Defektedtoy's Pepakura armor

[Defektedtoy]

Well i'm about 5 hours into it and i finished (folding) my left foot and my left thigh. I have been using some white card stock from meijers, and crazy glue. I figure it's going to take about a tube of glue per piece, possibly 2 on the helmet and chest piece.

Hopefully i can get it done before halloween, but if not oh well. Ideally i would like to have the faceted look of the pep design smoothed out before halloween. The more i look at refrence pics from halo 3, the more i want to do to it. I.e. lighting, cooling system, voice effects.

I've read that fiberglass should be on the inside only, and bondo/resin compound on the outside. Anyone care to explain why exactly? I figured with fiberglass on the outside as well, i would be doing a bit less sanding. Anything to shave a bit of production time off. I'm in it for the long haul, but i would like to run around as MC for halloween if at all possible.

I'll be updating this post with pics as soon as i find my camera...

Still havent found the camera, but i scored some pretty sweet gloves from Meijers for .99c! 8ft square of fiberglass sheeting for about 6 bucks and around 13 for the resin.

I'm giving this "Tacky glue" a shot. I hear good things about it on the forums so we'll see how it goes. I hope the dry time is rather quick, and i hope the resin doesn't have any adverse effects on it, but it only cost me a buck and i'm going to resin the hand plate with it first just to see how it goes.

Off i go! Hopefully i'll have some pics for you guys soon

2 hours later and i have print, cut, scored, folded and glued my left shin piece and now my entire left leg is ready for resin! Hooray! 2 days and i have a full leg ready, so it looks like i'm right on schedual for halo-ween!

 

[Sigma LS]

The reason is in the updated Ultimate Pepakura FAQ under section 2

4. Should fiberglass go on the outside?

No Never Ever Ever! However, you should resin the outside.

4.1 - Why above?

It is a pain to sand and makes it a much bigger pain in the ass to smooth properly. If you want more fiberglass reinforcement, just add more layers of fiberglass to the inside of the armor!

So a little counter-productive as far as less sanding goes...

 

[Defektedtoy]

Well that settles it! I need to reduce my amount of counter productive actions in the first place. I seem to have the scailing right as far as the body goes. The helmet is going to be the last obstacle for me.

I think i am just going to keep the pepakura look for now and either make a new armor, or modify the one i have after the holiday. If anything i can use some foam core and creativity to make it look better.

Thanks for the response Sigma! and kudos on that armor of yours!

 

[flying squirl]

whatever you do, do not use foam core with resin. resin gets hungry when it sees foam core so it starts eating it. 'mmmm, foamcore '

 

[Defektedtoy]

whatever you do, do not use foam core with resin. resin gets hungry when it sees foam core so it starts eating it. 'mmmm, foamcore '

Holy crap man you just saved me a huge freakin headache. What should i use? Maybe some cardboard? I really don't want to sculpt all the details in bondo or some other material as my sculpting skills suck pants. I'm too much of a perfectionist to have the mental stability for sculpting.

I have read some interesting posts on fiberglassing, but i still have a few questions that i didn't see if they were already answered/asked yet.

Does getting the resin to permeate the glass cloth require alot of pressure? Are the fiberglass strips easier to work with and weave throughout the piece? Should i fiberglass the pieces after i cut them? Meaning, after a few coats of resin, cut them to prepare them for strapping, then fiberglass, or is the resin too brittle to cut at that stage?

I apologise if these have already been asked and thank you guys for being so helpfull thus far!

 

[flying squirl]

no worries. i tend t use thick card for the details, like the stuff on the back of a4 writing pads, you can pick it up in huge sheets. cut it into lil strips if you need to do curvs and fill in the lil gaps with a bita filler then resin over it. it also adds a bits strength.

as for glassing:

no, it doesnt rely take much pressure to do it, but alot of prodding (think getting treacle through loose cloth). it helps a bit to tack it down first but im sure youve read that already.

yup, smaller strips are eassier to shape around to the corners n stuff. keep in mind the smaller you make them the easier it is for the fiberglass cloth to unravel before (and during) resining and the bigger you make em the more creases youll have. i think the general concencis is to go for 6 inch squares but that could be different here.

hmm, cutting depends realy, personaly i wait till after ive glassed that way i can be kind rough with it but im sure its just as easy to do it before hand(it also depends on how your doin the strapping so use your own judgement).

hope this helps

 

[AoBfrost]

Where did you find cardstock there? I went to 3 different Meijers and couldnt find any in Ohio.

