My Armor (in progress)

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Sarge Christi

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Ok, I'm a noob at this.
I'm trying to make a spartan suit myself and holy cow am I having a hard time.

First off, my dad and I (yes, I'm getting help from dad) started by using an old baseball helmet that fit snuggly to my head to get that helmet shape without too much hassle.

The problem we're facing now is... our fibre glass is bumpy and not smooth. I'd rather it be kinda smooth.

I'm a girl so this is really hard. I think I'm challenged when it comes to working with fibre glass and stuff. Haha.
any help?
 
you can cover the fiberglass with fiberglass resin, which can be sanded.. .or you can use bondo, which can also be sanded to a smooth finish.
 
If you could post up some pics of what you've done thus far, and maybe give us some specifics on what materials you are using specifically, I'm sure that we can diagnose the problem much better.

If you are working with the right materials you should not have this bumpy problem....
 
Yeah I agree with Adam, the problem most likley is that she didnt sand it well enough. She could just add fiberglass resin over the fiberglass and then sand it to her liking :]
 
you can try adding body filler to it by smoothing on with a Rubber Squeegee...it will lot better to sand
 
well lemme try to explain it best i can until i can fix my camera.
basically...
the fibre glass is making little like.. dents in the helmet, and bumps. of course it's spiky but i haven't sanded it yet.
 
Did y'all use a mat or a sheet of fiberglass?

'Cause if it's sheet it might be trapped air bubbles.

And if it's mat it might be bunched up bundles of fibers.
 
We put fibre glass resin over it.
Why?
Am I doing something wrong?
(poo I wish I had my camera)
 
Sorry, I musta been editing while you posted....

I'd say check the resining and fiberglass tuts and see if there's any major differences between what y'all did and what they did.

You can cosmetically fix things, and it shouldn't make a large impact on structural stability if it's just the fiberglass, it just means a little more work with a sander and or or bondo, spackle, magic putty, or somethin' similar....
 
Great job on the helmet! It's more unique than alot of the DIY helmets I've seen here... something very stylized about it. (y)

Hmmm. I wish I could really say 100% that there was a easy to solve problem with the way that they fiberglass was applied, but I really don't see any evidence of that. The surface you see is kinda typical for the fiberglass/resin combo.

It looks to me that you're probably just going to buckle down with the sanding, but first, make sure that you build up some extra thickness overtop of the fiberglass by adding a few extra coats of resin. This will help smooth the surface, and give you enough thickness to sand through before you hit your fiberglass cloth (which you don't want to do).

Bondo is significantly easier to use for smoothing out problem areas and filling gaps and pits in the resin. Resin is much harder than the bondo and therefore more difficult to sand. It's also thicker, and much easier to control when you apply.

You may want to invest in a palm sander and/or Dremel rotary tool to speed up this process. As you sand it smooth, you may want to give it a coat of primer from time to time to fill pinholes in the resin, and to help you see the surface better. Polyester resin can play tricks on your eyes because of it's translucency.

Start with a heavy grit... maybe 60 or 80, and work you way up to the fine sandpaper... I only go up to 220 with my stuff. Spraypaint hides a multitude of sins. :mrgreen: Use the dremel for carving details, and rounding corners.

Good luck, and let us know if theres any more we can do to help you. I'd love to see some updates as you progress with this!

-Sean
 
you used cloth and when you sand it you will see the texture throu the paint
so if i were you i would use body filler now on the whole helmet make sure to use a Rubber Squeegee to spread it on evenly that will help hide the glass texture
 
link4044 said:
you used cloth and when you sand it you will see the texture throu the paint
so if i were you i would use body filler now on the whole helmet make sure to use a Rubber Squeegee to spread it on evenly that will help hide the glass texture

what is body filler? is it like bondo?
 
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OKey dokey, I'ma try what you guys are talking about.

And you kinda loose me when you use big words. You are talking to a girl.
But I'll survive. My daed has a power sander. And we have sanding paper at the house.


One other question... what color should I paint it? I was thinking blue.
Since we already have the second or third layer of fibre glass on it.


Also, fibre glass jelly = lame. We bought some from Wal-Mart and it sucks.
 
blue is a cool color, i was think about painting mine blue. but im still not sure, its either blue or green. but its up to you. btw, great progress keep up the good work
 
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