Ironman Costume - Alternative to Resin and Bondo

[Fhryson]

Hello Guys!!!

Today I thought of sharing with you this way of building the Ironman suit avoiding the use of resin and bondo. This is mainly because I live in a small apartment and I don't have an open space to use resin, and I don't have the tools to sand bondo properly.

What I've done after finishing the pepakura, is giving the helmet 3 or 4 layers of Gesso. Gesso is a kind of liquid cast, you apply it with a brush and it dries in just half an hour. You can buy it in any bookshop/bookstore. The finishing is not soft as with resin, but it gets the job done. It makes the paper strong to be able to handle the fiberglass.









After that, I put fiberglass on the inside, but instead of using resin, I used carpenter's glue (Cola de carpintero here in Argentina), diluted with 30% of water. The result is really strong. I don't have anything to compare it to, but the helmet was really rigid.

After fiberglassing, I separated the faceplate and I cut the "teeth" part, because I'm planning on doing them with foam.



Then, I didn't use bondo (I don't know where to buy it here and I heard it is really difficult to sand). Instead, I used Joint Compound (the one you use to fix holes in walls). It's really soft and can be sanded easily.
here's a pic of the faceplate with one layer of Compound and one coat of primer.



You can still see the shape from the paper, but the second layer covered it almost completely:





It still has some details to be corrected, I already put some compound on the spots that need to be fixed.

I have most of the upperbody done in paper, I hope I can finish it soon!



Any thoughts/ideas/comments on this method???

 

[EyeofSauron]

joint compound is brittle and porous. it will crack easily. i used it for my MMPR helmet. it works fairly well, but it wont hold up stress for long. also you cant get a perfect surface like with bondo due to the porous nature of the product

 

[chewierip]

Looks great and probably much cheaper too! I guess the only down side I could think of, is how brittle is joint compound when it's dry? Definitely looks easier though

 

[Fhryson]

joint compound is brittle and porous. it will crack easily. i used it for my MMPR helmet. it works fairly well, but it wont hold up stress for long. also you cant get a perfect surface like with bondo due to the porous nature of the product

Thanks for the advice! do you have any pictures of that MMPR helmet? I have been putting one layer of compund and the primer, I did this 3 times, I think it's pretty solid. I'm not planning on using the suit very often, I think I'll leave it as a "real size" statue at home.

Looks great and probably much cheaper too! I guess the only down side I could think of, is how brittle is joint compound when it's dry? Definitely looks easier though

Thanks!!!

 

[J Scorn]

i go with the above comments, its looking good but the fear of a knock or a drop can damage all those hours of hard work in seconds.

ive your looking for something strong and save look up ICE resin, its for indoor use jewllers use it and its very strong. also theres a water based resin called aqua resin thats good but not as strong.

hope this helps

if you want more advive find me on facebook. links below!

 

[Fhryson]

Ok guys! Here it is!
You can see some details, but i was really (I mean REALLY) tired of sanding.
I still have to cut the jaw and do the "teeth" with Foam.
What do you think?

 

[TChiu]

Good job on that, I also use joint compund for the same reasons as you. For fiberglassing i used epoxamite cause its apparantlye non toxic (i still do it in the stairway of my apartment just to be safe). Right now im making a magneto first class helmet and i finished a batman helmet not too long ago. Both of them used joint compound. Though ive never used bondo, i have heard that sanding it is a major pain. I highly recommend joint compound for the following reasons.
1. non toxic
2. water based (easy clean up)
3. Easy to sand

about the durability, i agree that it can be brittle but Mightyjohn wrote a very in depth post on how to get the most durability out of your joint compound. He recommends priming between each layer of joint compound. I did that with my batman helmet and it worked out great. With my current project, im trying to speed through the build so im not priming after every coat. instead i hit it with a heat gun and within minutes it completely hardend, ready to sand and quit durable. also, if your planning on molding and casting it, i think the time saved on sanding alone makes this method worth while.

 

[satoshifx]

muy bueno! aca en argentina el bondo se lo conoce como masilla plastica u otra variante es la masilla de la piroxilina, se consigue en pinturerias grandes o que trabajen pinturas bicapa para automoviles. no es muy cara ni dificil de lijar y ofrece un acabado muy superior y durable, espero q te sirva

 

[Fhryson]

Thanks TChiu! I've also read MightyJohn's post and that's exactly how I made it. I am planning on molding it, so I think it is the best way. The little details can me fixed later. Thaks for the information!

Gracias Satoshifx! Me habian dicho que Bondo era masilla automotriz o algo asi. De cualquier modo, con enduido creo que es lo mas facil que se pueda llegar a encontrar. Cuando haga los moldes vere que otro material usar. Gracias por la info y la buena onda!

 

[nguynhan]

amazing forum! i was just wondering what primer you used in between the compound layers? is it primer compoind primer compound? or is it the othe way around? thanks =)

 

[Fhryson]

THANKS!!!! I used Rust-oleum primer. I used compound, primer, compound, primer, ....