And the Madness Begins

saianamy · Sep 19, 2010

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a24/saianamy/Mark VI/
The days progress is in the album if you want to view them all.

Its my first day everyone and I started with the HD model right off the bat and heres my first days progress, let me know what you think of this and tips or corrections that need to be made. All criticism is welcome.

Akademee · Sep 19, 2010

Jumping in head-first, are we? Nice start to your project

ventrue · Sep 19, 2010

Awesome pep work!
Curious... this is precisely the part of the helmet I haven't built yet ;-)

saianamy · Sep 19, 2010

Day 2 spent on the chin area and some of the back to the helmet. This pep stuff takes FOREVER. I think I have already put like 15-20 hours into this helmet. Is it supposed to take this long?

I am guessing any uneven spots can be fixed later as long as they are not to bad.

calladar · Sep 20, 2010

unfortunately it takes a long time to pep and get it right. you are doing an outstanding job.. take your time and keep up the good work.

saianamy · Sep 20, 2010

I am thinking about doing a thin layer of F-Resin on the outside first, any tips or suggestions for when I get there? or reasons why I should not do the outside first?

dericrw · Sep 20, 2010

I recommend resining the outside first in a thin layer. Do it in sections so that you dont warp the piece.
ALSO, the pep piece will have several small holes in it after it is pepped between each tab. By doing the outside first, most of the runs and drips from the resin will occur on the inside where it is not too important.

OH, and NICE PEP WORK!

AceNat · Sep 20, 2010

yeah dont worry about it taking a long time..
took me about 15 hours for my first helm, and yeah resin the outside once first. then let it dry then resin maybe 2 more layers before you start to harden the inside

vshore100 · Sep 20, 2010

You should do a 1-2 layers on the outside first(I do two) before attempting to harden the inside. You are basically "stiffening" the outside so it will hold form when you go to "harden" the inside. Don't forget to add supports to the inside so it will not warp. Look for any weak spots and brace it up the best you can. The more you do to pevent warping now, the less time you spend with body filler later when it comes time to smooth it all out.

Good luck with your pep, looks really great so far!

saianamy · Sep 20, 2010

will plastic trash bags work for the inside support? I have to wait till next weekend to keep working on it, but when the time comes I was thinking of just stuffing it with plastic bags from stores to keep it round, rather then printing all the supports and using them, or should I print them and add them as I finish up? because right now I don't see any tabs where they go in the top.

vshore100 · Sep 20, 2010

Me personally, I would use cardstock for your supports or small pieces of would like stirring sticks or dowel rods. And even if you can't find a tab for a support, you can still just hot glue it in place. You are going to cut it out later anyway so glue it where ever you can get one in. You don't need like twenty or anything, just pick several spots that need them and add in those areas. If you have the supports that came with the file use them. If not, just measure the area where you want the support, fold some cardstock into a trianglular tube shape, and glue it in. Don't forget to make a little tab on the ends to glue to.

Hope this helps!

saianamy · Sep 20, 2010

Ahhh crap i think my helmet is coming out to small, damn I hate having a big head. Looks like I will be building 2

(P.S. would not let me edit my last post.)

Anyone know how to scale this puppy for your head? I watched a video but he didnt make much sense, should I just increase by 10% and have another go at it? or 20%? my head is 7 and 5/8ths in hat size. not sure how pepakura wants me to measure my head. Pictures on how to do this would be nice. anyone willing to be so kind?

ventrue · Sep 20, 2010

saianamy said:
Ahhh crap i think my helmet is coming out to small, damn I hate having a big head. Looks like I will be building 2 (P.S. would not let me edit my last post.)

Anyone know how to scale this puppy for your head? I watched a video but he didnt make much sense, should I just increase by 10% and have another go at it? or 20%? my head is 7 and 5/8ths in hat size. not sure how pepakura wants me to measure my head. Pictures on how to do this would be nice. anyone willing to be so kind?

About the editing: Go advanced for that. Quick edit seems to be bugged.

