The Ultimate Pepakura FAQ

[grifandsargert]

so i have a few questions
1. is fiberglass necessary
2.were and when to use bondo do i cover the whole thing or just parts of it

 

[Redshirt]

so i have a few questions
1. is fiberglass necessary
2.were and when to use bondo do i cover the whole thing or just parts of it

A lot of people try and use just resin and Bondo. They usually regret it. Resin soaked paper is stiff, but not strong. The paper fibers aren't strong enough to support a lot. Bondo hardens things up, but it is very brittle. It is also heavy. People tend to make the Bondo thicker to increase the crack resistance, but it adds a lot of weight, is expensive, and is still brittle. By using fiberglass on the inside, you add a lot of strength without a lot of weight. You don't have to wear armor long to appreciate weight savings. By using Bondo over the fiberglass-strengthened Pepakura, you use less, save on sanding and repairs, save weight, and have armor that can withstand getting jostled while getting hauled around. Non-fiberglassed Pepakura is very at-risk when it is not on your person. Helmets in particular get banged around and I see lots of threads with busted helmets. Also, the helmet is the best area to save weight and reduce fatigue. Check out Vshore100's CQB thread. On of the nicest Pep builds out there. He just had devastating damage done to non-fiberglassed components.

Bondo: The less you use, the more you will love it. The more you use, the more you will hate it. It is very hard and not designed to sand or shape easily. Most noobs try to Bondo the whole thing at once or use lots of Bondo. Work small areas, and don't try to fill everything in one pass. It is much easier and cost-efficient to build up thin layers, sanding and filing a little between layers than building up and having to bust your ***** for hours removing material to get the shape and detail you want. Yes, everything will eventually have some Bondo on it to get a consistent surface for painting. Sanding the resined Pepakura directly will always be 'fuzzy' so you'll want Bondo as the upper surface.

Hope that helps.

Redshirt

 

[shwarzwald]

A lot of people try and use just resin and Bondo. They usually regret it. Resin soaked paper is stiff, but not strong. The paper fibers aren't strong enough to support a lot. Bondo hardens things up, but it is very brittle. It is also heavy. People tend to make the Bondo thicker to increase the crack resistance, but it adds a lot of weight, is expensive, and is still brittle. By using fiberglass on the inside, you add a lot of strength without a lot of weight. You don't have to wear armor long to appreciate weight savings. By using Bondo over the fiberglass-strengthened Pepakura, you use less, save on sanding and repairs, save weight, and have armor that can withstand getting jostled while getting hauled around. Non-fiberglassed Pepakura is very at-risk when it is not on your person. Helmets in particular get banged around and I see lots of threads with busted helmets. Also, the helmet is the best area to save weight and reduce fatigue. Check out Vshore100's CQB thread. On of the nicest Pep builds out there. He just had devastating damage done to non-fiberglassed components.

Bondo: The less you use, the more you will love it. The more you use, the more you will hate it. It is very hard and not designed to sand or shape easily. Most noobs try to Bondo the whole thing at once or use lots of Bondo. Work small areas, and don't try to fill everything in one pass. It is much easier and cost-efficient to build up thin layers, sanding and filing a little between layers than building up and having to bust your ***** for hours removing material to get the shape and detail you want. Yes, everything will eventually have some Bondo on it to get a consistent surface for painting. Sanding the resined Pepakura directly will always be 'fuzzy' so you'll want Bondo as the upper surface.

Hope that helps.

Redshirt

I cannot stress that part about thin coats and small areas. I made the noob mistake of putting waaay too much bondo the first time around. I've been sanding and fighting with it for almost a week now.

 

[Kay Dalaar]

Hello!
I wanted to ask how much fiberglass cloth I need for a 31,6cmx28,6cmx33,0cm (HxWxD) helmet.

 

[rancid3024]

hi i hope yo can help me i recently suscribe to this page beacuse i download a iron man helmet from aztlan and whe i print the template come out whit out texture color. u know why this happen?

 

[Kay Dalaar]

Is this thread dead?

