Official pepakura scaling thread

HI Everyone! Great Site!

My son (13) asked me to help him male a Halo MC Costume for halloween so I went on the internet to do some research.
Lo and behold I found this site! WOW! I am amazed at the wealth of info here, Great work everyone!

After reading through many posts I deceided to check out this "Pepkura" thing ... I downloaded the program and templates and printed out the helmet. I was unsure of scaleing it so I printed it out with the default 30. ??? I must have clicked on the yes to rescale when I printed because the helmet was too small for my son when I assembled it. It would fit over his head if i cut a split in the bottom and back of the neck but was a bit tight on the inside, no extra room for padding etc.

Question: The hole in the bottom seems a bit small, are you supose to remove the material around it to be able to get your head in and out?

It took me about 8 hrs to cut it out and assemble the first one. I decided to try again an scale it up. I didnt quite understand what I was doing and set the scale to 40.0 thinking ity was going to be 25% bigger. Boy was i wrong!
Half way through assembling it I realized it was going to be friggin HUGE! I completed it anyway and now I have a GIANT MC helmet for fun.

I have now gone back through all the posts and this scaling post and have a better understanding for what im am doing LOL.
I am now going to try again (3rd time lucky) and use a scale of 25.0 (I am 5'8") I decided to make myself a coustume as well). I am a very average size (perfect medium) 32W 32L 38 Chest. and i will post my scaling results.

Here are some pics of my first try, some are a bit blurry.
Wish me luck.

Redsleighdown said:

Just though this may make some people's work a little easier.
If you have completed any pep armor pieces, please post telling if the armor was too big or small(also give your body measurements) and if you did any rescaling. No one-on-one discussions please.
Thanks
-Red

Click to expand...

kk I finished the helmet, right now thats all I'm going to do. I finished it with no scaling I just took it from the tutorial link and it turned out too big . What body measurements do you need???

I tried using the advice of Frizzlefry with my sons armor.

My son is 47" tall, with the math I am using a scale of 16.935068 (scale for 48")

He is a skinny little runt and so far the feet, calf and thigh are all good. However the helmet is not so good. I'm about 3/4 of the way done with it and it barely fits my 4yr old daughters head.

Now I have to figure out at what scale I need for his helmet.

That helmet prob is the very same thing that lead me to post on this thread. I have made two waist pieces since then. Used scale 18 for my 7 yr olds 23" waist and it was a perfect fit (minimum room for under garment). I used this data point to extrapolate a scale of 16.435 for my 4 yr olds 21" waist. Remember algebra....18/23=x/21 solve for x=18*21/23. The 4 yr olds waist piece was a bit big. That is why we need more real world feedback to have more data points and fine tune the ratio(s) from size to size and piece to piece.

I also did a right bicep in scale 18, needless to say it didn't fit the 7 yr old with the scale 18 waist. It did have a reasonable inside circumfrence of 10.25" (per the plastic container that conveniently slid inside).

Hope my trial and error constructions help someone else and please post your scales and measurements. I really need feedback on helmet and chest as they have the longest build times (x3).

I am making MC armors for my kids for Halloween. Also I have modded paper designs to construct using craft foam sheets... makes for playable armor for the kids. Might inspire to kids to grow up to be prop/armor builders. I will post pics in the near future.

I do not have registered pepakura. Will I have to scale and immediately print without saving? If not, please specify how I should do this.

Soldier360 said:

I tried using the advice of Frizzlefry with my sons armor.

My son is 47" tall, with the math I am using a scale of 16.935068 (scale for 48")

He is a skinny little runt and so far the feet, calf and thigh are all good. However the helmet is not so good. I'm about 3/4 of the way done with it and it barely fits my 4yr old daughters head.

Now I have to figure out at what scale I need for his helmet.

Click to expand...

A child's head is larger in proportion to his body than with an adult so you have to use a larger scale for the helmet than for the body when making armor for a younger child. My son is 48 inches tall and I am using a scale of 20 for the helmet and 18 for the rest of the armor. He has a big head so even 20 might be a little small.

Fuffuloo 117 said:

I do not have registered pepakura. Will I have to scale and immediately print without saving?

Click to expand...

Yes, you have to print without saving if you are using the unregistered version.

[WOO first post as a member!]

*Ahem!*

I didnt realize id need to be scaling everything, and assumed that the model i had would fit an average sized person (i'm 5'11 220 lbs.)...boy was i wrong.

i got halfway through the crown/backside of the helmet before i realized how friggen huge it was going to be...but i completed it anyway, and am going to use it as a test for my fiberglassing/resining/painting efforts....ill use it as a desktop model or something after im done, or give it to a friend of mine (he's got a head about 75% larger than mine, perhaps the default scale will work for him...).

So now I've got a basketball-sized helmet sitting on my bed staring at me with a blank forlornish gaze as i rush off to staples to get more cardstock...

