Gluing With Little Surface Area

[Jesuit24]

I'm plotting a Tank Girl helmet like so:



And I was wondering what ideas people have for attaching the various projectiles to the helmet. I'm talking attaching as in unmovable and unbudging, so that they would last an entire convention unscathed. I'm a big fan of epoxy, but I don't think it would cut it in this case and my other go-to for permanent hold is fiberglass, but I don't see a way that would glue A to B. All I can think to do is drill holes in the helmet and try and wedge the pieces in tightly with some epoxy.

Any thoughts?

 

[Sean]

are you talking about the arrow knife dart bullet head piece on front? whats the helmet made of? and the parts you want to put on?

need a little more details...

 

[Jesuit24]

The helmet is a regular metal GI helmet and I'm thinking about attaching the bullet, dart, arrow and little star on the front, all of which will be metal as well.

 

[typeomega]

i would drill and tap the objects being attached then drill corresponding holes in the helmet and mount them with hardware then use epoxy/bondo/milliput for insurance

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

A mechanical bond is greater than any chemical bond. I would do something on the variation of drilling holes or notches into the helmet and then with your projectiles, drill holes into those, and using a board with pegs in it or screws, attach both object with the holes into the pegs/screws through the helmet and secure it with epoxy.

 

[typeomega]

i love how the bullet on there still has the brass casing on it.

 

[USS Endeav]

i would drill and tap the objects being attached then drill corresponding holes in the helmet and mount them with hardware then use epoxy/bondo/milliput for insurance

This.

As was said, a mechanical bond will surpass a chemical one.

 

[Sean]

I agree. drill the helmet and objects. thread tap for screws. and If the helmet thick enough. counter sink the screw heads. drilling and tapping a knife blade could a pita. and could shatter it. and definitely some type of metal epoxy..

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

I wasn't implying using a real blade, by the by. :lol You should stick to making a replica to use.

 

[typeomega]

you may also want to make the kangaroo in front hollow so you can fill it with lead shot or something or you may have balance issues

 

[Sean]

I wasn't implying using a real blade, by the by. :lol You should stick to making a replica to use.

A plastic blade wouldn't last ten minutes mechanical or glued I would think.

 

[GaryArm]

I also agree that a mechanical fixing isfar more durable than relying on glue.
If the props were shorter you could havegotten away with glue but the long items put extra stress on the point ofattachment

 

[Jesuit24]

From a practical standpoint, I'm thinking of getting rid of the knife entirely; there are too many opportunities for it to snap off or hit someone behind her and as said plastic would be prone to snapping and then a real metal one wouldn't ever be let into a con. The arrow, I'm thinking of snapping the shaft in half so there's a bit more clearance.

But tapping sounds like a plan, so I'll go that route, thanks.

i love how the bullet on there still has the brass casing on it.

I know. I feel like it's sacrilege to keep the casing, but I must for accuracy.

 

[Contec]

From a practical standpoint, I'm thinking of getting rid of the knife entirely; there are too many opportunities for it to snap off or hit someone behind her and as said plastic would be prone to snapping and then a real metal one wouldn't ever be let into a con. The arrow, I'm thinking of snapping the shaft in half so there's a bit more clearance.

But tapping sounds like a plan, so I'll go that route, thanks.



I know. I feel like it's sacrilege to keep the casing, but I must for accuracy.

Maybe you could make a fake arrow from a metal pipe?

 

[typeomega]

if yout going to cut down a arrow... modern arrows are pre taped for changeable arrow tips i would go to wallyworld and pick up a 3 pack of youth arrows. you could try and extract the arrow mounting insert in the front and then cut down the shaft but i think it would be easier to go the opposite way and cut off the the veins and move them as the knocks on most arrows are made to come off to be easily replaceable. or better yet see if you can find crossbow bolts instead as they are inherently shorter from the factory.

 

[Darth Lars]

Real arrows are longer and not usually with arrow head. Get an arrow of aluminium and cut it in half - it is a thin-walled aluminium tube. I would think that an archer or an archery club would have lots of broken arrows laying around.
Use a long bolt through a hole in the helmet, with a washer inside washer and nut on the outside. Glue the shaft to the bolt with thickened epoxy or epoxy putty. Then sculpt the arrow head on top of that from scratch. You could also sculpt it so that it looks like there is a crack that opens outwards.

These days there are also lots of replica military helmets made out of plastic, intended for paintball. Much lighter than old GI helmets and therefore better for costuming. The plastic may vary though: You don't want PE (HDPE, Polyethylene) or PP. If it is made from ABS then you could use solvent-based adhesives for attaching greeblies made of styrene.

 

[Jesuit24]

I was going to go with wooden dowel for the arrow shaft and use an arrow head from eBay. Since Tank Girl is set post apocalyptic, wood make more sense, I think. Good call on crossbow bolts though. I may look into that.

As for the helmet, I already have one. A few years ago, I bought parts for a US Airborne helmet and all the spare parts made a B grade helmet, which is what I'm going to use.

 

[blue2k]

I would use the M1 liner (plastic, so lighter) and epoxy threaded rod into the greeblies. Attach using simple bolts and washers inside the liner.