Greetings from Toronto, Canada!

I recently submitted an idea to a sculpture festival, and they've accepted my proposal. 
Now I have 3 months to build and install it (totally self funded as well).
The following is a quick overview of my experience and tools.
If any of you offer advice I'd be most grateful.

Current Experience and Tool Access:
- have a high rez 3D scan file of a Toy Giraffe
- have been doing small layer CNC carving on an X-Carve from 3D tool paths generated in Fusion 360
- have basic knowledge of silicone mold making and small casts (from previous projects)
- have very basic understanding of basic layup process, and some of the differences between epoxy and polyester

Tentative Approach:
- cutting many (84) layers on the CNC mill out of foam, basic finishing
- EITHER building up layers of fiberglass on top of the foam (with tinfoil layer if polyester) or making a number of larger molds and doing layup into the molds.
- the fear is with adding material on top of the mill work, I will lose most of the detail if it is to be strong enough. Making molds on the other hand adds many more steps and material investment (silicone, mother molds etc)

Seeking Advice on:
- how many layers of what kind of fiberglass and resin I will need to make it strong enough that it will be OK if people climb on it?
- any suggestions on epoxy vs polyester? Polyester is appealing for my budget, and also because it will be ouside for 4 months (I've read the epoxy doesn't like the sun).
- any other general approaches.

p.s. I have access to a space where I can leave work to cure for weeks on end (regarding polyester fumes) but it isn't consistently heated and Canada is pretty cold in winter.


MUCH MUCH thanks for any direction or suggestions on my approach, what I might be missing, or what I should be researching.

Poplar is quite the opposite of hardwood. And a rough pass with 1mm steps as final pass would be fine enough. No need for 3d contour here.

your right about the fumes during lamination. Although I am only using styrene free polyesters nowadays. Just that there are no wrong expectations here: it still smells, only less and (they say) less harmful, and it still attacks foam.

coating type epoxy is basically a usual epoxy, handles the same, behaves similar. But the formulation is optimised to inhibit the fisheyeing effect, epoxy tend to have. And they got good uv resistance compared to some other epoxys.
however, for complete outdoor use, you should get uv additive for the coating layers, or paint it. But if you are talking about automotive shine, I guess you also want the colour quality of a automotive paint anyways.