 

[Jason 078]

Hello!
I wanted to ask how much fiberglass cloth I need for a 31,6cmx28,6cmx33,0cm (HxWxD) helmet.

It's difficult to say, exactly. You need enough to give one or two layers inside. Generally speaking, I buy a full pack of the off-the-shelf fiberglass cloth. I then cut it into 2" (5cm) squares. I use a spray adhesive to put a layer all around the inside of the piece I'm glassing. When that's done, I put another layer in at a 45-degree rotation (diamonds on top of squares, as it were). When I did a Star Wars Royal Guard helmet, it took about a quarter of a pack. Just to let you know, there isn't a lot of detail inside a RG helmet, so your mileage will vary. Then again, I also use kevlar/carbon fiber weave rather than fiberglass, so I don't need to put it in as thick. For normal glass, you might want to put in another layer with another 45-degree twist.

Is this thread dead?

No, it's still alive. You just caught everyone in the middle of Con Season, so replies aren't all that fast.

 

[Kay Dalaar]

Thanks for your answer! You really helped me.

 

[Vulkan93]

i am printing out a pathfinder helmet from pepakura (not my design) and i don"t get he dotted lines only a bunch of random numbers. Does any one have suggestions on what to do?

 

[Vulkan93]

nvm i figured it out thanks to mandoman531 it was the line transparency found in print and paper settings set it to 0

 

[BamMorrowXXX]

Anyone have any tricks on getting card stock to flatten back out after my printer curved it?

 

[Meatwad]

Anyone have any tricks on getting card stock to flatten back out after my printer curved it?

Get a new printer lol.

But really, put some heavy books flat on the pages overnight. The more weight, the better.

 

[BamMorrowXXX]

Thanks ! Was hoping it wouldn't take that long but looks like I wont be able to start pepping till tomorrow

 

[Jason 078]

Anyone have any tricks on getting card stock to flatten back out after my printer curved it?

Lay it face down on an ironing board and iron it flat. Medium heat, no steam.

 

[Redshirt]

Anyone have any tricks on getting card stock to flatten back out after my printer curved it?

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it much. By the time you cut, fold, and glue, it will be straight. The folds will hold it straight. If the curve is really severe, or you just have to have it flat, Jason 078 nailed it. Later as you resin it, the bindings between the fibers will loosen to such an extent that it will want to warp in new ways.

Redshirt

 

[BamMorrowXXX]

can someone message me who knows about pepurkura viewer for silhouette cameo and also how to set up the cameo to where is will cut right, every time I try the lines are off because the measurements for the viewer registration marks are not the same as the cameo even after the conversions they do not line up, and also it seems like the silhouette program adds additional white space so it does not align right

 

[stanni6365]

great thread lot of useful information it has answered majority of my stupid questions

 

[JCAM]

Odd question I know, but what do you do with the flaps on the inside? Do you leave them or sand them back after fiberglassing?

 

[Redshirt]

Odd question I know, but what do you do with the flaps on the inside? Do you leave them or sand them back after fiberglassing?

You should have fiberglassed on the inside, covering and smoothing over those flaps. If you fiberglass on the outside, you cover and lose all of your exterior details. Also, rondoing (a thick liquid mix of resin and Bondo that you make yourself) slushed around the inside of your part would cover the flaps. I prefer to do Pepakura in this order: Resin the Pepakura model to harden it. Resin it again on the other side for better strength. Fiberglass the inside of the model. Smooth down the fiberglass as much as you can with a Dremel-type tool. Rondo over the fiberglass to give it a finished appearance and cover any remaining sharp edges. If you do it wrong and use a lot of resin and Bondo, you can end up with an over-heavy part. Don't use any more resin than you need to saturate the fiberglass. The rondo-mix should be fairly thin (more resin than Bondo) because it is just a finish layer. After all of that, I detail the exterior which should be just resin-soaked card stock at this point.

I hope that helped. Please poke through the stickies for examples.

Redshirt

 

[JCAM]

I hope that helped. Please poke through the stickies for examples.

Thanks! Definitely helped.