#1, the last post in this thread was back in November. Even at only one month you're walking the fine line to Necroposting, which is highly discouraged here.
But to answer your question, if you open up a file in the Pepakura program and click the "unfold" button, that's exactly what you'll get. The program will just chop the model into random pieces and vomit it up in the 2D window. The clean, organized unfolded models you see in the archive or the database are the result of meticulous work and, depending on the model's complexity, many, many hours of going over each of those chunks and breaking them down into more sensible components while simultaneously trying to maintain uniformity and symmetry (for example not having one "cheek plate" be in three pieces while the other is in five) as well as making sure the pieces are small enough to fit within the bounds of the paper, and to make sure the individual pieces can come together without nightmarishly complex folding. And if they're like me, an unfolder might also spend an hour or more obsessing over the layout of the flaps themselves trying to get the most support for an ideal fit and the most surface area for proper adhesion.
In short, there is no shortcut to a clean, ready-for-print unfolded model. And to make matters more complicated, the site you are pulling these models form does not use "pep-ready" models, per se. There's a lot of unnecessary components (areas that are better suited for soft materials rather than rigid pep work) as well as overlapping pieces (a scout rifle model, for example, will have every available sight and scope option for that particular model layered one on top of the other, so you might very well have a dozen or more different sights/scopes all jammed into the one model).
It's best to start with a cleaned-up model. Folks like Crimmson and several others have done great clean-up work and might be open to requests, but there may be a waiting list. Once the model is cleaned up, if they're feeling ambitious (or if it's a model they, themselves, are interested in) they might unfold it for you, otherwise it's up to you to find someone willing to unfold it, or take on the task yourself. It takes some practice to get used to and to learn what to look for. Sometimes when the program does its initial unfold it will stick pieces together that overlap and need to be separated, otherwise when it's printed out you're not going to be able to use that piece without creating a problem area.
But to answer your question, if you open up a file in the Pepakura program and click the "unfold" button, that's exactly what you'll get. The program will just chop the model into random pieces and vomit it up in the 2D window. The clean, organized unfolded models you see in the archive or the database are the result of meticulous work and, depending on the model's complexity, many, many hours of going over each of those chunks and breaking them down into more sensible components while simultaneously trying to maintain uniformity and symmetry (for example not having one "cheek plate" be in three pieces while the other is in five) as well as making sure the pieces are small enough to fit within the bounds of the paper, and to make sure the individual pieces can come together without nightmarishly complex folding. And if they're like me, an unfolder might also spend an hour or more obsessing over the layout of the flaps themselves trying to get the most support for an ideal fit and the most surface area for proper adhesion.
In short, there is no shortcut to a clean, ready-for-print unfolded model. And to make matters more complicated, the site you are pulling these models form does not use "pep-ready" models, per se. There's a lot of unnecessary components (areas that are better suited for soft materials rather than rigid pep work) as well as overlapping pieces (a scout rifle model, for example, will have every available sight and scope option for that particular model layered one on top of the other, so you might very well have a dozen or more different sights/scopes all jammed into the one model).
It's best to start with a cleaned-up model. Folks like Crimmson and several others have done great clean-up work and might be open to requests, but there may be a waiting list. Once the model is cleaned up, if they're feeling ambitious (or if it's a model they, themselves, are interested in) they might unfold it for you, otherwise it's up to you to find someone willing to unfold it, or take on the task yourself. It takes some practice to get used to and to learn what to look for. Sometimes when the program does its initial unfold it will stick pieces together that overlap and need to be separated, otherwise when it's printed out you're not going to be able to use that piece without creating a problem area.
