I know we have talked on the phone Mac...but I wanted to publicly thank you for your willingness to help me with this project.

You're most welcome! And thank YOU for offering to help me out with this dome. I'll take you up on it!

I noticed the left side was incredibly thick, not because of any Bondo application, but that was the result of ArmorMask's "high quality" (*sigh*). Because of the thickness, it impeded upon T-VIRUS' attempts to heat it to reshape it.



Again, the facemask's original state shows the top and sides squashed inwards as if to fit a smaller person. The forward facing face (eyes, nose, mouth, etc.) are still roughly proportionate, so exposing the top and sides to heat would normally allow you to pull them back to their larger screen-accurate dimensions.

Unfortunately ArmorMask slapped too much urethane here, so reshaping it wasn't possible under normal conditions. I'll see if I can sand this out. It's ultimately better to use heat than to use Bondo or Aquamend because any time you add an epoxy putty to the material, you increase its mass. Let's see if we can keep this light.

The good thing, though, is that the skull is going to be under the dome and would be obscured in shadow most of the time, unless you're trooping outdoors and the bright sunlight bounces off the asphalt up into your face. Then that is a tell-all.

First Attempt



So today I... did quite a lot.

The mask was heavy. Much of the mass was due to Armormask putting way too much urethane on the sides, making it less responsive to heat. In some areas of the skullcap, he made it too thin. I really don't know why he feels this is quality. So I ended up attacking the insides and reducing their thickness first with a Dremel sanding cylinder, and afterwards used my Black & Decker "Mouse" sander inside to grind it down further.

It later was thin enough for me to begin pulling the skullcap outwards and stretch it back to a reasonable shape.

Next, I began to grind the neck down on the outer side and smooth out the whole outer surface, but the neck still appeared too wide. I then decided to give the neck some heat with a heat gun.

At that point, the urethane was manipulable but the putties (some red colored Bondo product and PC-Marine expoxy putty) started coming off. Under normal circumstances I wonder if Bondo and PC-Marine have good adherence to urethane. PC-Marine is the PC family's answer to AquaMend, but so far I still like Aquamend and used a tube of it for repairs. So I ended up pulling off half of the neck extension and re-establishing it with AquaMend. The above photo shows the Aquamend (left, as you look at it) but in a semi-cured state, not yet ready for sanding.

The skull was interesting. In pulling it wider, did crack it a little, but that was to be expected. Aquamend was used to fill the crack.

So let's break theis down.

I exposed the head to 900F heat with the heat gun, at 20 second intervals, about 5-8" away depending on the thickness. Even at reduced thickness, it was difficult. I'm sure I could grind it thinner, but I didn't feel it necessary. After grinding away the sides on the inside as well as removing half of the original neck extension and thinning the neck down on both the outside and inside, the weight of the mask was brought down to where I feel it would be fine for trooping.



The skull isn't as wide as I'd like it, as the Deluxe may have a skull flare on the left, which I happen to really like. But here I'm limited by how much material I am comfortable with removing from the sides (on the inside).

But at least it's looking much more like the Classic Action. As I had indicated in my own "Darth Ugly" thread, this is a recast of a Don Post Classic Action howbeit horribly disfigured and warped. So at least it's approaching the shape of its predecessor.

This experience feels a bit like having gone back in time and going, "Huh.. I should do -- no, wait, I thought of that the last time but ended up doing something else instead!"

Here is a neck shot. The left is an Aquamend patch that's curing so it's not sanded down or anything. The front and the right is sanded, though I may end up revising the shape of the right.



Ultimately, neck flare or no, the neck has to occupy a certain surface area that would overlap properly sized armor.

So now, I thought I'd do something cool to T-VIRUS' neck which is to reduce the neck buldge. The neck near the front is supposed to buldge out a bit, but on some replicas I find the buldge to be unsightly, frog-like and disturbing.

A little heat on both sides allowed me to press the neck inwards and upwards to reduce the neck thickness.

Check the chin out. It looks a lot more form-fitting.

I don't know why, but this chin/neck mod seems to make me think of the ROTS vader.



Here, you see the right neck corner. There is a gray-ish smear between the white urethane and the pinkish bondo. That's because I'm fililng a crack where the bondo was applied to the original neckline. For some reason bondo wasn't adhering properly here, so I had to fill it with Aquamend. I'll sand it later.

End of First Pass

Is THAT the same face? Unbelievable!!!

Yep, they are....

And now, comparing the opposite sides:

Holy crap Mac....the dfference is amazing....I really like the neck-chin mod...very nice. Over all that really looks great. " The force is strong with you." Pretty easy to tell I got the right guy helping me.

Thanks for the kind words!

While sanding the PC-Marine, I couldn't stand the smell. Quite acrid like a swimming pool. The smell is less with Aquamend, so I'd probably stick with Aquamend.

Both, however, are toxic to an extent.

Ironically, the PC-Marine was very tough in of itself, but it didn't seem to bond to the urethane too well, and neither did the Bondo. The bondo you used to fix the tusk tubes was already cracked, and I could pick it off and crumble it. Is Bondo supposed to be that brittle?

(T-Virus, when you get a chance, send me pics of those boots!)

Pm already sent. As for the bondo...if it bonds well it is strong..never tried it before on resin. Must not be all that compatable.

Always go with the less toxic..that way you can do more projects before you die.

Well, I don't know if this polyurethane counts as resin. I'm sure bondo bonds great on certain things. After all, it seems to be one of the more popular brands in the automotive industry for metal and fiberglass dings, though I am told there is a higher quality brand (though a bit more expensive).

I've placed an order for FIXIT Sculpt which bonds with FG and apparently does not sag under its own weight, not to mention: no toxic fumes! If FIXIT Sculpt works out, I might end up using it moving forward. In fact, I ordered 3 lbs. of it as I'm preparing to do my own Stormtrooper Stunt helmet from scratch.