"Help!" for: Fiberglassing, Resin, & Bondo

[Scar 405]

ok buddy im going to tell you with every thing you build go slow and mix up small portions of bondo and don't use much because it really sucks when you have to sand it down to make it smooth trust me i know this from 2 years of experience but with the resin put on at least two coats on the outside and when you put fiberglass on the inside after it dries put on a second layer of resin just to be safe and if you ever get the idea to use spray on truck bed liner don't just get a bucket of the stuff and work slowly. this advice comes from 2 yrs of expirience bro abide by my tips and you will go far.

Signed,
Scar 405

 

[ventrue]

I had thick gloves but after one use are covered in resin i cant get off and they stay sticky which makes working very difficult.

They aren't reusable anyway, so it doesn't matter in what condition they are in when you're done. For that one use, you can try spraying mould release spray on them if they get too sticky.

Your safety guide doesnt suggest a good type of glove to use, mainly ones not to use. For this purpose what do you use? I just need them for resin and bondo work. Mainly bondo as i havent really done any model work in awhile now but want to finish ones i've already done which are all at the bondo stage now

The polyester resin section contains a link to a list of tested products. They should be available in the US as well, or at least give you some idea what to look for.

For Bondo work, I use nitrile examination gloves - but I usually don't get it on my hands, so that doesn't really matter
I do use heavy chemical gloves while working with epoxy though, because epoxy does much more damage via skin contact.

 

[L3G3ND4RYFR34K]

Wal-Mart only sells 1qt size resin. For bondo, they sell 1qt and 1 gallon size. To do the pieces you mentioned, 1 qt each will not be enough. I suggest that you get 2 qts resin and 1 gallon bondo. 1qt bondo is around $7. 1 gallon bondo is about $21.

Thanks dude I got the stuff and will let you know how it goes.

 

[ArktosPendragon]

This might seem like a noobish question, but I have never worked with fiberglass cloth before (I usually rondo). Is the cloth ok to touch once it has been resined into the armor piece? Logic tells me that I have to make sure there is a liberal coat of resin over the cloth, but I want to make sure.

 

[Digitalist]

ok buddy im going to tell you with every thing you build go slow and mix up small portions of bondo and don't use much because it really sucks when you have to sand it down to make it smooth trust me i know this from 2 years of experience but with the resin put on at least two coats on the outside and when you put fiberglass on the inside after it dries put on a second layer of resin just to be safe and if you ever get the idea to use spray on truck bed liner don't just get a bucket of the stuff and work slowly. this advice comes from 2 yrs of expirience bro abide by my tips and you will go far.

Signed,
Scar 405

Sure wish someone had been there to tell me this when I started my build... I'm going to be sanding for a year to get my helmet right since I was retarded and caked on a half inch layer of bondo. At this point, though it's nice and hefty like I hoped it would be, I'd rather just have it done! At least it's a learning experience that won't leave me anytime soon.

 

[pandamajik]

I've had some bondo from previous hobbies but I heard from other people that Evercoat products are far superior. I was wondering if anyone else has used non-Bondo brand body filler and what they think. A gallon of Evercoat Z-Grip goes for about $28 whereas a gallon of Bondo is $18. If it saves me half the time that would be definitely worth the extra $10 a gallon.

 

[RoninEclipse2G]

I've had some bondo from previous hobbies but I heard from other people that Evercoat products are far superior. I was wondering if anyone else has used non-Bondo brand body filler and what they think. A gallon of Evercoat Z-Grip goes for about $28 whereas a gallon of Bondo is $18. If it saves me half the time that would be definitely worth the extra $10 a gallon.

Evercoat products are worth every penny. I was introduced to them when I worked at a body shop a few years ago. They spread better, shape better, sand better and take paint better. When I get to that point I will be using the evercoat rage gold for my armor.

Now on to my issue!

OK, so I wasn't sure if I should ask this in the resin or pepakura thread, because it kinda slips in between the two. I'm getting to the point where I need to glass some of my pepped pieces because I'm running out of room to put them where they won't be easily crushed.

So here's my question: do I need to coat the paper with paint or something to prevent the resin from soaking into to and turning the whole thing to mush? Some of the tutorials that I've seen mentioned I'd and others didn't, so I thought I'd ask here. I'm using 110# cardstock and while it seems strong, I got one drop of water on a section and it went all wavy. Will resin on uncoated paper do something similar?

Edit: I will be using standard poly resin. Most of the tutorials that mention sealing the cardstock were using aqua resin. I'm no stranger to fiberglass, having experience repairing race car bodies, but I've never tried doing it on paper before

 

[pandamajik]

I used poly resin on the 110 lb. cardstock directly and it was fine. I've seen some tutorials mention that you should do it in sections to minimize the risk of warping. I coated both sides of the paper in resin with only the inside being fiberglassed.

I'll probably pick up some Z-Grip tomorrow. I'm not sure the Rage is worth double the cost when I've heard Z-Grip is pretty good already. I'm not exactly going to need the surface and finish to be as smooth as auto paint jobs.

 

[CoolC]

So here's my question: do I need to coat the paper with paint or something to prevent the resin from soaking into to and turning the whole thing to mush? Some of the tutorials that I've seen mentioned I'd and others didn't, so I thought I'd ask here. I'm using 110# cardstock and while it seems strong, I got one drop of water on a section and it went all wavy. Will resin on uncoated paper do something similar?

