Has Anyone Ever Tried Balsa Wood?

[Drakku]

Hey guys. So the conversation with my dad went as follows:
"Hey Dad, have you ever used fiberglass before?"
"Yeah."
"Resin?"
"Yeah, you need that to use the fiberglass."
"Okay. And bondo?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, awesome. Can you help me when I get to making my armor to make sure I'm using the stuff right?"
"Sure."
(few minutes later)
"Why don't you try balsa wood?"

Which then opened a huge conversation about the pros and cons of it versus fiberglass, and showing him the pieces I'd be making he thinks that they're easily makeable with balsa.

I looked around the forums, and I found a few things made out of it, but they were mostly weapon props.
So, has anyone attempted to make their armor out of the stuff?

Here's a basic link for those that don't know what it is:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-balsa-wood.htm

I've seen it used to make model airplanes and the like, and I'm actually thinking that it would work for the armor.
Might be difficult for something as complex as a Mark VI, but for my Arbiter, as I have little to no intricate pieces, it seems quite logical.
Just print out the pepakura, trace onto the balsa wood, saw it out, superglue it together, use some fiberglass for any reinforcement it needs. And my dad also confirmed bondo could be put on top of it to smooth it out and add detail.

Anyone averse to it? I may try a piece just to see how it goes and post it up here for you guys to see.

 

[CPU64]

(few minutes later)
"Why don't you try balsa wood?"

LOL, in other words

"Sorry son, you're not using fiberglass"

 

[Danger Close]

I've built Balsa model airplanes and its not that hard to work with. It will need some reinforcement as it isn't extremely sturdy by itself. Complex HD models may be a pain in the *bleep* to use balsa for, because it sometimes spilts (not that often, just a pain when it does happen). A sharp X-acto knife will cut through it, so normal woodworking tools aren't really needed.

 

[OrrionCarn]

I've been looking into Balsa wood for a while now for weapons, anybody know where I can buy some? Besides off the internet?

 

[Danger Close]

The Hobbytown USA by me used to have a stock of it, but it closed
I'm pretty sure that Michael's carries some.

 

[OrrionCarn]

Great! I'll check Michaels next time I go to it to get some Flora Foam (I use it as a cheap, five doller alternative to Clay, works pretty well with an E-xato knife and sanding)

 

[ninjaspartan]

well my 2 cents is that balsa wood seems like a painfully slow way to make armour imagine each flat part is a seperate peice of wood (i have trouble bending wood) fiberglass/hot glue are the prefered methods of hardening pep files

 

[Drakku]

LOL, in other words

"Sorry son, you're not using fiberglass"

Or daughter.

And he had no problem with me using it, I think, he just was suggesting other methods I could try.

Complex HD models may be a pain in the *bleep* to use balsa for, because it sometimes spilts (not that often, just a pain when it does happen).

See, that's my concern. But since I'm doing the Arbiter, at the moment, I don't need to worry about complex models.

That's for the input guys, I think I'll try it on a smaller piece and see how it turns out.
At least I have a tried-and-true fallback plan if it doesn't end up being as good as I want.

 

[spaz47]

You will probably just use resin and fiberglass to strengthen it anyways.

 

[sirblood]

If you are looking for a cheap alternative... Balsa wood gets expensive fast if you purchase it from hobby stores. If you find a place to purchase it in bulk... its not all that expensive

Its very useful for reinforcing weapons as its very light and fairly sturdy when glued inside of a weapon. You can get thick chunks of it also.

http://www.nationalbalsa.com/balsa.htm
Sells up to 6 inch thick blocks - http://www.balsasupply.com/
http://www.acsupplyco.com/wood/balsa_wood.htm

Matter of fact I have thought about replacing the 2 chunks of 2x2's I put in the chest piece that sit right above my shoulders with Balsa. With Balsa I could carve them to be a perfect fit and distribute the weight a little better than the 2x2's I am currently using.... and it would be a little lighter as well.

