I just got a PM with some questions about the details under the brim of my MkVI helmet by building up the area with pieces of styrene as seen here:
I figured the answers might be helpful to post here, so here goes:
[sub]"1. Where could I get some styrene plastic? Do you think a ice cream container would be suitable?
2. After having attached the plastic did you put any bondo or resin on it?
3. Could I attach the plastic to the helmet using fiberglass resin do you think?
I was thinking of using a thin cardboard perhaps or mutiple layers of cardstock"[/sub]
Your local hobby shop should have styrene sheets. Most food containers are made of ABS or something similar and may or may not be easy to glue onto things depending on what sort of adhesive you use. Also, most food containers are curved in some way and you'll be trying to make them lay flat. Depending on what you're working with, it may be no big deal, but you'll have to experiment with ways to make it work.
While at the hobby shop, you can also find a CA-type adhesive such as Zap-A-Gap or the like. You'll need that as well as Zip Kicker, the spray-on catalyst that helps it cure faster. This is what I use whenever I need a quick and dirty way to glue a couple of things together. The glue will cure without the catalyst, but when you add the catalyst it's faster.
I suppose you could get away with layers of cardstock or thin cardboard too. You might also try mattboard like they use for matting in picture frames. You can find that at any art supply store.
Fiberglass resin won't work terribly well for an adhesive with dissimilar materials. The bond tends to be mechanical (as opposed to a chemical bond) and brittle. If you decide to go with cardboard or mattboard, you can soak some fiberglass resin into the detail parts and they'll stick, but it might get messy and it'll be hard to undo mistakes. Epoxy would work better, but the CA adhesives are quicker and cheaper.
When I did mine, I started by tracing the outside shape of the brim onto a piece of paper. Then I folded it in half to ensure the finished pieces would be symmetrical, Then I drew the details onto the paper template and cut them out. Once they were cut out in paper, I used them to trace the shapes onto some thick styrene. Then I cut out the shapes using a small bandsaw. Once I had all my parts cut out, I coated the whole area with a thin layer of epoxy and then set the pre-cut parts into it. Then I taped the whole arrangement into place and called it a night.
After I attached the styrene details under my brim, I probably touched up some of the edges here and there with bondo or some other fairing compound, but it's been about 2 years since that part of the project and I don't really remember the little details. Either way, once you've spent a bit more time tinkering with the materials, you'll get a feel for what works and what doesn't.
Remember also that when I was building my prototype I was planning from the beginning to make a mold and cast wearable copies. This meant that I could go on adding as much weight as was necessary to make it look right. The final piece ended up weighing a good twelve pounds and would shatter if dropped on the floor (this actually happened with my chest armor prototype). If you're trying to make a pepakura model wearable, you'll want to be careful when gluing on pounds of extra stuff. It might be fine for a few minutes, but if you plan to be out all day or night, those few extra bits might become uncomfortable.
Final note: I apologize for not having a worthwile update in a while. I'll be in the shop a bit during the coming week and if all goes according to plan I'll finally get the first pair of fully-functional boots built. Stay tuned.
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