Noob Captain America and Predator WIPs (Please Help!)

sockstudios

New Member
Hey guys,
I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks. I just discovered pepakura, and I'm entranced. After hitting the tutorials and checking out the Hero Tutorials I decided to dive in nose first, so I've started with the Cap Helmet from the new movie and a couple of Predator masks. I really only meant to do one, but the first one I printed I neglected to put the edge ID on, so rather than guess I decided to build two at once.
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Here they all are, assembled and resined on the outside. I had some issues out the gate with the resin/hardener ratio. Kinda gummed up my cap helmet a bit. I sanded off the larger bits and im hoping the rest will come out in the wash in the bondo stage.
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I just finished with the fiberglass matting and resining the inside today. Its sat all day and its still sticky though. Is that normal? Also, do you usually only put one layer inside? It still seems kinda flexible. The resin and fiberglass seem sorta solid. Just sticky.
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Anyway. I didn't want to overload the post with pics, but if you guys would take a look and give me some tips and pointers on what's here so far, and where to go from here... I'm really nervous about the bondo stage. I watched a few vids but I'm not confident on the whole process. I know experience is everything, but I really wanna knock these out of the park, and I'm hoping to get the cap helmet ready for the movie opening. lol
pepakura pictures by sockstudios - Photobucket
 
Also, I read that you need to sand the fiberglass inside. I have a detail sander, but it doesn't seem to work well on the fiberglass and is very cumbersome to get inside all those spaces. The dremmel is better, but only slightly. Any tips on ways to really get in there and sand these smooth?
 
the fibreglass sanding is for the parts where hardened edges of fibre glass stand out as they will cut you. as long as it is flat, you dont need to sand it, only the little parts poking out :)
 
powder it with cornstarch, put some cornstarch in a sock or cloth tie it closed then just pat areas of the fiberglass that are sticky. It fixes that quick.
 
To smooth out or fill in areas i like to use fiberglass gell. It does not drip, can be put on very thick and still dries well. With gloves on you can also smoothe it out defore it hardens. I have also used fiberglass jell to build up raised details.
 
Corn starch? Awesome! Thanks cash. Hey mikey, that fiberglass gel sounds incredibly usefull. Can I get that at walmart automotive also? How pricey is it usually? I'm working with peanuts here.
 
Fiberglass Jelly not sure about it where you are but it costs a dollar or two more here. I've only worked with it once and did'nt like it for pepakura stuff but it's great for backing. I usually glue down my fiberglass cloth then coat it with resin. But my health has'nt been so great lately so I can't work with resin or bondo at the moment.
 
I've bought the jelly at Wal-Mart. Used it on one of my Cap shields. It's harder to sand than the resin is but it's pretty durable. Uses the same hardener as the body filler. It costs a few dollars more than the resin does. For my money, on pepakura projects, I'd use the body filler over the jelly any day, though the jelly can have its uses, too.
 
I decided to focus on the cap helmet for the time being. I finished the first coat of bondo, sanded it down and just finished the second layer this afternoon. It's starting to look pretty good. I think I probably should have scaled the pep down a bit. It's a little big on me, but with some padding in the back it doesn't look too bad.
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I have a major problem though. There is a pretty bad fissure on the thin trip under the eyes on the right side.
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The crack started as a tear in the pep after the resin had dried. I had hoped the bondo would fix the crack, but now the crack has spread through the first layer of bondo. I'm wondering if I should suture the crack from the inside with another thin layer of fiberglass mat and resin, then continue with the next layer of bondo and see if it will hold. Any advice? Anybody have this issue before?
 
Your plan to suture it should work. Perhaps even a coat of resin on the outside along with the suture on the inside. I've had similar things happen in projects. That usually fixes it for me.
 
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Finnished peping my shield. Had to do it twice because the original pep was HUGE. lol I'm about to mat it. I'm trying to decide how to go about it. Should I mat the outside and the inside so I can sand the huge creases on the inside down? And I have NO idea how im going to get a good paint job on this thing. After the lines are covered by the bondo, I'm afraid I wont get the star and the rings even. Any suggestions?
 
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