My Foam Build Up And Armature Failure Experience.

So I got to work on affixing the upholstery foam to my armature last night and after a few hours of asphyxiating myself in an enclosed area with the Evo-Stick Impact Contact Adhesive I bought yesterday, I called it a night. A few hours ago I picked up where I left off; which was just a little build up on some details, and as I neared completion, my armature failed. Yup, it broke. The aluminium wire at the join at the left shoulder snapped as I bent the arm to get to the underarm. Sad, I know. So I carefully sliced open my beautiful foam body and found the breakage... I realised there wasn't much I could do as the wire was firmly glued into the shoulder K&S and I wouldn't be able to remove it. So I put on a brave face and carefully sliced the armature out of the foam. I shall try to salvage it once I've made my repair. How am I going to repair it...? Well I'm fairly tempted to throw it in the bin. I should have known that as my first armature it would never hold up. The wire had been under too much stress throughout the construction and was never going to last any rigorous animating. To test this theory I played with the opposite shoulder and before long it snapped clean off like the other. So as soon as I can I shall get to work on making up a new armature body. On the plus; the feet, head and hands can all be salvaged. This time round I will be able to make the necessary adjustments to the design and come out with a stronger result. I have all the materials needed left over from last time and the addition of some new M3 brass nuts and 3mm M3 grub screws. I may have to go out and buy some new solder, the stuff I've been using is old stuff I found in the shed and I'm running low on it, some new fresh unleaded solder with a flux core may be better and healthier. I may even get lucky and find somewhere selling silver solder which would work even better although is more expensive.

Below is an image of the foam build up at about half way with the armature being sandwiched between pieces of foam using that aforementioned potent adhesive. I applied the glue in a thin layer onto both pieces of foam using a lollipop stick, leaving them to become touch dry then firmly sandwiching the foam together over the armature. The bond is instant and I was able to snip it into shape straight away.

I used the craft knife to cut the foam out to the sizes I needed then shaped them using the larger scissors. I used the finer nail scissors for detailing and precise shaping. I do not have an image of the foam cut to shape due to the armature breakage just before I could take a photo. A note that may prove helpful is to use a large plastic bag to collect the foam shavings and chippings whilst you cut it into shape. As I found out, they get everywhere and take ages to pick up off the carpet. Also put down paper because the glue will get everywhere. Oh and one last tip, use gloves, although not hard to wash off, I doubt this stuff is particularly good to the skin.