Resin is not water and will not turn the paper into mush. Resin will soak into the paper but it will give it strength. However, you do need to worry about warping. Resin is heavy and when you apply it to the paper, it will weigh it down and create warps. Armor pieces that are big will not likely to stand on their own. You need to add in struts or support to retain the shape. Most pepakura files do not provide struts, so you need to make your own.

 

[RoninEclipse2G]

My big pieces already have support struts in them and I was planning on packing the smaller pieces as I resined the outside. I've seen what fiberglass car bodies can do if you don't have the mold supported.

Thanks guys!

 

[helix]

nice info but on my resin it has a 10 drops to 1 ounce ratio. do you put resin on the inside of the piece too before putting the fiberglass on? i haven't started fiberglassing my grunt costume yet

 

[pandamajik]

nice info but on my resin it has a 10 drops to 1 ounce ratio. do you put resin on the inside of the piece too before putting the fiberglass on? i haven't started fiberglassing my grunt costume yet

What I did was brush on some resin first. This gives something for the fiberglass to adhere to when you lay it down. Then brush some more resin on top, making sure to dab at it so it really penetrates the fiberglass. I've seen some people dip the fiberglass in resin to soak it but it seems a lot messier.

 

[RoninEclipse2G]

I've seen some people dip the fiberglass in resin to soak it but it seems a lot messier.

And a lot heavier. For best results you want to use just enough resin to hold the fiberglass together without bubbles.

 

[pandamajik]

Just did some body filling work using my brand new can of Evercoat Z-Grip. Oh man this stuff is so much better than Bondo brand. It spreads much better and sands in about half the time. It also seems to be smoother than Bondo after being sanded (using the same grit sandpaper). The Z-Grip doesn't gum up the sandpaper and is just really great to work with.

I HIGHLY recommend those who have access to better body filler to shell out a bit extra and save yourself money on sandpaper and time sanding.

 

[Vanak]

Sup guys, just getting into my build and I have my helmet pep'd and fiberglassed. I'm happy with everything so far, but I'm curious how people treat the interior of the helmet after fiberglass? I used a chop mat, and there's a few spots that are a little jagged and uneven on the inside. I know eventually it'll have foam padding and such, but I wasn't sure if people have other tricks for smoothing or filling the interior other than getting busy with bondo on the inside, too.

 

[Coyote]

For any jagged bits of fibreglass on the inside of a build i use a dremel and cut off the sharp pieces then you could sand it down further if you wanted to. I wouldnt put bondo on the inside maybe just try sanding any sharp bits down then the padding will cover them anyway so you shouldnt feel them



Thanks for the Evercoat tips, sounds like great stuff i might get some depending on how the bondo work goes on my helmet. If its not working well or taking forever to sand i'll buy some Evercoat instead. Way more expensive but for better and quicker results its worth the extra expense. Didnt think we'd get it here but i've just found some of the Z-Grip, Gold and Easy Sand stuff so thankfully i can get it if i need to

 

[Digitalist]

So I'm slowly but surely building up low spots and taking down high spots in the bondo - yes, I did it the retarded way and have a half inch layer of bondo on the entire thing - and I keep running into the same two problems and have no ideas how to correct them.

Problem 1: Sharp edges. I just can't seem to achieve them with bondo. I tried 'plastic metal' but it doesn't bond well with the bondo. I'm starting to wonder how resin would do on top of the bondo, since it seems to be much stronger.

Problem 2: Bondo craters - horribly. I tried the plastic metal for this too but it doesn't bond well and it cracks. The craters are shallow but they're the size of a half dollar or better. Filling with bondo is hit and miss as to whether or not it bonds well. I suppose I could wallow it out a bit with the dremel, inverse bevel the edges so that the filler has something grip - but figured I'd ask the experts before going through all that. Any ever tried resin on top of bondo? I've also wondered if I change the surface by priming it before attempting the bondo on bondo fill, if that might favorably vary my results as well?

After reading more (after getting too far in to turn around) about bondoing, I'm really tempted to shelve this attempt and call it "The Learning Experience" and just start another one, done right this time - but I've already quite a bit of money, time, and effort invested so I keep resisting the urge...

Ideas? Thoughts?

 

[ventrue]

Problem 1: Sharp edges. I just can't seem to achieve them with bondo. I tried 'plastic metal' but it doesn't bond well with the bondo. I'm starting to wonder how resin would do on top of the bondo, since it seems to be much stronger.

An example picure of what you're talking about exactly would help here. Two suggestions: Try using a solid sanding block - sandpaper alone or sanding sponges will bend around edges and make them soft. Or use a scraper instead of sandpaper and scrape the Bondo off, this works well on negative edges that you can't reach with sandpaper.

Problem 2: Bondo craters - horribly.

Use less Bondo, try not to mix any air into it.

Filling with bondo is hit and miss as to whether or not it bonds well.

I've never really had problems with my filer not bonding to the model. Is it possible that you have grease or something on the surface of yours?

 

[coldevil123]

Has anyone tried using fiberglass, but instead of hardening it with resin, they harden it with Rondo? A Rondo mixture with a higher ratio of resin to Bondo so it is still relatively liquidy? I thought about how that would work, but I'm not sure what the results would be. If you've tried it, let me know. If you know why it might not work, also let me know.

 

[ventrue]

Has anyone tried using fiberglass, but instead of hardening it with resin, they harden it with Rondo? A Rondo mixture with a higher ratio of resin to Bondo so it is still relatively liquidy? I thought about how that would work, but I'm not sure what the results would be. If you've tried it, let me know. If you know why it might not work, also let me know.

It would work, but it doesn't have any advantages, so there's still no point in doing it like that.