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Step 7The shield, part 2
Next, I needed an edge treatment to cover the raw cut edge left over from trimming the shield's depth. I drilled 130 1/16th inch holes around the edge of the shield. Then, I stripped off about 2 feet of the protective housing from some 14 gauge copper wire. I carefully fitted the stripped wire jacket onto the edge of the shield. I looped thread throught the holes and around the edging to hold it into place.
Now it was time to cover the inside of the shield. I used a piece of brown vinyl to hide the yellow foam filling. I put fiberglass mesh tape (the kind made to cover drywall seams) on the back of the vinyl to keep it nice and stiff and to avoid wrinkles.
I cutout 4 rectangles for the strap binding to poke through the vinyl and spread the gorilla glue onto the back of the vinyl. Then, I threaded the straps and bindings through the holes and pressed the vinyl into place. To hold the vinyl down while the glue dried, I poured all the spare change I could find onto the shield. This worked reasonably well.
After the glue dried, I brushed on several coats of red plasti-dip over the applied edging, thread, and brown vinyl. This prevents the brown vinyl from peeling up and binds the back and front of the shield together.
However, instead of looping the thread over the edging, I should have just woven the thread back and forth through the holes. Looping the thread over the edging made the edge bumpy. I thought this would get smoothed over by the plasti-dip. Instead, the plasti-dip enhanced it. If I had simply woven the thread through the holes, alongside the edging, the plasti-dip would have still held the edging firmly in place but without any bumpiness.
To finish the shield, I trimmed the straps to the correct length and sewed on the plastic snaps that complete the strap system. I also repainted the blue outside the star to match the blue helmet.
Now it was time to cover the inside of the shield. I used a piece of brown vinyl to hide the yellow foam filling. I put fiberglass mesh tape (the kind made to cover drywall seams) on the back of the vinyl to keep it nice and stiff and to avoid wrinkles.
I cutout 4 rectangles for the strap binding to poke through the vinyl and spread the gorilla glue onto the back of the vinyl. Then, I threaded the straps and bindings through the holes and pressed the vinyl into place. To hold the vinyl down while the glue dried, I poured all the spare change I could find onto the shield. This worked reasonably well.
After the glue dried, I brushed on several coats of red plasti-dip over the applied edging, thread, and brown vinyl. This prevents the brown vinyl from peeling up and binds the back and front of the shield together.
However, instead of looping the thread over the edging, I should have just woven the thread back and forth through the holes. Looping the thread over the edging made the edge bumpy. I thought this would get smoothed over by the plasti-dip. Instead, the plasti-dip enhanced it. If I had simply woven the thread through the holes, alongside the edging, the plasti-dip would have still held the edging firmly in place but without any bumpiness.
To finish the shield, I trimmed the straps to the correct length and sewed on the plastic snaps that complete the strap system. I also repainted the blue outside the star to match the blue helmet.
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Oct 29, 2010. 5:27 PMWillowby
says:
Just a thought but since you covered the backside you could have possibly just glued in blue foam camping pad instead of all the extra effort with the spray foam.
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Nov 3, 2010. 2:18 PM
mrcrumley (author)
says:
mrcrumley (author)
says:
Yeah, but I really needed something to stiffen the shield. Gluing foam padding would have put all my faith in the adhesive's strength to do this. My method utilized adhesion, and interlocking friction as the foam's shape exactly matches the shield's.
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