1st Build First Build - Gen 3 Mark VI & Donut-Inspired Armor; Progress Thread!

[DeltaAlphaZulu]

This tutorial is so helpful, thank you! I was under the impression that people typically just Bondo major seams and imperfections and let filler primer take care of the layer lines. Is it typical to Bondo the entire piece?

That depends on the person and the part. At the time I covered the whole part because I liked some of the imperfections that spot putty adds, like little pits that add some detail during weathering.

 

[Hyprfixate]

My glue for the 3D prints came in--Weld-On 16--and I'm kinda nervous to work with it. Looked into it and it's apparently mega toxic. I'm working out of my apartment and am worried about safety. Has anyone worked with Weld-On 16 or have another adhesive that works really well to join PLA pieces? I researched for a while and couldn't find a very definitive answer.

Looks like this is coming along nicely! I have tried several different glues and found quite a few that work. I don’t have a lot of patience so the ones I like using are 3d Gloop! Or the 2 part CA glue. 3d Gloop! has various kinds depending on what type of filament you’re using. But it fuses the plastic together. And the CA glue you put the super glue on one side, spray the other with the accelerant, put them together and it’s dry. I use that more for weapons and smaller things like gluing the hand pieces to gloves and other small plastic to plastic things I don’t want to use the more expensive gloop.

Another thing I do sometimes is use my soldering iron and plastic weld on top of the glue on the insides of some of the seams for added strength.

Good luck! Hope this helps and I look forward to seeing the progress!

 

[bearbot]

That depends on the person and the part. At the time I covered the whole part because I liked some of the imperfections that spot putty adds, like little pits that add some detail during weathering.

Okay good to know! Smart idea if you're looking for organic imperfections and that way you can avoid tampering with the structural integrity of the print. I was worried I was going to have to up my Bondo budget LOL.

 

[bearbot]

Looks like this is coming along nicely! I have tried several different glues and found quite a few that work. I don’t have a lot of patience so the ones I like using are 3d Gloop! Or the 2 part CA glue. 3d Gloop! has various kinds depending on what type of filament you’re using. But it fuses the plastic together. And the CA glue you put the super glue on one side, spray the other with the accelerant, put them together and it’s dry. I use that more for weapons and smaller things like gluing the hand pieces to gloves and other small plastic to plastic things I don’t want to use the more expensive gloop.

Another thing I do sometimes is use my soldering iron and plastic weld on top of the glue on the insides of some of the seams for added strength.

Good luck! Hope this helps and I look forward to seeing the progress!

Great recommendations, thank you so much! As I understand 3D Gloop is also pretty toxic. I feel like unfortunately, the better the adhesive, the worse it is for you. But I have a good respirator, just tripping about my ventilation! The plastic welding is something I just learned about pretty recently and I'd love to give it a shot too. Thanks so much for the help!

 

[Hyprfixate]

Great recommendations, thank you so much! As I understand 3D Gloop is also pretty toxic. I feel like unfortunately, the better the adhesive, the worse it is for you. But I have a good respirator, just tripping about my ventilation! The plastic welding is something I just learned about pretty recently and I'd love to give it a shot too. Thanks so much for the help!

Yeah. Most of the stuff will need some sort of mask or ventilation. I use UV resin to help with layer lines and that stuff is incredibly toxic lol. I have a lot of masks, filters, and gloves lol