Has anyone built a piece of armour and did not use body filler to smooth it out?

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mike bike

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How would it be to just use resin and fiberglass on my pepakura build, I heard body filler can cause the pieces to become brittle? Is there any down fall of not using it besides it just being smooth?
 
using bondo on your armor is fully up to you if you want smooth armor or not. I have seen so many people not use bondo and the armor looks fine. The bondo Does not make the armor brittle the bondo itself is brittle. The Master chicks didn't use it so it is really personal preference, and if your are worried about durability then you can do rondo which is resin mixed with bondo on the inside over the the reisn and fiberglass
 
Contrary to the previous post, bondo is necessary to make pep build look like more than just hardened paper. Bondo will not make a fiberglassed part brittle, and it should not be put on thick, so therefore will not make the part fragile. Not all parts of a piece of armor need to be coated with bondo, but any parts that need to look rounded will need some light bondo work and sanding. I would NOT recommend going the rondo route for the inside of the armor (did it myself, and it is heavy and very brittle), but just using a couple layers of fiberglass, as it will be far lighter and stronger.
 
I did my son's helmet with out a drop of bondo. Do the best pepakura job that you can, 2 coats of resin in and out, 1 good coat of glass inside, and a little extra glass where you will need to round off the high point of paper. It is totally fine to sand thru the paper in some areas. The paper is only for the shape, it has no structural integrity. Just be clean with resin because it is a bit harder to sand.

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It turned out just fine.
 
I did my son's helmet with out a drop of bondo. Do the best pepakura job that you can, 2 coats of resin in and out, 1 good coat of glass inside, and a little extra glass where you will need to round off the high point of paper. It is totally fine to sand thru the paper in some areas. The paper is only for the shape, it has no structural integrity. Just be clean with resin because it is a bit harder to sand.

View attachment 22932

It turned out just fine.

^^^^^This. Couldn't have said it any better.
 
It is totally up to the one who builds the piece, I have built with and without bondo, depends on the look you really want.
 
I did my son's helmet with out a drop of bondo. Do the best pepakura job that you can, 2 coats of resin in and out, 1 good coat of glass inside, and a little extra glass where you will need to round off the high point of paper. It is totally fine to sand thru the paper in some areas. The paper is only for the shape, it has no structural integrity. Just be clean with resin because it is a bit harder to sand.

View attachment 22932

It turned out just fine.

Still amazed about that. What kind of glue did you use to assemble the pep?
 
Tight Bond 2 wood glue. It's mostly water proof, and tacks up rather fast if you use a smooth, thin, brush coat. The hunter that I am building, I am using hot glue. 135 lb card stock is a pain to glue with wood glue, and the bigger parts are harder to apply pressure to evenly.
 
Tight Bond 2 wood glue. It's mostly water proof, and tacks up rather fast if you use a smooth, thin, brush coat. The hunter that I am building, I am using hot glue. 135 lb card stock is a pain to glue with wood glue, and the bigger parts are harder to apply pressure to evenly.

I was curious about it because of when you file/sand through the edges to round them hot glue doesn't react the greatest, but I can't see a single bleamish on your helmet. Did you use super glue to knock down the paper fibers when you sanded through them?
 
Nope! I used a high build primer, sanded, primer, light sand, first color coat, light sand (400g), color coat, top coat, dry for 36 hours, then the accent color, dry for 24 hours, top coat, light sand (400g ), final top coat. It was kind of a pain, but hey, it's for the son.
 
You can add just a little bit of resi but you need to have the same hardener so for example use NOVOL . It will be stronger but then is hard to sand it .
 
I mostly 3D print so its a non issue in some ways . however,I dont use bondo . I use microballons and 2 part epoxy for gap filling and other stuff..but its still a filler just its hollow glass sphers and not limestone;)
. you can also use micro ballons with resin and catalyst...

Sands like a dream too!

I really urge others to try it some day. * micro balloons that is*
 
Ok, you talked me in to it!! I'll be over later today to get started on my suit w/ your printer
 
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