Leg on a Stick

I got around to fiberglassing my leg cast this weekend. I decided to seal the seam first so it wouldn't go out of alignment. I mixed about 4oz. of resin my first go and it started setting up on me halfway through. Next batch I only did 2oz. and I was able to use it all before it started curing.

After my seam set up I fiberglassed the T pipe setup to the inside of my casting. I put a rag in the bottom for the pipe to rest on so it'd dry more or less in the center of the ankle opening.

I went ahead and covered the side facing up while I was at it.

Once the mounting fiberglass cured I screwed the pipe back into the flange and finished fiberglassing all the places I'd missed. 

I ended up with some wicked sharp edges on my casting so I used my Dremel to smooth most of them down. Now it's ready for me to start sculpting onto it.

I did a little test with a candle warmer and the Plasteline clay. It did melt it down but it took a considerable amount of time. Heating it in the microwave and using the candle warmer to keep it liquid would probably be the better way to go. I have the NSP soft, but the tutorial recommended medium or hard so I may end up having to buy more clay. I'll wait and see how it handles first.

And finally we come to my little side project. I've been trying to come up with a way to fix my Himeno shoes and I finally decided on gluing white PVC over them. They're a bit bumpy on the surface so I was going to do a layer underneath the PVC to smooth them out a little. I used Shoe Goo and although it sticks wonderfully and seems like it'd hold forever it won't go on smooth for anything. As I spread it around it rolled and pilled making additional bumps all over that show through the material. My next experiment will be with Super 77 spray glue. That'll at least give me a smooth application, I'm just worried about its holding strength.

That's all so far. Next comes the sculpting. 

Fiberglass Tutorial

Pretty good fiberglass tutorial---> Here

Weekend Goings-On



Leg Cast

Here's a shot of the leg cast now that it's off my personage. I took the stuffing out but left the bands on. I'll have to fiberglass over the seam this weekend, weather permitting.

Stand

Here's the stand I made to mount my casting on. I got a couple flanges and a 48" pipe from the sprinkler section that had threading on both ends. I cut the pipe down the middle to make two, mounted the flange to my board and screwed the pipe down into it. The T pipe had to be shaved down a little to fit in the end and is still only dry fitted as I obviously need to be able to take it off to fit my casting onto the pipe. Now all I have to do is fiberglass the casting onto the stand, lay a layer of 'glass on my casting and then I can start sculpting. I may need to glue a couple paint stirrers across the underside of the ends of the board to make it a little more stable. It seems solid now but that may change when the weight of the clay starts to add up.

Plaster Cheesecloth Test

We did a little test with cheesecloth and plaster of paris. I had both on hand so I thought that'd be better than buying more plaster bandages. It didn't turn out exactly as planned but I think it might be doable. Maybe mix a little less plaster next time and thin it out a tad more. The test casting did come out pretty darn hard considering how thin it is. I'll be busy for a while sculpting the left leg armor so I won't need more castings right away. Might do a couple more test runs in that time.


I got my fiberglass supplies this weekend. Hopefully this coming weekend will be nice enough that I can try them out. I may look at getting some cloth and mat in bulk once I get the hang of using them.

Fiberglass - A Decision

I've decided to start with the 3M resin (which I'm now thinking is polyester) I can buy locally to reinforce my leg castings. It'll be cheaper than ordering an epoxy resin and I can get my hands on it much quicker. For my final pull I may order a small epoxy kit just to test it and compare the results with the polyester. For now, I'm going to practice with the polyester.

Further Fiberglass Musings

BioWeapons - has a how to section for casting, molding and armor creation. Very impressive stuff.

I'm trying to find out if I should be using polyester resin or epoxy resin for my armor. I've seen people singing the praises both ways so I'm at a loss. I may just get the 3M stuff from Lowe's and see how that goes. I'm not even sure if that's epoxy or polyester but I'm guessing epoxy....maybe? I may break down and ask the folks over at the RPF. I hate asking n00b questions but I hate wasting money even more.

Plaster Bandages and Corsets

corsetmaking.com - possible source for Catwoman corset hardware

I was looking into getting more plaster bandages from Smooth-On today, but shipping was going to be $20 for 4 rolls. Seemed a little steep. I headed over to The Engineer Guy and not only is their shipping half what S-O was asking but their bandages are cheaper as well. Exact same bandages from what I can tell in the pictures. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some Smooth-On but I'm going to have to pass this time around. I was going to go ahead and get the bandages today but I noticed TEG has fiberglass cloth and mat. This warrants further research.