As long as you are looking for alternatives... here's an alternative to trying to glue in padding into your armor. Purchase 1 or 2 15 foot rolls of Industrial Velcro. Then stick the glue side of the plastic side to glue side of the padded side. If you layer that 2 or 3 layers thick its a very good form of padding. You can easily adjust it whenever you want by adding more or taking some away. It will cost a little more than simple padding, but its a better investment as I have tried it and love it. The glue side of the Velcro will stick to just about anything short of primer and bondo.

 

[newpol51]

Hey guys. So the conversation with my dad went as follows:
"Hey Dad, have you ever used fiberglass before?"
"Yeah."
"Resin?"
"Yeah, you need that to use the fiberglass."
"Okay. And bondo?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, awesome. Can you help me when I get to making my armor to make sure I'm using the stuff right?"
"Sure."
(few minutes later)
"Why don't you try balsa wood?"

Which then opened a huge conversation about the pros and cons of it versus fiberglass, and showing him the pieces I'd be making he thinks that they're easily makeable with balsa.

I looked around the forums, and I found a few things made out of it, but they were mostly weapon props.
So, has anyone attempted to make their armor out of the stuff?

Here's a basic link for those that don't know what it is:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-balsa-wood.htm

I've seen it used to make model airplanes and the like, and I'm actually thinking that it would work for the armor.
Might be difficult for something as complex as a Mark VI, but for my Arbiter, as I have little to no intricate pieces, it seems quite logical.
Just print out the pepakura, trace onto the balsa wood, saw it out, superglue it together, use some fiberglass for any reinforcement it needs. And my dad also confirmed bondo could be put on top of it to smooth it out and add detail.

Anyone averse to it? I may try a piece just to see how it goes and post it up here for you guys to see.

i would keep pep because balsa is exspensive and un comfortable( i made a helmet long ago) keep pep trust me

 

[sharkhead7854]

Ive used it for contructing very large remote controlled planes (over 5' wingspans) and I'd say that about the only thing balsa is good for is lightweight building. Of course everyone has an opinion but mine would be:
It breaks easily (most types are fragile)
it splinters quite often while trying to cut with something like an X-Acto knife
its best construction medium is superglue, which gives no worktime as it dries instantly
and it would only work when trying to build something thick and solid such as weapons, i.e. AR, BR and so on
plus it kinda gets expensive =\
you can bondo it though, everything adheres to it great; it's really porous
whatever course of building you take though, i wish ya best of luck

 

[Carpathia]

If you're seriously considering using balsa for this, you may want to look into bass wood as well. It's usually sold in the same location as balsa, looks very similar, but is much more superior. It's a little stronger, sands really well and dosen't cost much more than balsa. I've used both balsa and bass woods for architectural models and I find bass is much nicer to work with. Just make sure that the thickness isn't too much, since it IS stronger than balsa, it is a little tougher to cut. Just my $0.02.

 

[Iceman065]

You might want to check out Bevbor's build. He uses cardboard for alot of the stuff that he does. Its not quite the same as balsa, but it has more flexibility to what it can be applied to/how it is used. You would still need to resin things but you might be able to skip some of the fiber glassing.

Here is a link to one of the pieces that Bevbor did in card board.

Bevbor's Cardboard Armor

It is possible to use the same process with balsa that he used to lay out the armor pieces then spray fix the flat Pep. pieces to your balsa and cut them out.

Either way, GL with the balsa!

 

[treduder]

You might want to check out Bevbor's build. He uses cardboard for alot of the stuff that he does. Its not quite the same as balsa, but it has more flexibility to what it can be applied to/how it is used. You would still need to resin things but you might be able to skip some of the fiber glassing.

Here is a link to one of the pieces that Bevbor did in card board.

Bevbor's Cardboard Armor

It is possible to use the same process with balsa that he used to lay out the armor pieces then spray fix the flat Pep. pieces to your balsa and cut them out.

Either way, GL with the balsa!

i could see a build that used balsa for pieces.. but youd have to cut out allllll the polys.. youd want to get a bandsaw, heh..

 

[Drakku]

Ive used it for contructing very large remote controlled planes (over 5' wingspans) and I'd say that about the only thing balsa is good for is lightweight building. Of course everyone has an opinion but mine would be:
It breaks easily (most types are fragile)
it splinters quite often while trying to cut with something like an X-Acto knife
its best construction medium is superglue, which gives no worktime as it dries instantly
and it would only work when trying to build something thick and solid such as weapons, i.e. AR, BR and so on
plus it kinda gets expensive =\
you can bondo it though, everything adheres to it great; it's really porous
whatever course of building you take though, i wish ya best of luck

Yeah. I've been researching it a bit more and it's looking less and less like an avenue I'd want to bother with, since I'd need to fiberglass it anyway, and it looks like such a pain in the arse to put together. I'm probably just better off with pep. I'm going to at least mess around with it to see how it ends up and whether it really IS that big a pain, so thanks for your input.
Prolly won't use it for my costume, but at least I'll know, eh?
And knowing is half the battle!

You might want to check out Bevbor's build. He uses cardboard for alot of the stuff that he does. Its not quite the same as balsa, but it has more flexibility to what it can be applied to/how it is used. You would still need to resin things but you might be able to skip some of the fiber glassing.

Yeah, back before I'd ever heard of pepakura, I had a few Halo-ish things in the works out of cardboard, long since trashed by now. The level of detail he's able to get with cardboard is outstanding, though, and I'd love to attempt a similar build sometime. I'll check over his process again, though I'm fairly sure it was the same thing I had in mind for balsa'ing something.

And my dad's already got any saw I'd ever need, Treribad, so hopefully it won't be THAT horrible. Haha.
Though all those polys.. agh!

 

[HeavyGunner]

And knowing is half the battle!

You have no idea... Even after being a member here for close to a year, there are still things that are like a foreign language to even experienced people like me!! I agree 100% with that statement.

But more to the point, I haven't used balsa for anything except for building model bridges and the like. From those experiences, I can conclude that it would be overly difficult to get smooth pieces of anything with that kind of wood. Hope I'm not coming across as ignorant and rude, but I just don't think wood is a good medium for wearable armor.

Idea bashing aside however, I agree 100% with trying other methods. This includes cardboard. With a modeled pepakura file, it can be hard to achieve 100% smoothness of a piece. But if you decide to try carboard, it opens up a certain amount of creativity with your work that could in turn, lead to a better finished product. People like Bevbor and CPU64 have learned to use scratch building with a very flexible medium to their advantage. There really aren't any limits to what a material like cardboard can achieve. After looking at all the Arbiter files, I think that smoothness is what you should aim for. So whichever material you decide to make you suit out of, I would look beyond the basic assembly, and look more towards the methods you're planning on using for the smoothing and stregthening of a armor piece. Good luck! I'm really excited for all the people planning out arbiter costumes, rather than MC suits Can't wait to see more progress in your thread!

EDIT: Oops! Didn't see that you were leaning more towards balsa. You can completely ignore my suggestions if you want! lol It's your suit. Take whatever route is more comfortable for you

 

[M07Marauder]

I made a balsa wood bow in my drafting class using the basic structure of a rafter in a roof. It was strong as hell and I was able to fire a balsa wood arrow through two 2' wide boxes full of random balsa pieces .

I used heavy duty rubber bands as the string and I could draw about my full arms length back without any pieces moving, did I mention I used only the little balsa nails to hold it together . I was badass at making random things work out of balsa wood.

I was thinking of making some of my sliced weapons out of balsa wood or MDF I think it is called also, I need something stronger than cardboard and needs less work/bondo.

 

[SpartanSRS]

Love how you're doing an elite instead of a spartan . Balsa wood sounds like a good alternative but it might be hard to get the curves. Good luck!