Fiberglass question

[Melchior]

Ok, so I'm remaking Tessaiga, but I'm kinda in the dark about this whole fiberglass thing. Iknow you use it with the epoxy and cut it to shape and all, but I am unsure of a few things.

- Will it melt the foam? I didnt get dow blueboard, but I got Owens Corning foam insulation instead. It looks the same to me, only pink. I'm thinking of doing a test on a small piece to make sure tho.

- Which fiberglass cloth do i get? DO i get the fiberglass cloth or the fiberglass mat? The cloth is thinner, and the mat is thicker and more woven. The only reason I'm adding fiberglass period is for strength in the weapon so it won't snap in half like it did last time. Which would work better? I dont want to get anything heavier than i need, but I dont want to sacrifice strength again and make adding fiberglass pointless.

- How easy is this crap to sand? I broke my power sander refinishing the first tessagia, and I am not counting on getting another one anytime soon. Please let me know what kind of work i'm getting myself into.

Ok, thats about it. Thanks.

[Miaka No Baka]

you know what I did which was pretty light was I used the owens corning pink foam board and I covered it in rigid wrap plaster wrap stuff. I am not sure if it can be sanded but it kept the stuff VERY light weight if you're worried about weight being an issue.

as for fiberglass I havne't worked in it but it sounds like the mat would be stronger and if that's your goal then go with the stronger woven mat. I used epoxy resin to attach the handles into my moon shapes and it didn't melt the foam one bit ^_^ so it looks like this stuff is good to use for that case ^_^

what I made can be found here:

http://snow.prohosting.com/nanamito/cosplay/twinklestar.html

Miaka no Baka

[Melchior]

That looks like a great way to make smaller weapons without making them too heavy. Thanks for the input Miaka!

Anyone else have answers to the other two questions? Kusanagi?

[Kusanagi]

Originally posted by Melchior
Ok, so I'm remaking Tessaiga, but I'm kinda in the dark about this whole fiberglass thing. Iknow you use it with the epoxy and cut it to shape and all, but I am unsure of a few things.

- Will it melt the foam? I didnt get dow blueboard, but I got Owens Corning foam insulation instead. It looks the same to me, only pink. I'm thinking of doing a test on a small piece to make sure tho.

- Which fiberglass cloth do i get? DO i get the fiberglass cloth or the fiberglass mat? The cloth is thinner, and the mat is thicker and more woven. The only reason I'm adding fiberglass period is for strength in the weapon so it won't snap in half like it did last time. Which would work better? I dont want to get anything heavier than i need, but I dont want to sacrifice strength again and make adding fiberglass pointless.

- How easy is this crap to sand? I broke my power sander refinishing the first tessagia, and I am not counting on getting another one anytime soon. Please let me know what kind of work i'm getting myself into.

Ok, thats about it. Thanks.

Fiberglass mat is designed for strenght and fiberglass cloth is designed for smoothness.

Ideally you should put one layer of mat down, and then one layer of cloth over it

It should be about the same effort to sand as the older tessaiga or a little less. You dont have all the unnevenness and roughness you had with the bondo. Just make sure you sand the styrafoam down to the shape you want it: you cant layer the fiberglass mat and cloth repeatedly like you can with the bondo.

If the Fiberglass bondo didnt melt the foam then this stuff shouldnt either. Test it out first though.

[ainslye]

I dont know anything about fiberglassing, but rigid wrap can be sanded. (I'm making plugsuit armor out of it as we speak since I am afraid of fiberglass)