What are recommended alternates for fiberglass?

[Jon]

I'm done with the crest part of the Pepakura type armor. Just wondering, is there other fiberglass alternates that can do a good job?
I've been kinda thinking of Paper mache..

 

[BattleLlama]

I'm done with the crest part of the Pepakura type armor. Just wondering, is there other fiberglass alternates that can do a good job?
I've been kinda thinking of Paper mache.

I used paper mache on mine. It worked pretty well, the only issue I had with it is that it dried a little bit malformed, but that shouldn't be too big of a concern.

 

[Jon]

I used paper mache on mine. It worked pretty well, the only issue I had with it is that it dried a little bit malformed, but that shouldn't be too big of a concern.

So I guess the mache needs to be evenly spread?

Mache seems reliable, btw.

 

[owen saber]

u could try casting resin. its way easier and nicer looking, but it's more expensive. here this guy explains it good: http://405th.com/?p=574

 

[HeavyGunner]

I personally use "Great Stuff" brand expanding foam for all my armor pieces. It works very well, is often very cheap, and dries very hard. The only thing is, the foam is highly unpredictable. I've been using it for at least 8 months, and I still haven't mastered the method. If you want to try it, I would experiment a bunch with it, before trying it on any pieces at all. And, if you need any help, you can pm me.

 

[cgspartan]

u could try casting resin. its way easier and nicer looking, but it's more expensive. here this guy explains it good: http://405th.com/?p=574

It's really not any more expensive than fiberglass/bondo. A gallon kit of smooth-cast 300 is about 90-100USD after shipping. That gives you 2 gallons of resin (1gal partA, 1gal partB)

2 gallons of standard resin is gonna run you about 70, then the fiberglass mat/cloth/whatever to use all that resin is gonna run you another 20-40 at least and all of a sudden you're about the same price as the smooth-cast.



Not to mention doing the smooth-cast is much much easier.



A trick i use with it is to use plain old elmer's glue as a release agent. after you get your smooth-cast to the thickness you want, just start getting the cardstock wet, it reactivates the elmer's glue, and you can just peel/wash everything off. leaving almost no residue on the plastic. After that's done, you can fill over any imperfections with more smoothcast, that way you don't have to buy bondo either. Just mix some baby powder in with the smoothcast (it takes around 1:1 baby powder to resin to get a good thick paste).

 

[23Magnum]

Not going to close this since it seems some decent posts where made after the fact, but remember to check previous post dates before posting please.

 

[mc halo3]

i see,i thought this was a new topic,but wow unanswered for 2 years,he must of moved on already

 

[BenStreeper]

I use rondo to make mine sirs.