How to strengthen a Stormtrooper helmet

morsesith21

morsesith21

Sr Member
Hello everyone, I recently purchased a kit for a ROTJ stormtrooper helmet off of ebay. The mold is nice as it is a cast from an RSPropmaster pull. However, it is formed in very thin styrene and is very brittle. In fact it already has a couple cracks. Does anyone have an i dea of what I can coat it with to make it stronger? I was thinking fiberglass but im not sure. Any info is much appreciated. 20160822_191242.jpg20160822_201528.jpg
 
Yea thats what i was thinking. I ve heard of some sort of glue that you use for motorcycle helmets that fills in cracks and is really strong but havent been able to find anything like it.
 
cjchiu said:
Fiberglass the inside?
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NO!!! The solvents used in fiberglass resins can attack and dissolve styrene. If the styrene is thick enough this won't be a problem but if it is as thin as you describe you could end up with a gloopy mess. Likewise, auto body filler (Bondo) is polyester resin based and can attack styrene, although it usually kicks off so fast it's not a problem.

You want to use Epoxy resin and glass cloth. Same process as fiberglass except with an epoxy resin rather than polyester. The epoxy won't harm the styrene. An added benefit is that it is far less toxic and doesn't give off fumes. The downside is that it is considerably more expensive than polyester resin and harder to find. West Systems makes one of the more popular line of epoxy resins.
 
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DaveG said:
NO!!! The solvents used in fiberglass resins can attack and dissolve styrene. If the styrene is thick enough this won't be a problem but if it is as thin as you describe you could end up with a gloopy mess. Likewise, auto body filler (Bondo) is polyester resin based and can attack styrene, although it usually kicks off so fast it's not a problem.

You want to use Epoxy resin and glass cloth. Same process as fiberglass except with an epoxy resin rather than polyester. The epoxy won't harm the styrene. An added benefit is that it is far less toxic and doesn't give off fumes. The downside is that it is considerable more expensive than polyester resin and harder to find. West Systems makes one of the more popular line of epoxy resins.
Click to expand...

I thought that even epoxy resin gives off heat when curing? Won't that cause damage to the styrene?

TazMan2000
 
All resins give off heat (exotherm) when curing. But in thin layers like you would use when glassing, epoxy will not get noticeably warmer than polyester, and certainly not hot enough to soften or melt styrene.
 
I used epoxy resin and cloth on the inside of mine. I had only really needed to strengthen the mic areas. I then used black Plasti-Dip so it covered the sight of the cloth. I know that black isn't cannon but I didn't care. I did the same thing for the bucket's ears. Worked great for me.


Rick
 
mxpxrobbie said:
I spray the insides of all my helmets with Rustoleum Truck Bed Liner spray. It makes the plastic stronger and also makes the inside look better.
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Yea a buddy of mine suggested the same thing. Do you just spray it in there like you would spray paint?

- - - Updated - - -

My boss just showed me a comercial for fiberfix today. I wasnt sure if it would work because it is like a wrap. Id probably have to just wrap the inside.
 
morsesith21 said:
Yea a buddy of mine suggested the same thing. Do you just spray it in there like you would spray paint?

- - - Updated - - -

My boss just showed me a comercial for fiberfix today. I wasnt sure if it would work because it is like a wrap. Id probably have to just wrap the inside.
Click to expand...

Yep! That's it!
 
DaveG said:
NO!!! The solvents used in fiberglass resins can attack and dissolve styrene.
Click to expand...
Another drawback with polyester resin is that it is really not a very good adhesive. But epoxy is.

I once reinforced a ABS/styrene helmet with fibreglass and polyester resin only to have the inner fibreglass shell release from the outer plastic shell after a couple of troops. To repair this I had to drill a couple of holes in the fibreglass and inject epoxy into them. What a mess...

So, if you are going to reinforce with fibreglass, do use epoxy resin from the start!
West Systems' smallest cans are quite big. You could go a long way with a couple of smaller tubes of another brand but you would need to make sure that it is a variety that has a long work-time before it starts to set.
 
I'd second (5th?) the epoxy/glass cloth suggestion, though people have reported good success with plasti-dip. Is this a makerofthings helmet?
 
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