Questions About Finishing Cardboard Iron Man Armor

[JimmyNeutron]

Hey guys. I'm working on some cardboard-based Iron Man armor for halloween (I know it's several months away, I'm giving myself plenty of time ), but I need a little help regarding the finish.

Basically, I'm building it out of cardboard, but I don't want to use bondo or some kind of body filler. I've never built something like this before, and I heard that bondo has a steep learning curve. So I'd like to simply finish the cardboard itself. I plan to harden it using a mixture of wood glue and water, which seems to be working quite well. The surface is even sandable afterwards! My one problem is that, no matter how much I sand and re-apply the glue mixture, there is still a sort of "corrugated" effect in the shine on the surface. I can't seem to get it smooth. I have a couple of ideas that I'd like your feedback on:

• Could I maybe apply two or three coats of Plasti Dip to the hardened cardboard? Would that smooth things out?
• Would I be able to harden the Plasti Dip by applying a clear coat on top before painting?
• Would be a decent finish to the suit: cardboard, glue mixture to harden the cardboard -> Plasti Dip to smooth the surface -> clear coat to protect the Plasti Dip -> paint?

If anyone else has any ideas or insight into this, I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

 

[Murdoch]

First coat it with fibreglass resin. The back or the inside of the armour is coated with resin and fibreglass is applied, after that usually it's Rondo which is a 50/50 mix of bonds and fibreglass resin with both their respective hardener's. YouTube is your friend. Go to the Heroes Workshop $25.00 for Stealth's download tutorial is an investment you can pickup Shawn Thorsson's book. They both are members here and I have both...

 

[Huang]

Try using filler primer, it can smooth out surfaces that are almost smooth but not quite there.

 

[Rogviler]

If you want to stay nontoxic, I use blue shop towels soaked in a mix of white or wood glue and water to cover the cardboard. This layer dries really hard. Then if you want it smoother you can use a mix of Durham's water putty, white glue, and water, mixed to a spreadable paste (thick). In this mixture, more glue makes it more durable, but much harder to sand, so experiment to get a feel for it.

If you do fiberglass then you might as well also do body fillers, since they're all toxic, difficult to work with first-time, and irreparably messy.

-Rog

 

[JimmyNeutron]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Rog's solution led me to find a recipe for something called "paper clay" which I am experimenting with right now. It looks pretty good to me, though I think that filler primer that Huang suggested might be just what I need to get the finish just right.

 

[omel]

how about covering it in craft foam?