Also, a question...the default ma5c assault rifle template (found in the templates thread) is huge...way too ong to look scale on me...does anybody know the scale to use for it? Thanks much.

-CaelenVasius

[EDIT]: BTW, my forehead's circumference is 25 in. (63.5 cm), is 9.25 in. tall (from neck to crown).

Fuffuloo 117 said:

I do not have registered pepakura. Will I have to scale and immediately print without saving? If not, please specify how I should do this.

(Note: this is not a one on one conversation, but a real question.)​

Click to expand...

actually no, in the menu up the top, go to 2d pattern window, then down the bottom theres a 'copy to clipboard' option. click it and set it to a good resolution (note it wont go higher then 4000 in ether measurement but you don't need it this high... ever) then open ms paint or an equivalent then go to edit and paste, your plans will be pasted and you can then save them out as jpgs and then come back to them later if you need to scale them. you can work out how you need to change them with a lil percentage math but its much easier then re-peping everything each time.

hope this helped.

p.s. This is not a crack or anything illegal, its built into the program and you still aren't able to save the edited mesh but it helps.

Thanx, I should have thought of that...

i plan to make a MC helmet but i am unsure on what size?

i am 5'3" and i have a pretty big head / hat size: 7 5/8

wat scale should i do and how do i change the scale?

I plan to get started on a suit from Halo3 soon but before I do I have a quick question. I am in the process of trying to gain weight I am currently 150ish and would like to be about 165 when all is said and done. Now assuming the overall size is the same as the Halo2 type what can I expect in terms of room in the suit? I don't want to spend months building it to find out that I am a few pounds too heavy for the scale that I used. I realize that due to how recently the files for the Halo3 suit have been released answering the my question may be a bit hard to answer but I am sure any experience with Halo2 version will still be helpful.

P32:
You should be able to build your helmet, shoes, forearms and even calves (the calves look roomy, I haven't done any yet) without worry of body size changes.

If you are on a muscle building program then it will be most apparent in your upper arms, shoulders, chest, and thighs -- not that you won't gain muscle in other areas too. You may find you are getting more definition than bulk with your weight goal, remember muscle is dense. That can depend alot on your current body type, from beanpole to soft around the middle.

As I think more about it, the chest even has health amount of room in pecs area. Just look to the shoulders, bulk (increased muscle volume) here will make the chest armor rest higher on your frame also the underarm straps might get tight but they are easy to tweak.

Also consider the design of your underarmor -- bulky clothing or skin tight bodysuit. See the variety in underarmors here on-site.

Changes in your regular wardrobe may be the best indicator that you need to rethink armor scale.

Here is some of the data I have compiled: the lines in red are my real world measurements and rest of the numbers in the tables are extrapolated from those ratios of the real measurements. The I.C. is inside circumference determined with a rolled paper tube slid inside the armor piece. The height is simply the lowest point on the piece to the highest point as it stands on its rolled paper tube.
[attachment=529:bicep_armor.JPG]

Please send in your own measurements to help refine these tables and tables for other pieces.

The place to measure on your thigh is the circumference around the thigh located just above the bend of the knee.

----------------------THIGH--------------------
SCALE----------HEIGHT(in)------I.C. (in)
11.592657------7.375--------------8.69449275
12.5---------------7.96125-----------9.375
13------------------8.2797------------9.75
13.5---------------8.59815----------10.125
13.911188------8.860035637---10.433391
14------------------8.9166-----------10.5
14.5---------------9.23505---------10.875
15------------------9.5535-----------11.25
15.5---------------9.87195---------11.625
16-----------------10.1904----------12
16.5--------------10.50885---------12.375
17-----------------10.8273-----------12.75
17.5--------------11.14575---------13.125
18-----------------11.4642-----------13.5
18.5--------------11.78265---------13.875
19-----------------12.1011-----------14.25
19.5--------------12.41955----------14.625
20-----------------12.738------------15
20.5--------------13.05645----------15.375
21-----------------13.3749-----------15.75
21.5--------------13.69335----------16.125
22-----------------14.0118-----------16.5
22.5--------------14.33025--------16.875
23-----------------14.6487----------17.25
23.5--------------14.96715--------17.625
24-----------------15.2856---------18
24.5---------------15.60405-------18.375
25------------------15.9225---------18.75
25.5---------------16.24095-------19.125
26------------------16.5594---------19.5
26.5---------------16.87785-------19.875
27------------------17.1963--------20.25
27.5---------------17.51475-------20.625

The place to measure on your upper arm is the circumference around the arm located just above the inside bend of the elbow.

