"Help!" for: Papercraft or Pepakura

[sara hold the h]

I've reached a slightly confusing point in a project that I'm working on and I've tried googling it but didn't have much luck. On a certain part of the pep file it seems that several "cut lines" overlap with "fold lines", so if I actually cut on the solid line it effects the width of the pieces. If this a problem with the actual file, or am I just having a major brain fart from staring at it for too long? This is only the second thing I've pep'd but I didn't run across anything like this with the helmet I made so I'm confused on how to proceed.

 

[Carpathia]

I've reached a slightly confusing point in a project that I'm working on and I've tried googling it but didn't have much luck. On a certain part of the pep file it seems that several "cut lines" overlap with "fold lines", so if I actually cut on the solid line it effects the width of the pieces. If this a problem with the actual file, or am I just having a major brain fart from staring at it for too long? This is only the second thing I've pep'd but I didn't run across anything like this with the helmet I made so I'm confused on how to proceed.

I think I know what you're talking about, but is there anyway you could post a screenshot of the problem area. Without seeing a picture, I can't be sure, but it sounds like human error in the unfold.

 

[sara hold the h]

[/URL][/IMG]

 

[Carpathia]

Yeah, that's an error in the unfolding process by whomever did it. Rather than making the cut lines where they did, they should have separated the section along the curved line that runs vertically. It's still doable; cut along those cut lines and don't worry about trying to glue those tabs together (tab 431 down to tab 446), since, really, they don't exist. That section will gain strength when the tabs on the right side (433 down to 448) are glued to their counterparts. You may have a few small gaps, but that can be covered when you resin/bondo easily enough.

 

[sara hold the h]

Yeah, that's an error in the unfolding process by whomever did it. Rather than making the cut lines where they did, they should have separated the section along the curved line that runs vertically. It's still doable; cut along those cut lines and don't worry about trying to glue those tabs together (tab 431 down to tab 446), since, really, they don't exist. That section will gain strength when the tabs on the right side (433 down to 448) are glued to their counterparts. You may have a few small gaps, but that can be covered when you resin/bondo easily enough.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your help!

 

[Katsu]

Actually, most weapons I see on here are either made from scratch (like tactonyx or redshirt), or machined out with vector/cad files designed (Justinian, me to a small extent). You will find that the process of pepping weapons is very difficult and does not yield very nice results. I tried doing the needler in pep and it was a nightmare..

If you want something for a kid, it might be worth tracking one of these down:
http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/...o Armor/toyHaloAssaultRifle-PlasmaBlaster.jpg

Painted, they are very good kid-sized copies of the halo assault rifle (the company got in trouble for the similarities to the halo AR)

Lastly, I understand there is a drive to make something neat for your kid, but you come off a bit aggressively, saying you refuse to use a windows machine to do it yourself, and then posting over and over asking other people to size and pdf print files for you to leaf through is a bit much.

While people on the 405th try their best to render aid, usually members only have the time and inclination to give advice and help in spoken word. When you want something extensive like any work with 3d models, custom pep files, or manual services rendered, you will get much faster results doing it yourself. It's not that they don't want to help people, but most of us have school, jobs, blah blah blah, and what time is left goes primarily to our own endeavors first.

As was mentioned to you earlier, you can take a thumb drive to a library, install pepakura designer on that, and then use it to resize and pdf print models to your heart's content. This will be your best option if you won't be getting personal access to a windows machine.

 

[Satchmo III]

I'm not sure if this is the correct thread for this, but I'm having a problem with the MK VI HD hand plates. I have them scaled to 45.221208 (H=18, W=71, D=83) and am careful to align corners when assembling, but no matter how hard I try, parts 4 and 10 do not align properly with part 12. Is this a common problem to be correctly later during finishing, or do I just try harder? Is there a recommended assembly sequence for the parts rather than "just start gluing matching Edge IDs"? Thanks.

If you're trying to match pieces up with anything other than the numbers on the tabs then I don't recommend it (you talk about matching up part numbers).

Scale doesn't matter when aligning tabs. Try as hard as you can to actually align the numbers themselves for the best results. Be careful of numbers like '14' so that the very outer edges of the number on the tab aligns with the very outer edges of the (flipped) number on the adjoining piece.

Each pepakura model has it's own (as far as I understand) random numbering scheme when it comes to tabs. There is no order implied with the tab numbers. As a guide I will normally try to assemble starting near the center of a model and working out toward the outer edges of a model.

