First time Iron Man Pep Foam builder

[G4mEr EnVy]

So after watching x amount of Youtube videos and perusing through the forums, I find myself still a bit confused in terms of trying to prime, paint, and seal the painting process of foam costume.

1.) As most videos stated, begin with 3 coats of PVA (wood) glue. Do I do the Bondo filler work before or after the 3 coats? or does it even matter which is done first?

2.) After Bondo and PVA glue process, what is usually the preferred method? Do I use some sort of plastic resin first then use plastic primer then the paint? This is where it gets hazy for me.

3.) What resin do I use and when to keep the foam to hold its shape and have that hard coat?

4.) Also I found that N42 magnets are hard as hell to snap off. I wouldn't want to tear the costume foam over time because of magnets. What grade applied magnets do you folks suggest?

I have Home Depot, Harbor Freight, Walmart, and Amazon (last resort since I hate waiting) accessible to me. Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

 

[Massive]

If you are making a foam costume then you do not need resin and bondo. I suggest you watch Stealth Cosplay tutorials. He pretty much answers everything.
TUTORIAL - Painting Foam Costumes - Part 4 of "Using PEPAKURA for FOAM Costume Building" - YouTube

 

[Reedy26]

Yup. Resin & bondo are for fiberglass builds. Stealth's Hero tutorials are the answer.

 

[STEALTH]

yeah, I don't think anyone has said bondo after PVA glue. Seems you got mixed up in the info of 2 different methods.

Gotta really look at what the people are using and doing and what materials their building with. Really think about it and look closely.

 

[G4mEr EnVy]

Thanks for the fast replies.
The problem is, there are still parts from the Pep cutting that dont match up or sometimes a mistake from gluing them together. There are other parts where I'd like a smoother finish and hide the edge of the part that I cut. Can I still use the bondo to hide those?

This is pretty much the video I've watched over and over along with other tutorials such as yours Stealth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDwQg6CX25A

 

[Reedy26]

I actually used hot glue in some places to fill in small edge gaps. Larger ones I hand cut small foam pieces and glued them in. These builds do require a certain amount of artistic liberties to be taken. It's not an exact science.

 

[G4mEr EnVy]

I actually used hot glue in some places to fill in small edge gaps. Larger ones I hand cut small foam pieces and glued them in. These builds do require a certain amount of artistic liberties to be taken. It's not an exact science.

Thanks Reedy ... I guess after taking so much time to prep the pep and take hours to cut foam precisely, I get discouraged when I find that it doesn't work out like the cardboard or cardstock build I do first for every part. I keep forgetting that there's still the pva glue coatings, primers, and the plastic stuff xrobot is talking about to hide mistakes etc.

 

[Bob McCormick]

Thanks for the fast replies.
The problem is, there are still parts from the Pep cutting that dont match up or sometimes a mistake from gluing them together. There are other parts where I'd like a smoother finish and hide the edge of the part that I cut. Can I still use the bondo to hide those?

What I've been finding works pretty well is to wet sand with a 400 or 600 grit sandpaper to smooth any rough edges or "bumped up" overlaps, then use a flexible paint-able caulk (I'm using DAP DynaFlex 230) to fill in any gaps. Some folks also use regular white "Elmers" glue or hot glue to fill gaps, but I find the caulk easier.