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

[CoolC]

hey guys. i dont know if this is possible but can i soften a resin-hardened brush? if yes. how?

No you can't. Plus, it is not worth it. See my post earlier. Go to Harbor Freight Tools or any hardware store and purchase some disposable brushes. It is a lot cheaper than trying to clean a resined brush.

Ok, I'm (saddly) a noob. So, I've got a question about using resin on pepakura armor, Once I have the armor done (with the folding) do I paint then resin, or resin then paint?

Ok, I'm a noob. So, I've got a question about using rondo do you appy rondo to inside and outside of the Pepakura after I resin it.

1) Fold and glue pepakura
2) Resin the outside, and inside if you prefer
3) Fiberglass/Rondo the inside
4) Bondo outside
5) Sand and more sand of any imperfection outside
6) More Bondo
7) More sanding
8) Paint

 

[SkullBoy13]

coolest tutor guy for me = CoolC thanks man. my dad wants me to clean a resined brush that's y i asked -.- thanks again
edit: spitfire is a lot of help to off-course and the whole 405th community! i salute to you all!

 

[slawrence]

when using bondo, what type of sand paper do u guys recommend - 220 grits?

 

[CoolC]

when using bondo, what type of sand paper do u guys recommend - 220 grits?

You will not be able to take anything out using 220. I recommend you start with 60. To get a perfect surface, you will gradually move to 80, 150 and 220.

For me, I just stick with 60. Once I started using the palm sander, the 60 workpapers will gradually loses its "sand". It becomes smooth. I will continue to use the smooth sand paper to do the final polishing.

 

[slawrence]

palm sander, can't i use 60 grit sand paper by hand?

 

[CoolC]

palm sander, can't i use 60 grit sand paper by hand?

Once bondo is dried and cured, it is as hard as a piece of rock. Unless you want a good workout, I would not recommend that you use your hand. A cheap palm sander cost less than $20. It is well worth the investment. You may want to use your hand only to do any final sanding.

 

[JRUSSO8504]

ok so my resin turns to jelly in like two mins can someone tell me is there is a ratio ?

 

[slawrence]

where can i find palm sander

 

[ventrue]

palm sander, can't i use 60 grit sand paper by hand?

You can, but it will take really long and you won't be able to reach the detail areas with it. Using power tools when you want to remove lots of material and hand tools for detail work is always a good idea in my opinion, you just have better control with your hands.

ok so my resin turns to jelly in like two mins can someone tell me is there is a ratio ?

Yeah, it's on the package, you just have to read the instructions. Remember to use safety gear, too.

where can i find palm sander

Anywhere tools are sold.

 

[slawrence]

thanks i do have dremel rotary tool but'll try out the palm sander

 

[Dani Girl]

I just picked up a Black and Decker Mouse Sander from Home Depot. It'll only put you back $35. It also has a nice small attachment to get into tight areas.

 

[JRUSSO8504]

Thank you so much guys for the resin help. now my next question lol does anyone know the best rondo ratio? I have seen 60% resin and 40% bondo and 70% resin and 30% bondo are they right?

 

[Starvinartist80]

Thank you so much guys for the resin help. now my next question lol does anyone know the best rondo ratio? I have seen 60% resin and 40% bondo and 70% resin and 30% bondo are they right?

Actually you want more bondo than resin. Typically 75% bondo to 25% resin works well for me but others like to go as high as a 50-50% ratio. You want to have a consistency like pudding before it is chilled or like thin ketchup.

 

[ventrue]

Thank you so much guys for the resin help. now my next question lol does anyone know the best rondo ratio? I have seen 60% resin and 40% bondo and 70% resin and 30% bondo are they right?

You can use any ratio you want, depending on how runny you want your Rondo to be. Just mix some, see what happens and then add more resin to make it runnier or more Bondo to make it more viscous.

 

[iTzOminousTic]

Is it better to start off with rondo or bondo?
I currently have applied one layer of bondo on my daft punk helmet and I'm gonna let it dry overnight and then start sanding in the morning. Should the next layer be rondo or bondo?

 

[iTzOminousTic]

Is it better to start off with rondo or bondo?
I currently have applied one layer of bondo on my daft punk helmet and I'm gonna let it dry overnight and then start sanding in the morning. Should the next layer be rondo or bondo?

 

[CoolC]

Is it better to start off with rondo or bondo?
I currently have applied one layer of bondo on my daft punk helmet and I'm gonna let it dry overnight and then start sanding in the morning. Should the next layer be rondo or bondo?

Rondo should go inside the helmet not outside. Use rondo to replace fiberglass. Bondo is easier to sand than rondo, and it goes outside to fill in any imperfections.

 

[Darkrider9]

One of my rondoed pieces recently cracked from a fall from shoulder height, so I decided to reinforce them more. I don't want to do a drop test and see, so will one layer of fiberglass over a 3-4mm layer of rondo be strong enough to hold up adequately or should I put on another layer of fiberglass?

Question 2: I had a failure with one of my thigh pieces, and to fix the error I had to add a lot more rondo to it and fast. The piece is now about 5-7 lbs, should I sand down some of the rondo or is that a decent weight?

Question 3: I noticed some of the dry rondo is still a little sticky, even though I did it about 1 week ago. Does it need to dry more or did I not ass enough hardener?

 

[Dani Girl]

One of my rondoed pieces recently cracked from a fall from shoulder height, so I decided to reinforce them more. I don't want to do a drop test and see, so will one layer of fiberglass over a 3-4mm layer of rondo be strong enough to hold up adequately or should I put on another layer of fiberglass?

this is where experimentation is the mother of getting the perfect mix for being sturdy.

For me, I resin the outside 2x, resin the inside, fiber glass/resin x 3, then rondo. Yeah a lot, but after seeing five foot pieces break on me just from walking in the armor, I upped the layer of fiberglass to three and it seems to be sturdy now.

Question 2: I had a failure with one of my thigh pieces, and to fix the error I had to add a lot more rondo to it and fast. The piece is now about 5-7 lbs, should I sand down some of the rondo or is that a decent weight?

Bondo is heavy to begin with. If your thigh piece is 5lbs, you have way too much rondo on there. Dont know what you can do, except to sand it down all the way and do fiberglass layers instead.

Question 3: I noticed some of the dry rondo is still a little sticky, even though I did it about 1 week ago. Does it need to dry more or did I not ass enough hardener?

It mean that your hardener for your bondo wasn't mixed well (and if you added hardener from the resin, that didn't mix well too). I have a piece I did back in August of Last year and its still tacky. The only thing you can do is put a layer of resin over it, and make sure you let it cure.

 

[WRTHG]

Hey everybody! This is my first post on here and i just had some questions i needed answered about the basics. I finished a Mk V helmet from pep files and then resined the outside. After it was dry i added a layer of bondo and it turned out it was too thick and completely destroyed the look of the helmet. Even after constant sanding with low grit sandpaper i still could not get it to look good. I had to trash it and start a new helmet. This time instead if bondo i used a 1oz fiberglass roll along with my resin. This added strength to my helmet and did not destroy the detail in any way. I had some painting problems after that and well.. it looked like this -.-. My question is this: Can anyone tell me how the get their helmets to look flat with bondo? Is it just applied in very thin layers? And exactly how do you apply weathering affects to your armor? Thanks! Below is a picture of my second Mk V helmet. I guess it looks okay for a costuming noob. Somebody comment on my work so far!