Help with some of the specifics around fibreglass Iron Man helmets please...

[Gaz]

Hi,

I'm currently in the midst of building two Iron Man Mk 42 helmets. This is the first time I'm attempting to use card pep / fibreglass, as my last two helmets were built successfully using foam, but I have never been happy with the finish. Anyway...

I am currently at the stage of having the two helmets fully constructed out of card, and I've attached the face plate to the rest of the helmet. From watching a number of videos, I am comfortable with the next steps of applying resin to the outside and resin / fibreglass to the interior.

After that, I am unsure whether I should bondo / sand the entire helmet as one piece, or cut out the face plate again before doing the bondo step? If I leave the face plate attached, I am envisioning a lot of extra work to get the cut edges tidy.

Thanks in advance as always.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

You'll have better results leaving the faceplate attached through the entire process, ensuring that when you cut the pieces apart you have a perfect match.

 

[ep82]

Hey Gaz. What will you be doing once you take the faceplate off? I currently have a helmet with the faceplate off and I am not sure if I should put hinges on (my last choice) or somehow get it motorized (my first choice but limited option)

 

[Kevin Gossett]

You'll need hinges regardless if it's motorized or not

 

[Gaz]

I haven't got as far as worrying about the hinges or magnets etc. On my most recent foam helmet, I chose to use meccano parts to build a crude hinging system, which worked pretty well, but was let down by the foam itself. I've seen some good fibreglass helmets simply with magnets, which was a lot like my first helmet, whereby you detach the face plate and re-attach it using some further concealed magnets in the raised position.

As I say, once I've got myself two good looking helmets, I'll worry about the mechanics. All I do know is that I won't be motorising, just adding led lights to the eyes.

Thanks for the advice. I'll be adding a WIP thread once I get some momentum, as this is an original creative build.