Cardboard/Fiberglass Halo 3 inspired Master Chief Costume

Step 13 Fiberglass and Bondo

I added a skim coat of bondo over the some of the cardboard to smooth out any major rough areas. After sanding the bondo fiberglass matting was cut to fit the detail and applied. I was c areful to wear a good quality respirator as recommended on the directions of the resin. I also wore latex surgical gloves.

When the fiberglass was cured I sanded it down and added several layers more of bondo, sanding each one in between.

Comments

[joghurtgumi93]

how much fiberglass did you use for the whole costume?

[alphaproto]

Can you just add bondo and not the fiber glass?

[rickgyver]

Sure, but you would need to be careful since Bondo is brittle and since it is on cardboard it may crack and fall off when the cardboard flexes when you wear it. I'm not sure if there is a product like Bondo that would have fiberglass shreds or some type of binding agent that would help to keep it from cracking. I'm sure if you are careful when you wear the costume it would be fine. Also, if you layer the cardboard such that the corrugations are at right angles (at least not aligned) to each other so the base is stronger, the Bondo would be less likely to crack. I would think the helmet at least would be fine as it doesn't take much wear and tear. You could always make a test piece, maybe a forearm, and try it before you spend a lot of time on the whole costume, to see how it performs. Best of luck.

[mike.bowman24]

Do you have to fiberglass and bondo?

[rickgyver]

I only did it because I wanted to make sure it would hold up for a long time. If you are careful when you wear the costume you can simply use cardboard and hot glue. But you will have to make repairs every so often.

[Trottar]

like the stubbie in the background =)