Paper models and fiberglass/resin, tips?

[justanuthercap]

When I made my Halo CQB helmet from Pep... it went exactly like most on here have said. 110 lb card stock, regular old elmers to put it all together. Two coats of fiberglass resin (resin only) on the outside and then three layers of fiberglass on the inside. I made the first two with the shredded fiberglass and the final one with fiberglass cloth to keep it smooth. The just start with the auto filler (Bondo) work and sand, and sand and sand, then sand some more! Turns out very good if you take your time.

Heres the helmet shortly after I just started adding bondo. It does slightly show the inside so you can see the firberglassing.

And heres the final product. It was a lot of fun, so definately give it a shot.

 

[dropshipbob]

Wow, that came from a paper model?

Nice.:thumbsup

 

[Fulcrum]

Depending on how much hardner you mix in determins how fast it will set.
----
Also,If you use the card stock,glue the pieces together with super glue "I use the bottle with
the brush in the lid". White "school glue" will come undone when you glass it.

 

[Nwerke]

A plotter, like the kind that taps little holes in paper, or the kind that cuts out vinyl for signs? Wouldn't the image need to be in vector? All I have are Jpegs.

There are plenty that output raster graphics too. Or, you could trace over it in CorelDraw or Illustrator and get your vectors that way.

Chiok's method may be simpler.

Justanothercap - that's one excellent lid!!!

 

[MisriahArmory]

Or just get a Pepakura printer... (CraftRobo)

It cuts and score all your pieces.

You don't need to convert to vectors, Pepakura does it for you with a plugin.

 

[cayman shen]

OK, so I just started my first pepakura...this is a lot harder than it looks! So this resin and fiberglass and so on, is it available from a hardware or auto store, or is there an alternative that would be "locally" available? Obviously, I know where to get Bondo for the top layer...

Seriously, this is tricky! :lol

 

[MisriahArmory]

Hardware stores have both normally, or Walmart-kind of stores.

 

[CB2001]

Actually, you happen to be in luck about papermodels and fiberglass tips. Indy Mogul, which teaches users on how to make low budget film props for $100 or less. They actually had a tutorial on how to make Halo Armor, where they got Erica Langworthy, the host of "Drawn by Pain" and maker of Halo armor as a hobby, to help show how to make such armor possible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1WK26NHx0o

You may want to also follow the 405th site address in the video as well. They've got a ezine that has tips on alternate methods for "hardening" paper models (one of them, which I couldn't believe, was with hot glue). Anyways, it's very useful.

And don't be afraid of checking out their other tutorials, as they've done a lot of prop replicas, such as Ash's chainsaw from "Evil Dead 2" (non-accurate) and Hellboy's Good Samaritan gun. And their tutorials may be useful.

 

[cayman shen]

Hey, thanks! I've been using hot glue on my assembly. I've never used it before, and it's safe to say I hate it. But then, I've never, ever been good with glue. I'm the only person I've met who actually stuck both hands to a linoleum floor with superglue.

 

[CB2001]

Hey, thanks! I've been using hot glue on my assembly. I've never used it before, and it's safe to say I hate it. But then, I've never, ever been good with glue. I'm the only person I've met who actually stuck both hands to a linoleum floor with superglue.

You're very much welcome. Indy Mogul knows what they're doing, as does the people at 405th. They practically perfected their methods of hardening a paper model. I've considered on doing the same thing myself, make myself a replica of the Season 2 "blaster" from the RIS "Battlestar Galactica", since I found a paper model of the gun they used for the show. It was either that or get a resin replica for about $40, which were being sold at MegaCon.

 

[cayman shen]

How to people scale the templates? I have a predator one I printed off on letter sized paper, but it's undersized. Can it be tweaked to go larger, even if it takes more sheets? Or do I have to go to a print shop? I have pepakura viewer 3.

 

[darth_myeek]

Long winded (but good) tutorial

He talks about changing print scale.


-DM

 

[nuni82]

What if its impossible to fiberglass the inside? Fot example, I'm making Gene Simmons boots and I can't do that. I used cardstock to shape the shoes (originally 7" stripper shoes I bought on Ebay), did the details with modeling clay. I have resin and fiberglass cloth. Not sure how to go about it either. I had the same concern regarding the resin and the cardstock.