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[DaggerElk]

Hey guys,
I've been staring at my unfinished cardboard helmet for a good month or so now, I haven't been able to amass the money for fiberlglass, resin, etc... I stumbled across a guy on the 405th and a few other places that uses PVA glue and newspaper to harden. I don't expect it to be nearly as durable as fiberglass, but does anyone have any experience with this process? I'm just really curious about other peoples experiences with it, I'm probably going to end up doing it in the end.
Thanks,
Daggerelk

[IWantToBelieve]

I've made helmets with PVA glue and newpaper, kind of paper-mache'd. They didn't turn out so well, wasn't very smooth, and it was very weak to water. I don't know how well it would take bondo though, since I used plaster to cover the helmets last time, which made them extremely heavy. Honestly, resin would be the safer bet, much more solid, much more sturdy, and not as water soluble.

[Bowfanny]

Best to use Resin Vod. It'll last longer and won't melt on you when you sweat. You can get a quart of resin for $16 and a quart of bondo for about $12

[MCarger81]

I made a Pep "foam" stormtrooper helmet and I pva'd it, painted it, then put a sealer on it. I will say it's not nearly as strong as my mando bondo helmet but it's super light and if i sit on it, it'll go back to shape. I say give it a whirl!

[Thoranios Xast'or]

Definitely scrape together the money for resin and bondo. If you use PVA you'll just be wasting money.

[Tyrral Dreks]

Save your pennies and get the resin and bondo, it will be much stronger than PVA, hold up to the elements better,  and will last longer . Which really makes it a good investment

[Peregrinus]

It's actually cheaper than you're apparently running into. You can get Bondo's firberglass repair kit just about anywhere from WalMart to Ace Hardware for about fifteen bucks. It comes with plenty of resin, hardener, fiberglass cloth, and the stuff you need to mix and apply it, for at least a helmet. A small can of Bondo's body filler is under ten bucks. The least messy approach I've found is:

- Brush the resin -- tinted with food coloring so you can gauge evenness of the coat -- on the outside once you've got the shape stabilized with temporary supports inside. Two coats a couple minutes apart should be good.

- Once that's cured take the supports out, and coat the inside with "rondo". This is a nickname for 1:1 Bondo resin and body filler -- no hardener -- mixed together, then really quickly mix in twice the amount of liquid hardener as you'd use for the amount of resin used, and pour immediately. Swirl the helmet slowly to coat the inside evenly to about an eighth of an inch thick (it can take a bit of practice to estimate how much filler you'll need for a given size helmet -- folks on here with more experience might be able to tell you amounts). The catalytic reaction with the hardener makes the stuff really hot, so be careful. Once it's set up, put it aside to cure for a couple days.

- Sand the outside smooth-ish, prime, sand lightly to see where any low spots are, fill with filler of preference, repeat those four steps until satisfied.

If you're feeling ambitious, you can use the fiberglass cloth that comes with the repair kit to better strengthen the inside -- but you'll need a space where you can use it safely and good respirator and protective gear. Fiberglass dust is nasty stuff. If you don't want to mess with that this time out, you can skip the repair kit and just get a small can of just the resin (with a tube of hardener) for less than the repair kit. I also recommend a "waste piece" to practice on, if this is your first time messing with materials like this.

--Jonah

[Bowfanny]

It's an exothermic reaction that causes the resin and bondo to harden. And I personally use both hardeners for the resin and the bondo that way you use the appropriate amount of each to get the same effect. Mixing the resin hot can cause it to remain tacky. I also prefer to lay in the fiberglass cloth before the rondo stage so there are less pokey bits from the fiberglass that might need sanded before you can wear it. The mixture of resin to bondo though can be mixed thinner or thicker depending on what you want to use it for as well. I've had success brushing it on since it self levels a bit before curing and can give you smoother layers to sand and move on to the next layer. Jonah has the right thinking of how it works.

[Peregrinus]

^ Yeah, I consider a lot of that "Advanced Pepakura Finishing Techniques". What I relayed was what I feel to be a good starting point. Not a whole lot in expense or scary chemicals, no having nto deal with the horridness of fiberglass unprepared. I've not had using just the liquid hardener leave things tacky -- but I also give it the better part of a week to cure. If I can still smell it, it's still outgassing and I don't want to paint over that. And so on and so on.

--Jonah

[Carter]

And if it's still a little tacky, which happens sometimes, it's nothing a little talc (baby) powder can't fix. dust it down lightly. wait, brush it off and repeat as needed.

[DaggerElk]

Thanks for the input everyone! You all had great advice!

-DaggerElk