I went to Staples and there it was, a entire row of cardstock, all the way from 20 some lb to 125lb...i thought of buying 125lb but thought it may not print, luckily 110lb printsin a bottom loading printer problem free.

 

[Defektedtoy]

Where did you find cardstock there? I went to 3 different Meijers and couldnt find any in Ohio.

I went to Staples and there it was, a entire row of cardstock, all the way from 20 some lb to 125lb...i thought of buying 125lb but thought it may not print, luckily 110lb printsin a bottom loading printer problem free.

Ha! Ya know it took me like 45 min to find it myself. It is in the crafty stuff section. Near the yarn, glitter glue, that sort of stuff. It was on the bottom shelf, there wasnt much and it doesnt even have the .lbs on it. I was like "**** it, it's card stock, it's 4 dollars, if it's the wrong kind i'll just go to staples tomorrow.". It was on the very bottom shelf as well. I think most Meijer's are set up the same nowadays so i hope it's in the same place.

 

[Defektedtoy]

PICTURES!!

Unfortunatly they are from my cellphone so i apologise for the sub-par quality.

The gloves are wierd, they look like all cotton, but they aren't/ They have this pseudo leather fingertips and grip and they are made of this elastic-esque material that stretches.

I kind of messed up the thigh, but not really. I not only forgot to remove the color but when i printed the long pieces out, some were too long for one page so i had to compensate for the split. Well, needless to say i didnt give as much leeway as i should have, but once i resin, it will be virtually un noticeable.

I'll have more up soon!

 

[smilie120]

Awsome work man! Looking forward to see what you produce!

 

[Defektedtoy]

I ran into an issue... sort of.

I have been using the same scailing on everything and it all has worked out so far, but when i printed the left forearm, the hand cover piece seems pretty big. Is that normal?

I took a pic of the uncut piece next to my hand in the glove for refrence. The rest of the parts seem to be the right sizing.

Should it be that large? Is that just a side effect of unfolding a 3d render of giant man armor? I have no problem fashioning up my own hand cover, plate, guard, thing, i'm just wondering if this is normal.

 

[Defektedtoy]

I figured out my answer the hard way...

Built the whole left forearm piece and it's too big The shin, foot and thigh piece are all perfect. I used the 73 scailing in the scale thread for those pieces and i just figured that it would also be perfect for the forearm.

Well, i was wrong I think i am still goung to use the 73 scale for the chest and waist pieces, but now i need to figure out which will work for the forearms and biceps. I am 5'11'' so i might give the 71 a shot.

Has anyone else run into this problem? How much of a difference is there between 73 and 71 scale?

73 = 25.7554186
71 = 25.0497907

That doesn't seem like that much of a difference at all. Do you think that will be enough?

Here is a pic of the beefey forearm.

I can barely touch my nose with that thing on hahha

 

[AoBfrost]

I noticed the same thing, it's because masterchief is a husky thick guy and tall, some of us being skinny but the right size end up with huge arm peices, you just need padding.

 

[Defektedtoy]

Well i knew i was going to need padding and such. I actually planned on it by using the 73 scale. But i cannot even bend my arms to touch my head.

I just didnt realise that it was going to be so grossly disprapotionate. I have checked others completed pep armor and the size of my forearm armor is WAY bigger than most of the completed armor i looked at. And it just doesnt look like it will be proportionate to the rest of the armor and myself.

Back to the drawing board on this piece i suppose.

 

[tserrof]

or an easier thing to do is trim the peice

 

[dacacheman]

badass lookin gloves

 

[Macattack64]

Do my forearms look big?

Pictures... :\... I don't think they do... Just want a second oponion... It's hard to get my hand through and I even made it wider...

 

[AoBfrost]

I'm doing the stormtrooper technique with my armor peices that wont go on easily, cut them in half on the sides and velcro the two peices to look as one.

 

[Defektedtoy]

Do my forearms look big?

Pictures... :\... I don't think they do... Just want a second oponion... It's hard to get my hand through and I even made it wider...

Ya know they don't really look that big.. Maybe some of the armor i've seen is just a bit smaller. Mine fit about the same way your does. I think i'm going to keep em this size and just trim em down a bit after i fiberglass.

Thanks for all the info and encouraging words guys! Hopefully i'll have more up soon!

EDIT:Mac, did you use the same scailing on all your pieces?

RE-EDIT:The huge forearm thing is bugging me too much for me to leave it. And, i am 2 freakin sheets away from having my waist piece pep'd. I've been really lazy/broke as of late so not much progress has been made. I will do a full update soon once more has been accomplished.