OK in another thread I asked someone to Pep me some Patience, I should probably ask them to Pep me some common sense too.
I was told this was going to happen by some veterans on the board. But like any good Noob, I can't let my people down, I ignored them and did it anyway. Partly because I believe that I could do it differently and make it work, partly because my ego wanted to make it work! Well, the only way to really see if I was the chosen one, was to pep up some files and buy some $3 expandable foam... The rest is as they 'Clich-say' is history!
The most extraordinary part worked like a charm! I stared by spraying the interior of the resin'd helmet with PAM cooking spray, this was my release agent. It worked perfectly.
Then, I applied the foam as directed filling cavities less than 50% full allowing the foam to expand into the areas as it cured. I started with the nose and allowed it to cure for an hour before applying a second layer to the ears followed by the top and back of the helm.
Over the next few hours I sat like a father in the waiting room of Labor and Delivery! I checked it ever hour or so and things were expanding exactly as I expected.
But as the night drew on I couldn't play anymore ODST and I finally went to bed.
When I a woke the helm looked a bit bloated, as you can see from the photos below. That impatience stared creeping in and I knew that I had to do something. I figured that if I could relieve the pressure in parts of the helm I could possibly save the build or save the pep with minor damage.
Enter Mr. Matte Knife! I tried to segment the pieces into easily removable pieces. The first 5 or so came off with out a hitch, the piece looked a bit worse than I expected, but that only means I was going to need more bondo than I planned to fill the cracks and crevasses. The PAM worked great! The pieces actually separated just as I expected and the foam was smooth and very sturdy.
But of course this is a tragic story, love lost and all that epic failure junk.
When I started to remove pieces closer to the top of the helm the foam had separated and fail to expand. As I pull back the section of resin'd paper all I was left with was a bucket full of gooey space marine brains. I don't know why, but I suspect that the temperature change last night and the fact that I had this part of the helm sitting directly on the concrete, prevented the foam from curing and allowed it to separate back to it's liquid state.
So it was an Epic Try for my Ego, and an Epic Fail I can wear as a ribbon on my Noob status. But there was a lot learned about the whole process and give more time it could work but the messy alternative of Fiber glassing and slush casting are probably the best as far as time and effort for the money.
So, stay tuned and enjoy the pics below, I am off to print a new helm!
Peace,
chwbcc