About the too small: Be careful with changing the size, because what seems like a small change can have a HUGE (in my case quite literally) effect on the finished model. I built the first one unscaled just to check size, stopped halfway because it seemed too small. Started another one, came out so big the first one would fit inside it, also stopped that halfway. Third one is coming out pretty nice so far, I chose a width of 250 mm (default is 231 mm). Looking back, even the default size might actually be a (tight) fit. Keep in mind that Flying Squirrel's model is a bit tight around the bottom, so even if you have a perfectly fitting helmet, you may need to cut a little of that edge away in order to actually put it on. FOr the next one you may also consider starting your build from the bottom instead of from the top, that way you can check the size earlier ;-)

saianamy · Sep 20, 2010

yeah the inside seems to fit awesome but the bottom looks like it wont allow my head in, i might just have to dremel the bottom for some extra roundness for squeezing my fat head in.

Also how thick does a rondo slush cast end up being? even if i thin it with a brush while its wet to even it out, does it end up being like 1/2 inch thick or more on the 1/8 inch side?

ventrue said:
About the editing: Go advanced for that. Quick edit seems to be bugged.

About the too small: Be careful with changing the size, because what seems like a small change can have a HUGE (in my case quite literally) effect on the finished model. I built the first one unscaled just to check size, stopped halfway because it seemed too small. Started another one, came out so big the first one would fit inside it, also stopped that halfway. Third one is coming out pretty nice so far, I chose a width of 250 mm (default is 231 mm). Looking back, even the default size might actually be a (tight) fit. Keep in mind that Flying Squirrel's model is a bit tight around the bottom, so even if you have a perfectly fitting helmet, you may need to cut a little of that edge away in order to actually put it on. FOr the next one you may also consider starting your build from the bottom instead of from the top, that way you can check the size earlier ;-)

Oh yeah, how do you know if the chest will fit? I saw a video with something about measuring the chest to colar bone. Either way I think one of us needs to make a tutorial on sizing your pep to fit you, one that works for every piece and that we all can use. Is everything on the pep site for the HD section fitted for a 6 foot tall person? thats what I was told but not sure about it.

Hickeydog · Sep 20, 2010

There's a few tutorials on how to scale. It's pretty much a best guesstimate. Hint: Don't use the default scaling. I didn't, and now I drown in my chest piece.

You are going to make them the wrong size. It happens.

saianamy · Sep 20, 2010

Yeah well I think the standard is perfect for some pieces and then to small for others, im just gonna make a full set and the ones that are too small my brother will then be the proud owner of. We are gonna make two sets, I will prolly end up doing all the pep work, just this HD helmet is taking so long. I bet I could finish a normal MarkVI helmet in a day where the HD one takes me like 5 days. Do you guys think the HD helmet is worth the detail?

0235 · Sep 20, 2010

hey, thats prety good pep work. maybey you could give or sell it to someone who has a smaller head.

saianamy · Sep 20, 2010

0235 said:
hey, thats prety good pep work. maybey you could give or sell it to someone who has a smaller head.

Would be nice to sell the work that ive done but theres some issue with the pattern belonging to someone else and I have to get permission to sell it, on this site I do not think its allowed. But hey its always an idea. I wondering where you would find a buyer for something like this. prolly ebay'ers. I would rather give it to my brother if it fits his head. I want to get two matching MarkVI sets in HD for me and him. Was thinking about making them diffrent colors but I think it would be kinda cool to look the same. And I want to put the 405th logo on every piece because without you guys, this would not be happening. I am thinking about stenciling the logo, or color. Not sure how I would do color, hand painted never looks as good as a sticker or patch. I would have to figure out how to make or order custom stickers online or something to do it that way. I think that might be my best option.

ventrue · Sep 20, 2010

saianamy said:
And I want to put the 405th logo on every piece because without you guys, this would not be happening.

If I remember correctly, you need permission for that as well

saianamy · Sep 21, 2010

ventrue said:
If I remember correctly, you need permission for that as well

Who would I need to ask?

Also put the jaw on the top tonight, few tabs to glue in the morning and I will start the next one. This one ended up to small, I am gonna print just the bottom this time at 10% larger and see if that works, that way im not wasting time

Here are some pictures, feel free to judge them harshly so I can fix mistakes, note some of the tabs are not glued because the Jaw is barely attached just to show you how far I got tonight.