"Help!" for: Fiberglassing, Resin, & Bondo

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just wondering weather or not its safe to bondo indoors because i dont know if bondo produces any toxic fumes. i will be wearing a respirator either way. just want to know if it dangerous to other people around me that dont have a respirator
 
just wondering weather or not its safe to bondo indoors because i dont know if bondo produces any toxic fumes. i will be wearing a respirator either way. just want to know if it dangerous to other people around me that dont have a respirator

Fumes from bondo are very toxic. You must use it in a well ventilated area and wear a respirator that blocks organic fumes. This includes others that are around you too. I typically bondo in the backyard. However, I will sometimes (Rarely) bondo in the garage with the garage door up about 2 feet off the floor running 2 box fans. The Fans pull the fumes out of the garage and away from the house. Also, I put a damp towel down to cover the crack at the bottom of the door that leads into my house (The rest of the door has enough weather stripping to block any other fumes).
 
@blackula
thanks, i was just wondering cause its raining at the moment and i really wanted to get started but i guess it'll have to wait.
 
has any one got any tips for getting bondo as smooth as possible, i am constantly sanding then bondo then sanding.
P.s i think this has happened because i decided to cover everything with bondo first before sanding it!
 
has any one got any tips for getting bondo as smooth as possible, i am constantly sanding then bondo then sanding.
P.s i think this has happened because i decided to cover everything with bondo first before sanding it!

Apply a few layers of Rondo, with each batch getting progressively thinner. Also, don't bondo everything up. Just the parts that need to be smooth.
 
Apply a few layers of Rondo, with each batch getting progressively thinner. Also, don't bondo everything up. Just the parts that need to be smooth.

So what the advantages of rondo compared to regular bondo and have you got any tips.
(What i meant about the bondo was that to begin with I covered the the whole helmet with it then started adding it to places that need to be smooth but it doesnt seem to be working very well)
 
For me personally, I really don’t like using rondo on the outside. Its kind of a hassle to sand. However, My bondo tip is to do thin layers of bondo in specific small areas being careful to not loose detail. If I accidently cover some detail, I then wait around 5 mins from the time the bondo starts to firm up. I then take a razor blade and trim excess bondo or to reveal the detail I may have covered up. Hope that helps. Good luck.
 
Hello Guys,

this is my first post in this forum ;)

I´m planning to make me a full Halo armor in the near future and now I have some questions about rondo,bondo and resin ;)

The first question is: How much Resin and Bondo do I need for this whole armor, approximately?
Then when I finished to pep the helmet, I start resin the outside, go on to rondo the inside and then bondo the outside, ist it right in this order? Or should I also rondo the Outside of the helmet?

greetings from Germany ;)
 
1. I'm not completly sure but it depends on how strong you want your helmet to be, mine is near invincible and took about one-quarter a can of resin (the large size which is 1 gallon costs about 60$ I used 1/4 of that)
My forearms and biceps took out the rest of the can and half a smaller size can which runs about 12$.
For a whole suit of armor I estimate from between 2.5-4.5 gallons depending on how you apply it and how strong you want it.

I take note you said you wanted to Rondo the inside, I haven't used that method for strengthening but if you do that your going to need about 3-5 gallons.

2. Once you resin the helmet you have two choiches 1rondo the inside or 2 fiberglass the inside, this involves applying small squares of fiberglass and "painting" them with resin, the stronger you want your armor, the thicker you paint it.
And you are correct on the next step, you use bondo to detail it, you can also use rondo to detail, but doing so usually requires coating the whole outside for a uniform look, it will save a TON of time in the long run though.

If your planning on trying to get everything you need at once I wouldn't reccommend doing that, get a gallon of each at a time and get some more when you run low, that way you minimize waste.

Hope that helps,

Omega
 
Hey Omega,

yes that´s helps a lot, thanks.
You said::
And you are correct on the next step, you use bondo to detail it, you can also use rondo to detail, but doing so usually requires coating the whole outside for a uniform look, it will save a TON of time in the long run though.
Does that mean that you bondo only the parts that you want to detail?

edit:

Sorry, but did you mean that I need 4-5 gallons bondo and resin together,how much do I need from each of them?

greetings,
Kiori
 
For a whole suit of armor I estimate from between 2.5-4.5 gallons depending on how you apply it and how strong you want it.

Omega

Gallons?? Are you using Rondo on all your parts? Because that much resin for just resin on the outside and fiberglassing the inside seems like a lot. I purchased a quart of resin, and I've used about half of it to resin + fiberglass about half of all the pieces of a full Mark VI suit. I might be able to do the entire suit with that one quart. Just wondering...

I'd recommend buying a quart, seeing how much you can get done with that quantity. Then estimate how much you'll need for the rest of the suit. It can be difficult to estimate the amount needed, so it might be better to just buying as the need arises, if possible, to avoid having way too much.
 
@Kiori: I meant 2.5-4.5 of resin and 3-5 of bondo
Also you bondo where you are going to add detail and where there are not smooth areas, basically you want a smooth finish that you can cut into, my reason for doing this *points down*

@Spitifre. I use a coat of resin on the outside, glassing on the inside AND a coat of rondo on the outside, it gives it a much better looking and feeling finish.
Also if your doing a whole suit you will need more than a gallon, and resin has great shelf life (about 1 year)

Just glassing I did a helmet and a forearm on a quart, so using if you did that I'd still say 3.5/4-ish gallons for a full just suit resin and glassing. . .
again depends on how heavily you soak the fiberglass, I use the dipping method so it tends to be pretty thick with my stuff.
 
I´m planning to make me a full Halo armor in the near future and now I have some questions about rondo,bondo and resin ;)

The first question is: How much Resin and Bondo do I need for this whole armor, approximately?
Then when I finished to pep the helmet, I start resin the outside, go on to rondo the inside and then bondo the outside, ist it right in this order? Or should I also rondo the Outside of the helmet?

greetings from Germany ;)

Which armour? Being a Hunter needs more material than being a Pillar of Autumn crewman.

Either way, I think it's safe to say that you'll need at least five litres. You'll probably get a quantitiy discount for larger amounts, so unless you really love the smaller containers, you might save money here, even if you don't use it all. Using Rondo is also very material heavy, going with fibreglass is much cheaper - and lighter; remember, you have to carry all this! Resin doesn't get lighter when it cures.
 
I would like to make a Mark VI Suit or an other "heavy" and big suit ;) How did this big differences come? Omega you said up to 5 gallons, that would be 18,5 litres, and ventrue you said up to 5 litres ;) .

Is it right, that the whole suit looks better when you rondo it all about, than only bondo it? For me it seems that rondo is more flexible and better to handle.
 
I would do as reccommended by Spitfire, get a gallon or litre or whatever size container of it (bondo's pretty cheap though it runs about 20$ for a gallon)

Also my estimate is high balling it a bit, but my build method is very resin/bondo intensive.
I resin the outside and then glass the inside, but then I rondo the outside to a smooth surface, it does make a big difference in material cost. . .

So just get some of each and see how much you use and then you can go from there.

Good luck!
 
Thanks Omega!
I will make a plan and calculate a little bit how much I propably need and how I will harden the stuff ;)
 
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