Home of the Sovereign Protectors

Got the suede I ordered to make gloves. The color is a perfect match to the lining fabric I have ordered. It matched inside and outside! It's a tad heavier than I had wanted, but it will do. I'll need to stretch it first and prep my pattern. Good times! The only thing I'm waiting on now is my lining fabric and forcepike.

After sleeping on it I decided to order different suede for the gloves. The pieces I got were a cow hide and pretty thick. I could make gloves out of them, but they would be bulky. So I ordered some nice pigskin suede from a vendor in Colorado.

Started applying bondo to my helmet today. I've never used the stuff before so a lot of lessons learned. Everyone makes it look so easy. I'll apply another coat tomorrow and then take pictures.

Redgirl41 wrote:Started applying bondo to my helmet today. I've never used the stuff before so a lot of lessons learned. Everyone makes it look so easy. I'll apply another coat tomorrow and then take pictures.

Please post your thoughts and problems you had. For those others of us with these helmets and ZERO Bondo experience, it would be very much appreciated.

Sure thing. I had to make a trip to the auto store to get the correct bondo type after watching a few videos. Be sure to use auto filler. I also sanded the seam where the bondo would be applied. I didn't use glasses or a mask, but I will use both next time. The dust gets everywhere when you're sanding.

So here are my top learnings:

1) go outside! The fumes from this stuff are terrible and the smell lingers. No amount of open windows will help.
2) Try not to work on a super hot day. It dried faster than expected so I had to mix up a few batches.
3) work in very thin layers at a time. I was sanding for a long time to work out all of the lumps
4) when working up a second batch, completely clean your work surface first. The drying bondo mixes with the new bondo and the you have to sand away a bunch of lumpy bondo.

Just finished sanding my second coat of bondo. It's still a little rough, but it seemed to sand easier after curing overnight. I'll hit it again tomorrow before I apply another coat. I'm hoping that I can get it finished and primed this weekend.

On a slightly different note...I ordered my forcepike today!!! So excited! This was the last thing I needed. My inner fabric arrives next week and the suede should as well.

Thanks for the pics Redgirl, and the info. I'm still waiting for my Magnet order to arrive so I have yet to glue my bucket together. I have a couple of questions...

1) What glue did you use? E6000, or something else (plastic cement, super glue)?
2) Did you use the provided ABS sheet to cut out and use 'internal cover strips' to aid in the glueing?
3) If you did #2, did you need to sand down the inside of the join (my ABS is quite thick and lumpy on the join).
4) Did you use magnets in order to hold the helmet halves in lace for the glueing?

I used E-6000. I should have sanded the seam before glueing, but I didn't know to do that. It would have made life easier if I had though. I had to apply glue 3 times to hold it and it is taking a lot of applications of bondo to hide the seam.

I didn't need to use the extra ABS. The helmet slips over my head without it, but I did use magnets to hold it together. I also used tape and clamps.

Received the new suede leather for my gloves today. It's a tad lighter than my burgundy velvet, but it looks pretty good too.

This is the inner robe fabric and suede outside


This is inside


Looks like my forcepike came in too. I have to pick it up on Monday! Super fast shipping.

Looks like I'll be drafting and sewing this week.