I'm in the process of doing a Spartan helmet out of cardboard....(and an old construction helmet)...similar to what another member here's done.
I've bondo-ed the front of the faceplate...(this is the cardboard bit)... and was going to fibreglass the back for extra strength.
Being fairly new to all things fibreglass, should I use the fiberglass mesh?? Or would applying the resin, just to the cardboard, stiffen it up??
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
I would do a test on some spare whatever cardboard it is you are using first to see how the cardboard reacts. Resin is very usefull by itself in many ways, and I always keep some around the house for hobby and household jobs. You can even resin old cotton t-shirt scraps, linen, or anything else fabric in place of mesh, which is usually fairly thick and needing of smoothing out with additional filler, as resin is very very hard to sand. Also remember, you've only got about 5-8 minutes working time depending on how much hardener you add, but you can put it on fairly smoothly with a good brush that you'll have to toss when those minutes are up.
David
The resin will soak into the cardboard so if you want it to become a piece of the whole, it will. If not coat it with wax or use tinfoil over it. For strength just do a layer of glass then add a layer with roven woven matt smooth it out let it set sand off the high spots and then do another layer of resin. If you need to do some body filling there are many items that you can add to the resin. I prefer epoxy resin, but polyester resin is cheaper and works well, just stinks. Check with boat repair supply shops for materials.
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