Alternative paper types and designing your own armor.

Hello

I have been lurking here for some years now and i have been having a dream of creating my own armor from my own design lately.

First of i want to say that i am a novice in all aspects of armor making. I have tried with foam and found my skills... lacking... Thats why i have decided to do it the pepakura way and use thick paper (carton??). It is going to take a long time to do this and before i load up maya and start creating the armor it would be nice to get some things cleared first!

First thing first; paper is expensive where im from. I have been looking at alternative options, and have found a solution that i think would work:
http://www.bauhaus.dk/afdaekningspap-27-m2-120-cm.html
It is used when you are painting a wall to protect the floor. This roll is 27m times 120cm with a weight of 170g/m2. the price is extremely low. There is also a roll that is 10m times 1m with a thickness of 300g/m2.

My plan is to print the pattern on normal paper and then transfere the pattern over by hand to the roll. I know it is a lot of work and i am going to hate my self half way through, but it is affordable.

This big question is if it is possible?

I know this is said alot, but here it goes: I know my english isnt the best but hope you get what i am trying to say.

Kind regards

180-200gsm is plenty. 300gsm is overkill, and you'll find it very hard to work with such an inflexible material as a Pepakura project, even if you're transferring your templates over.

Ok thanks. So of the two options i should go with the 170g/m2? It is only going to make it cheaper

Edit:

The reason i thought of using the 300g paper, was that i wanted to use it as an base and then build all the detail on with bondo or something equivalent..

Any one out there who could take a look at a blender file? I have been working on a concept armor and i think im on to something! It is the first time i have used blender.

Is there an option to make the file downloadable via a link or something?

GentlemanFinn said:

Any one out there who could take a look at a blender file? I have been working on a concept armor and i think im on to something! It is the first time i have used blender.

Is there an option to make the file downloadable via a link or something?

Click to expand...

If you export the file as an .OBJ I'll take a look at it. You can sign up at 4shared.com and upload your files there, then copy the link and post it here

Okay i have tried..

http://www.4shared.com/file/QgDgcar5ba/Armor_Template.html

I dont know how to work in layers or anything fancy, so i have given the different parts colors. orange is armor - black is some random undersuit thing. the mannequin is made with makehuman.

Yeah it really looks good! The materials didn't go through because you didn't upload the matlib with the file but that's okay . I really like where you are going with it. Is it going to be custom Spartan armor or just a custom armor in general?

I like the halo armors, but i have never played the games. Maybe the first one on pc.. I am using armors from halo as an reference, but the goal is to create my own

Thanks for the kind words! I am stuck. Dont know how to cover the gut..

Just a quick afterthought: i am concerned with mobility. Every time i expand the armor in some way i consider what it does to the over all movement!

Mobility will be limited no matter what but if the armor is scaled properly you will theoretically have lower mobility loss. the Spartan armor will have the least mobility but you will be able to bend, kneel, jump, run, bring food to your face, and sometimes sit, ODST's have more flexibility, while the standard marines have the most flexibility.
You will have a lot of mobility no matter what but you also have to watch out with visibility, it will be limited to a certain field of view but if you have a handler like a friend you will have few problems; also if you are at a convention, people usually give you some space to move. I f you have any other questions, feel free to ask
Why is paper so expensive in Denmark?

I dont know if paper is more expencive then in other countries, but it is too expencive for me. The thing is that my printer cant handle anything thicker then air anyway.

I dont think that there is convensions in Denmark.. I havent heard about them if they are around i am proberly never going to wear the armor after completion, so it dosent really matter if i can move or not, but i like to have the option if i ever have to walk around in it!

I'm surprised no one has made a halo armor out of 20 gauge steel or aluminum sheets that you can buy from home depot