molding and vac forming, it also has plans and dimensions and a parts list for building your own vac forming table. Just remember with any area the is recessed into the part you have to have a way for the vacuum to reach it.

 

[blue2k]

Acetone will melt polystyrene like Xenomorph blood. You may be able to adapt that reaction to suit your purpose.

 

[Liamthedevastator]

Battle damage with vac forming is possible. What you have to do is drill holes through your buck in the area with the damage. That will allow the vacuum to suck the plastic into the battle damage and give the affect you are looking for. http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-The-Prop...267?pt=US_Nonfiction_Book&hash=item589a317bcb this book has a lot of great info on molding and vac forming, it also has plans and dimensions and a parts list for building your own vac forming table. Just remember with any area the is recessed into the part you have to have a way for the vacuum to reach it.

That's what I was thinking, though I know that vacuum forming isn't known for it's fantastic detail. I'm sure that some dremel work could add sharpness without compromising the integrity of that area. I've been using this Vacuum Forming How-To for all my vacuum forming needs, so hopefully I won't need to buy the book! Trying to be cheap

Acetone will melt polystyrene like Xenomorph blood. You may be able to adapt that reaction to suit your purpose.

This could be handy for bullet damage, thanks!

@Spartansonny - I'm sure that would work but I'm going to see if I can get max damage detail straight from the pull before I get into anything like that. That could be handy for the bullet damage though, thanks!

I have to build a table first but i'll try to get a mock up of my progress sometime in the future. Thanks for the help guys!