Crack in Pepakura Helmet

[NiceBowlingShoe]

So I was at my final stages of finishing this Red Hood V2 pep from BlackKaos. Things were looking good when a sudden gust of wind took down the post my helmet was drying on, and it took a dive into the dirt. The primer is a little scuffed up, but I figure some good old sanding will sort that issue out.

The problem is one of the eyes developed a deep crack, through the primer, the bondo, the resin, the paper and the rondo slush cast. It's a thin area around the eye, and I don't think adding bondo inside the helmet will seal the crack and stop it from spreading. Any advise to seal this back up?

 

[SuperSkeptik]

Similar thing happened to me. I fiberglassed the crack shut and rondo'd on the inside, then added some more Bondo on the outside. Seems stronger than ever now.

 

[NiceBowlingShoe]

I'll give it a go when I get back home. Since I'm so close to the final stage I don't feel like I can build up bon do on the outside. Hopefully sealing the crack with resin won't raise the area around the eye too much.

 

[Vox]

You might want to try Bondo Spot Putty. It dries really quickly, and tends to be a lot better for these types of jobs than Bondo Body Filler. You could apply it to both sides, then use 1000 grit sand paper to slowly shape it back to the correct proportions. Then another coat of primer over the whole thing hides it (and another coat of primer never hurts).

You could also try super glue. This will act as a suitable bonding agent to keep the cracked part together, preventing any further separation.

Either way, I don't think you have reason to panic yet. Just plan out your next move, apply it carefully, and you should be able to fix it without a problem.

 

[RevolverOcelot]

I haven't had that happen with anything I've worked, yet, but I agree with Supes. I'd sand the surface on the inside and apply a layer of fiberglass and resin to stiffen the area and then a little rondo over that. Bondo into the crack itself. It won't need to be much.

 

[DarthStevenus]

Almost the exact same thing happened to me, except it wasn't a gust of wind that took my cowl down but my own butt bumping into the table it was on. And it fell on concrete instead of dirt. Had two big cracks along the nose (one of them cracked all the way down to the paper, it was huge) and one along the side of the face. I sealed them all up with super glue and then used spot & glazing putty along the edges of the glue once it dried to smooth it over with the rest of the surface. It worked out pretty well.

 

[NiceBowlingShoe]

Quick update. So I went over to Walmart, and they didn't have any fiberglass matting. I snagged some max krazy glue, and some fillable primer. Apparently krazy glue doesn't stick to the non vinyl gloves I picked up for bondo work, so I was really able to smooth out the surface and give it a nice krazy glue bandage over the crack. I then reinforced the eyes with bondo to hopefully present future drops from being to destructive. I also decided to move the painting into the garage instead of outdoors. After sanding, patching and another coat of primer below is what we're back to. After one more coat of primer and a nice wet sand I think I should be ready to etch some detail lines in, then apply the final paint.

Thank you RPF 911 squad, I appreciate all the help.

Also, I feel that applying fiberglass matting to the inside of the helmet instead of the rondo slush cast would have helped strengthen the edges of the pep a lot. With the slush cast the top and mouth really took most of the rondo, but it left a light coating on the eyes, considering the amount that kept seeping out. Next build I think I'll give the fiberglass matting a try.

New Pic: