Worbla - Any experiences to share?

[Lord Atrocity]

thats all i use now is worbla, wonderflex and thin foam. the stuff is just strait incredible. if anyone has any questions just pm me. if not ill post my experience with it when i have a better chance lol

 

[Berserk]

Check out Heaven's Forge, it's a awesome chick down in Australia that runs her own costume supplies shop and works with Worbla alot

Heaven's Forge | Unique cosplay supplies

 

[Finnlock]

looking at the sheet size verses the price, Id say someone is making money hand over fist with worbla, I know people in the plastic industry and they say that $50 for a 2.5 foot by 3.5 foot sheet is just insane. I asked them if they could find out what the real name for it is, or a similar product that would only cost $10 or 20 for the same amount.

Any word on this? I tracked it down to this company Toe Puffs: Rhenoflex - Partner for innovative footwear production but I wasn't sure where to go from there with it. It seems the stuff is used in shoe making. Stuff is fun and deffenetly great to add to the bag of tricks and I'd love to know more about sourcing it at a better price.

 

[P4r4dox86]

Currently using Worbla and thin craft foam to make a prop Time Beetle from Dr Who, check out how it's working out here if you want to: http://www.therpf.com/f24/donna-noble-time-beetle-dr-who-195048/

 

[kialna]

I'm also working with worbla. I made the top of the Assassin Bracer on my Creedlock costume (see signature) and for Smaug I'm working on the armor pieces with Worbla...

(this is before using a primer)

 

[zacic]

same thing Finnlock, was tracked back to use in shoes and roller blades, still cant find a supplier for it, or the proper industry name for it...

 

[Finnlock]

sheet i have says Rhenoflex RX 5050 30450713/C3 printed on the glue side along the edge...not sure if that helps, but when I googled it it lead me to that website I posted.

 

[JMChabot]

Hey guys. I'm trying to contact the company in question to see what the likelihood of buying some RX5050 sheets from them. I have the PDF spec sheets from the site if you want them. There's quite the variety of materials most of which I think would be interesting to work with or at least try...

I'll keep you posted of what I hear back from them...

 

[billymaya]

Just out of interest how tough is it once set? can it be used on thicker foam? I see in the uk I can get a sheet 750mm x 1000mm for £30 which isn't so bad but I wonder how much that would cover ?

 

[cougar184]

here is my current worbla project

 

[P4r4dox86]

Just out of interest how tough is it once set? can it be used on thicker foam? I see in the uk I can get a sheet 750mm x 1000mm for £30 which isn't so bad but I wonder how much that would cover ?

It's quite tough when set, hard plastic but with a little bit of give in it. I've done a test piece using 6mm foam with no issues so far, and I've used it on 2mm and 3mm foam as well with good results, haven't gone any thicker than that yet. I picked up a 1000mm x 1500mm sheet for ~AUD$80 and so far I've covered almost the whole Time Beetle I'm making and barely touched it. In the end, unless you're planning on sandwiching the foam between two pieces of Worbla for extra strength etc, then you only need the same surface area of foam and Worbla, +/- a the thickness of your foam to wrap around to the sides/bottom of the piece.

 

[Alpha Proto]

The stuff sound great, but the price is steep.

 

[P4r4dox86]

The stuff sound great, but the price is steep.

Well I guess it depends how you look at it. When I built my Iron Patriot armour I used PVA glue and automotive body deadener to seal the foam for painting. I ended up using about a litre of PVA and 4-5 cans of deadener, at a good AUD$15 a can. When you look at the comparitive cost for an extra large sheet (assuming you only need one, which considering it's size you would probably get most of a suit out of it) it's about the same. Never used Plastidip, but from what I've seen on other peoples threads, again you end up using a fair amount which runs up the cost of sealing, where as with the Worbla you would get a rigid armour that didn't require sealing of foam and wouldn't get paint cracks from bending etc and require as much touching up in the future. It really depends on what you're looking for .

 

[Alpha Proto]

I never thought of it that way. With Worbla I would just have to primer my build, paint, and seal.
Not plastidip, primer, paint, seal.
Do you even have to primer with Worbla?

 

[kialna]

Not necessarily, but I prefer to do so.

 

[Tarchinoko]

but worbla doesnt have a great surface texture, its very bitty and looks kind of like sandpaper, so you would either need to sand it significantly over the entire surface or cover the surface in a thick primer such as gesso

 

[P4r4dox86]

It does have a bit of a rough outer surface, but a VERY thin layer of Bondo or Rondo and a bit of sanding would fix that, or alternatively there are filler primers on the market for automotive body work that are sandable. Couple of layers of that would prime your work as well as smooth the surface, then just paint and top coat. Haven't tried it yet, but it's on my list of things to attempt.

 

[JMChabot]

So the news is so-so... I heard back VERY fast from the company. In North America,cosplaysupplies.com is the distributor for RX5050 (known as Worbla). None of their other RX5000 products are marketed in North America.

I do wonder if folks in the EU can get their hands on sample bundles from Rhenoflex directly? Some of their other materials sound really intriguing.... And if that is possible, maybe some kind soul that is able to a sample pack could share their opinion of what they gt (or perhaps even share some of the materials with their RPF brethren from abroad??)

I'm really thinking of getting a couple sheets to try. Can't hurt, right?

 

[ruby2sday]

My first experience with Worbla was a few weeks ago when I decided to make a non-lethal Freddy Krueger glove (my husband is going to wear it while biking around the neighborhood for Halloween). I was surprised with how easy it was to work with the thermoplastic material. Because it was a learning experience, I tried using hot water, a heat gun, and a hot iron tip for shaping the Worbla.

Hot water is great; you just need to keep the water close to boiling temp while you're working. The hot iron tip is great for making holes and smoothing out joints; but the Worbla tends to burn/blacken when the tip is too hot (good thing my hot iron has two settings -- I used the medium heat). The heat gun was what I used for the most part; it heats/softens the material quickly.

As a first-timer with Worbla, I think I did okay. I burned my hand with my hot iron only once, and I discovered that the best way to heat small pieces was to not hold them with my fingers. :rolleyes

Here's the link to my build blog: Worbla Thermoplastic Freddy Krueger Glove

 

[P4r4dox86]

That Freddy glove looks awesome ruby! Nice use of materials, but I think the paintjob makes it .