----------------------BICEP--------------------
SCALE----------HEIGHT(in)------I.C. (in)
14---------7.5--------------------8.25
14.5------7.735489------------8.860211
15---------8.00223-------------9.165735
15.5------8.268971------------9.47126
16---------8.5--------------------10.125
16.5------8.802453-----------10.08231
17---------9.069194-----------10.38783
17.5------9.335935-----------10.69336
18---------9.602676-----------10.99888
18.5------9.869417-----------11.30441
19---------10.13616-----------11.60993
19.5------10.4029-------------11.91546
20--------10.66964------------12.22098
20.5------10.93638-----------12.5265
21---------11.20312-----------12.83203
21.5------11.46986-----------13.13755
22---------11.7366-------------13.44308
22.5------12.00335-----------13.7486
23---------12.27009-----------14.05413
23.5------12.53683-----------14.35965
24---------12.80357-----------14.66518
24.5------13.07031-----------14.9707
25---------13.33705-----------15.27623
25.5------13.60379-----------15.58175
26---------13.87053-----------15.88727
26.5------14.13727-----------16.1928
27---------14.40401-----------16.49832
27.5------14.67076-----------16.80385
28---------14.9375-------------17.10937

Looking at that scale and using my current measurements for my biceps and thighs it seems that I would be cutting it close in the thigh if I used the overall scale for my height. So it looks like I will have to use one scale for my helm and a slightly larger one for my body to allow for any changes. I appreciate the help.

First I would like to say that this thread is extremely helpful.

Second I would like to ask about helmet measurements. I know that people have posted other things about the helmet size but I would just like to know where to measure around my head or if I apply the formula from the first page to every piece of armor.

Thanks in advance.

My rough numbers for head/helmet measurement are from a 23 scale helmet I build for the 4 yr old's 19.5" head measurement. Before I cut it out I xeroxed it and resized on the copier up 10%, that should translate to 25.3 scale and it fits my 14 yr olds 23" head. The fit on both is such that they can get their heads in the opening (with the unnecessary paper cut off the bottom) and its roomy inside the helmet without the foam/padding added yet. The 23 to 25.3 scale is a surprising big difference in size.

<blockquote>-------HELMET(Measure around the largest part of the head, with tape above brow)
SCALE---------HEAD MEASUREMENT (inches)
23----------------19.5
22------------20
22.55---------20.5
23.1----------21
23.65---------21.5
24.2----------22
24.75---------22.5
25.3--------------23
25.85--------23.5
26.4---------24
26.95--------24.5
27.5---------25
28.05--------25.5
28.6---------26
29.15--------26.5
29.7---------27</blockquote>
If anyone is curious how I came up with these numbers: I got a ratio between the scale and head size (scale / head size = ratio). The 25.3 scale ratio of 1.1 seemed more accurate so I multiplied every head measurement on the table by 1.1 to get it's scale number. This ratio is definately in need of tuning though. That is where everyone else comes in. If you have built a helmet, post your scale and head measurement so we can refine this table. I still have two more helmets to make for my 7 and 10 yr old 21.5" heads, so I will have more real world data to refine this with.

-dwoo

Hi Everyone:

Here's an update for my suit.

I have finished a complete pepakura suit (see attached pics ) at a scale of 25.0. I am 5'8 and 160 lbs.
Some parts seem too big (Groin, Legs) and some too small.

I used 110 lb cardstock and it worked well for me. I also used white school glue to attach the flaps. (dries in 30 to 60 sec if you only smear a small drop on a flap)

Use the trick where you draw over the fold lines hard with a ball point pen! This makes folding the flaps easy

I am starting the first layer of fiberglass resin and will be applying 5 oz glass cloth on the second coating.

After the first coating of resin the suit is pretty stiff so I will probably addjust the fit by cutting and tapeing.

At a scale of 25.0 the helmet seems to fit ok but I still have to cut out the bottom to get my head in. I just measured my head and it is 23 in. If I make another helmet I will scale it up a bit (26 or 27)

The chest seems to be ok but I had to cut the sides to get it on (clamshell), I plan to leave the sides open and put buckles on the sides.

I am not sure about the legs or arms yet, The arms seem to be about right but the legs are a bit big.

Check out the pics and I will give you all another update in a week.

My goal is to have it finished for haloween.

Ciao.... Wombat

Here are some more pics:

Before reading the scaling Thread I made a Pep MC Helmet at a scale of 40.0 LOL I got half way thru befotre I realized It was going to be HUGE!!! I finished it anyway. (8 hrs of work)

Here is a pic of the scale 40 helmet beside the scale 25 helmet. Have a Laugh!

I am going to keep it for a souveneere (sp?)

Wombat

hehe... what im going to do is print out the bottom part of the bill and see if i have enough room

so far ive scaled my helmet and chest 25.75541 and they are perfect, but when i tried that measurement for the left thigh, it was really big, so i scaled it down to about 18, because before that it didnt even fit on the page, anyway, when i printed it out and folded it up, it was really small. can anyone help me with this?