Can't smooth edges (Pictures Attached)

[leeandrew]

Hi, guys! I'm working on an iron man helmet for a while now, but I can't seem to move forward with one issue.
Even after applying 3 layers of bondo, I still find hard edes as I'm sanding. No matter what, I can't make a round smooth curve in some areas ( as the cheek, for instance).
Any thoughts?

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[The Death Angel]

Use a dremel

 

[vshore100]

The first thing I do after I have resined the outside and rondoed or fiberglassed the inside of my pep, is take my dremel with the sanding drum attachment and sand those seams down to make it more round right out of the gate. Don't worry to much about making it too thin in that area, you can always go back and add more later. However, if you plan ahead and go thicker on your inside coating, i.e., rondo or fiberglass, you shouldn't run into this problem much. In this instance, I would go ahead and knock those areas down with your dremel now, or even a coarse file will work if that's all you have. Get them as flat as you can then proceed with your light filler work to build up the area as needed.
Secondly friend, you really want to avoid going all out and adding filler to your entire project all at once. You want to work in stages. Pick an area, apply a light coat of filler, sand, and repeat as needed. Then move on to the next area. This way, you don't lose the detail from the pep model and you'll find it won't be so overwhelming. Bondo can be you best friend or your worst enemy, it's all about how you use it. Best of luck with your project and if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask them here in your thread. There are plenty of people here who are willing to help. I look forward to seeing more from you.

 

[leeandrew]

Thanks for the answer, guys.
vshore100, I really appreciate the detailed walk through. I'm using a dremel now, and I'll do as you recommended.
As for the bondo, I suspected I was over-using it. I used almost 2 ponds of Bondo for the helmet so far, and didn't get the result I was looking for.

 

[Memebr]

i used 300g of bondo on my entire iron man helmet, the secret is build the pep file as good as you can, then only fix the shapes with bondo, not aplying much, just enough to fix the shape and broke that square look

 

[leeandrew]

Great to know that. I'll use 300g as a avarage number for my next project. Thanks!

 

[CoolC]

Great to know that. I'll use 300g as a avarage number for my next project. Thanks!

I don't think you can apply a number on how much bondo you should use. It really depends how clean or perfect you want your final piece to be. I've been working non-stop for the last 2 weeks on several bondo projects. I apply bondo on places that I need to smooth out. Overall, bondo is tedious work and requires a lot of patience. Watch my recent video why "I hate Bondo".

 

[leeandrew]

Nice video! I can totally relate to that!

Do you think I should invest in a mouse sander?