 

[RobotChicken]

Hi, thanks for the response. The numbers aren't really registration marks, they're just edge identification references. Geometrically and structurally, corners and edges must line up even if edge numbers don't - otherwise parts that wrap around a corner will not. I didn't mean to sound like I was matching up part numbers. The problem was in starting from the front of the hand plate - by the time I reached the back (where alignment is more critical), it was too wide for part 10 (not to be confused with edge 10) to align with part 12. I too start from the center and work outwards, and I now know to look at the 3D model for potential misalignment areas and assemble those first. Usually, some areas of a model will have more alignment latitude than others (fractions of millimeters). Anyway, I came up with an assembly sequence for the hand plates that resolves the rear misalignment. Thanks!

 

[Satchmo III]

RobotChicken, I'm glad you found a good method for the hand-plate.

You are correct that the tab numbers are ID references but the pepakura program centers those numbers along the edges. If the tab numbers aren't aligned that means the edges/corners aren't either. As you go forward and tackle more difficult models I would suggest using the numbers for the purpose of aligning the edges. You don't have to believe me but you're new and I'm trying to help. The assembly process is not overly complicated and this simple idea will save you loads of time/frustration. Good luck with your project.

 

[TayS321]

Hey guys, I'm still sizing my pieces; I've gotten to the forearms and I wanted to see if I could get an opinion on how the proportion looks. It seems fine to me in terms of length but the wrist width just seems really large to me, especially since it seems to have this weird opening at the top of where it meets the wrist. Could I get some feedback or suggestions?

 

[Jason 078]

Hey guys, I'm still sizing my pieces; I've gotten to the forearms and I wanted to see if I could get an opinion on how the proportion looks. It seems fine to me in terms of length but the wrist width just seems really large to me, especially since it seems to have this weird opening at the top of where it meets the wrist. Could I get some feedback or suggestions?

It will get some bulk on the inside when you glass/rondo it. Also, it is meant to be worn over a bit of a thick suit, if you are planning a non-underarmor under suit.

 

[TayS321]

Cool beans, thanks much. Still trying to get an eye for judging the final size outcome.

 

[AceBelfor]

Heya guys! I've wanted to get into pepakura armor construction for some time, and finally decided to begin on my first. Better late than never, eh? However, some time ago my computer got stolen so I had to get a new one. I didn't have much money so I got a chromebook, which is normally more than adequate. However, now that I've begun, I've found that chromebooks don't support pepakura since they don't use Windows. Does anyone know of a way I might be able to get around that? Or maybe know of an online program that I could use? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[DRG]

Okay, so I understand how to scale the pep files, but how do you handle unevenly scaling for 'irregular' body types? I have a disproportionately long torso, so if I match the height of a chest piece it's way too wide (forces my arms out like I'm doing the chicken dance) and if I match the width it comes out looking like a crop top.

I apologize if this has been answered before, but I really didn't find much when I searched...

 

[RobotChicken]

Hi, I have a question regarding certain types of tab joins in the HD builds, specifically the MK VI forearms. It seems many of the tabs are glued face-to-face (on the inside of the part) rather than the traditional tab-under-edge. This causes the joined tabs to stick out perpendicular inside. I'm expecting this would get in the way of later fiberglassing and wondering what people usually do with them. Leave them as is, glue them down flat to one side, something else? Thanks.

 

[Katsu]

Heya guys! I've wanted to get into pepakura armor construction for some time, and finally decided to begin on my first. Better late than never, eh? However, some time ago my computer got stolen so I had to get a new one. I didn't have much money so I got a chromebook, which is normally more than adequate. However, now that I've begun, I've found that chromebooks don't support pepakura since they don't use Windows. Does anyone know of a way I might be able to get around that? Or maybe know of an online program that I could use? Any help would be much appreciated.

I've heard of people using Wine with Pepakura, I am not sure personally how well it works, but it's a shot?

Okay, so I understand how to scale the pep files, but how do you handle unevenly scaling for 'irregular' body types? I have a disproportionately long torso, so if I match the height of a chest piece it's way too wide (forces my arms out like I'm doing the chicken dance) and if I match the width it comes out looking like a crop top.

I apologize if this has been answered before, but I really didn't find much when I searched...

