I wanted it to be more than just a cheap look-a-like and be semi-functional armor as well. Of course its not going to be bullet proof because that would just be way to expensive and complex for my first project of this type. I didn't really know anything about fiberglassing before i got started into this project but it wasn't too difficult to pick up. There is a plethora of information on the Internet about it.
First thing i needed was a layout for my design. this was easy for me because i have lots of experience with 3d modeling on the computer. Once i had my figure looking the way i wanted on the computer the challenging part was going to be to find a way to convert the virtual 3d model into a physical model i could use to build from. Then i found the Pepakura program, which sole purpose is to convert virtual 3d models into 2d form so they can be printed out onto paper and then cut and pasted like origami into a physical 3d model. i printed it onto card stock which is essentially what they print business cards on, this provides a more solid surface to work off of while fiberglassing. its not too difficult by any means to do this step, but it is fairly time consuming to cut out all of the pieces and then paste them all together. it took me about 6-8hours of cutting and pasting but its so easy to do you can do it while you watch a movies or TV. Once you have your 3d model in physical form made of paper, its time to start fiberglassing.
First off, Fiberglasing can be very dangerous. There are two parts to fiberglass, the fiberglass it self, and the fiberglass resin. You need both parts to do anything with fiberglass. Unfortunately, fiberglass resin contains chemicals known to cause cancer and other serious problems. It should never be worked with unless you use a respirator with an organic vapor cartridge. Fiberglass is also extremely messy to use and will get everywhere unless you take the proper precautions, gloves, working surface, work clothes, etc. With the safety stuff aside it was a really fun and cool experience working with fiberglass. The resin drys really quickly, in less then 15min, so it was a little difficult dealing with using the right amount of product in a certain time and planning out how much product to spread across the project. It took several applications to completely coat the entire project, certain areas required several coats to provide adequate rigidity. Overall it came out as well as i expected, super strong and super light weight. The finish of it is not perfect at this point, or anything even near acceptable. but thats not the objective of fiberglass, its only to make a rough shape that is sturdy and solid. So the next step will be using bondo to smooth it out and shape it to the exact specifications.
That's what i have completed so far for the helmet, which is only about 75% complete itself, as it still needs to be bondo filled, sanded and shaped, primed and painted. I have several other body pieces that are assembled right now but most still need to be fiberglassed, and many i haven't even started, so i still have many, many hours of work ahead of myself to complete this project.
No comments:
Post a Comment