For the chest plate, you shouldn't need to worry.. The chest armor IS a crop top (especially with reach and h4 armor), with a black vinyl undersuit that shows for the stomach area. If you really want to adjust it though, any basic 3d modeling program can stretch and skew 3d models evenly. But you need to re-import the model and re-unfold it which can be a pain in the butt if you've never done it before.

Hi, I have a question regarding certain types of tab joins in the HD builds, specifically the MK VI forearms. It seems many of the tabs are glued face-to-face (on the inside of the part) rather than the traditional tab-under-edge. This causes the joined tabs to stick out perpendicular inside. I'm expecting this would get in the way of later fiberglassing and wondering what people usually do with them. Leave them as is, glue them down flat to one side, something else? Thanks.

Never seen one that did that, screenshots or photos? What you want to do is up to you. If I ran into a piece that did that (I haven't yet), I would cut one of the tabs off and then do the normal glue-tab-under.

 

[RobotChicken]

Katsu, I don't yet know how to include photos here (been doing a lot of reading just to get through the 208 pages of this thread, and will next look for other threads, such as describing how to include photos, how to start a new WIP thread, etc). From what I've seen in a few messages here, I apparently need to register some third-party account like Photobucket to host the photos (which I'm not keen on doing). Perhaps I'll ask my wife to create a Halo Armor photo album on her Facebook page and link from there...

Anyway, the MkVI HD forearm parts have many tabs where adjoining edges both have the same tab and Edge ID. I presumed they are meant to be attached face-to-face. Doing so actually yields a much smoother join outside than tab-under-edge (no "step" from cardstock thickness), but causes the joined tab to not lay flat on the inside surface. Flexing the tab (to see if it can be flattened) distorts the seam so that option's out. I'm thinking the fiberglassing will still work through these anyway, but was not expecting the "duplicate" tabs. I was curious how other people handled them.

 

[Pyronari]

Katsu, I don't yet know how to include photos here (been doing a lot of reading just to get through the 208 pages of this thread, and will next look for other threads, such as describing how to include photos, how to start a new WIP thread, etc). From what I've seen in a few messages here, I apparently need to register some third-party account like Photobucket to host the photos (which I'm not keen on doing). Perhaps I'll ask my wife to create a Halo Armor photo album on her Facebook page and link from there...

Anyway, the MkVI HD forearm parts have many tabs where adjoining edges both have the same tab and Edge ID. I presumed they are meant to be attached face-to-face. Doing so actually yields a much smoother join outside than tab-under-edge (no "step" from cardstock thickness), but causes the joined tab to not lay flat on the inside surface. Flexing the tab (to see if it can be flattened) distorts the seam so that option's out. I'm thinking the fiberglassing will still work through these anyway, but was not expecting the "duplicate" tabs. I was curious how other people handled them.

any time I have had duplicate tabs I will cut one off and glue like normal. if you feel it looked better gluing both tabs under just trim it before you fiberglass the inside. otherwise you will be left with a bump or worse a hollow spot when you do the fiberglass cloth. it boils down to what you want to do really. it would be easier to just cut one off and glue normal though.

 

[RobotChicken]

I was planning to use fiberglass mat rather than cloth because looking at the two and reading the pros and cons here, the mat seems better suited for corners and weird angles (of which there are many in the pep builds). I should be able to arrange the mat pieces so the tabs protrude through (either by cutting slots or arranging pieces flush with these tab edges) for the first layer. Since some recommend two layers of glass, after the first layer hardens I can then grind the tabs down to the mat and add the second layer. Then I won't need to alter any of the pieces and get the side benefit of smoother joins. (My peps look like they were carved from a block of paper rather than assembled with glue!) I'm traveling a path that many have already walked before me so like I said, I was curious to hear how others dealt with this type of tab join to learn what has worked better (knowing that "best" is subjective to the person answering).

 

[KillTheRaid]

I need help. I used to be a member, and i knew how to use pepakura, but i stopped for a long while, and now i came back to it and i'm clueless. I had an ncr ranger helmet file from fallout, and i scaled it perfectly, and put the scaling into pepakura, i set the paper setting to A4 because im using cardstock (atleast i think thats what u put, i dont remember) and it resized all the pieces, i moved them to where they fit on the pages, and i had colored the mountain and valley folds they way i wanted them, but when i printed it, the only thing that came up on the papers was the numbers, and the pieces seemed smaller than how i had scaled the to fit the pages, please help.