First Armor Build - Pepakura Style

[mightymints]

Hey all, Ive been lurking for long enough so I decided while im waiting for my green card to the USA, ill make some armor!



Anyways, I settled on making an ODST suit, and am currently well underway on the Pepakura of the helmet. Ill post some photos ASAP anyways.



Couple of things ive picked up so far is that superglue is great, but expensive, and you w0nt have fingerprints for quite some time!



Also, a good metal ruler and cutting board makes life so much easier its untrue!



Lastly, dont rush or try to overdo it. When you get tired, you mess up, simple as.



One question ive got so far because im new to Pepakura; ive read allot about people using 110lb cardstock. I was wondering what the equivalent is in g/m2. Im guessing its 200? I could only find 160 g/m2 card, but it seems to be working out ok so far. The superglue seems to help its rigidity anyways. Just wondering what people think about this.



Ash

 

[HeavyGunner]

Couple of things ive picked up so far is that superglue is great, but expensive, and you w0nt have fingerprints for quite some time!



Also, a good metal ruler and cutting board makes life so much easier its untrue!



Lastly, dont rush or try to overdo it. When you get tired, you mess up, simple as.

Exactly! Lol :lol All of that is spot on. Sounds like you're learning a bunch, which is awesome! Looking forward to seeing what pieces you decide to start with! Good luck man



Edit: In regards to paper, just try to find some that's got a thickness most similar to a business card. I'm not sure how g/m2 works, but 110lb cardstock is very similar to business cards. Just a tiny bit more flimsy.

 

[mightymints]

Its not quite as rigid as the business cards I have, but its not paper. Hopefully when I resin etc ( im thinking of going that way) it will turn out ok. Im also wondering if its work me superglue-ing some more card on the inside of this to strengthen certain areas?

As this is my first Pepakura build, I dont know how flimsy these things can turn out so Ive been building it in a few pieces, the base of the helmet and rear is all one piece, and ive built the ear sections separately, and the top in two parts too. I can tell you its not easy to stop myself just sticking these buts together so I can see how far its coming on but I figure it will just collapse and be a PITA if I do that when I stick the other bits in.

One other bit of advice I picked up from the forum is using a different color pen to score the valley and mountain folds. Makes life so much easier, you dont really even need to use PepakuraDesigner2 to see how it goes together then.



EDIT: I forgot to say, to those who are learning to do this, one of the most important things is to use a CLEAN SHARP blade!!

It seems really important to make the slice in one cut as even though failed that only twice, both times, it made the piece flex weird as theres probably some little notch that you cant really see, I just ended up cutting it out again.

 

[mightymints]

finally finished the helmet pep, was a bit fiddly at the end . Im getting there though. Im not sure whether ill fibreglass this first or make a mrk_VI

 

[Yodajammies]

Lookin good. Nice crisp folds.

 

[halodude164]

thats cool. can't wait to see a finished project. good luck

 

[Spartianintraining]

dude it looks great i myself am going to start makeing armor by starting on my brother's armor and learn from there, i am going to make this helmet. any tips?

 

[bboyfresco]

finally finished the helmet pep, was a bit fiddly at the end . Im getting there though. Im not sure whether ill fibreglass this first or make a mrk_VI

what is your helmet scaled at? I just checked my setting and saw it was set to 275mm height... I started with few pieces before I realized I forgot to size it



so I stopped

 

[mightymints]

Well this being my first helmet, and me having a big head I decided to go at 30cm, however it might be a little big. Im still going to use it as a practice piece though so I can get used to fibreglass and stuff. Im actually thinking of making my chief armor using clay etc though.

Helmet scale though, I bet 27.5 will fit anyone with a medium or smaller sized head, i cant be sure though as im a bit new.

 

[Black Bandit XX]

Well this being my first helmet, and me having a big head I decided to go at 30cm, however it might be a little big.

It's better to have a large helmet, that way it's not too small. If it's too loose just grab a coif (The padding reenactors use) to go under it!

 

[GiR3892]

Wow nice dude very good first helm well done good luck on the rest of your suit

 

[mightymints]

well, I just went out and got all the resin and fibreglass stuff, and I resined the outside of a couple of pieces of ODST chest armor . Pics soon

 

[mightymints]

Ok, pics. First one to prove im not some noob who doesn't follow safety precautions!

Also, the fibreglass kit i got was from Halfords, it was like £11 for a big roll of fibreglass, 500ml of resin, he hardening compound, mixing pot, gloves, mixing sticks and a brush. Not bad, but I cant wait till I live in Tx so I can get things cheaper lol.



Seems like i need to use Photobucket, so here is the other photo.



The writing was meant to say "Acetone to clean the brush and mixing pot"

 

[mightymints]

How long should this resin take to dry? Its been at least an hour to an hour and a half since i did it and the resin is still tacky, should it take longer than this to solidify?

EDIT:

Ok, i think that the resin isnt setting due to it not being too warm, its around 60F atm. Ive put a lap over it over night to see how it goes.

 

[mightymints]

Well, i figured that it must just be the colder air so i used a heater and that seems to help. Anyways, i fiberglassed the left chest pad today, its messy stuff. Its mighty fun though! Stuff sets so fast and its so strong. Im starting to question whether my mask is effective or not though, does anyone know if a p3 rated mask is ok?

 

[Spartan 343]

Id hate to ask this, but did you use hardner on the resin? Also did you mix them to the right ratio?

 

[mightymints]

I think on the first couple I basically used the minimum amount of hardener. The second time round i added lots more, i mean it just went to jelly in like 10 mins rather than 15. The fiberglass has made is insanely strong now anyways, I used mat

 

[mightymints]

Just to prove im not just saying this lol, heres an in progress picture of me letting the stuff dry.



Also, tomorrow Ill be broadcasting me doing fiberglass on Skype tomorrow, so if anyones interested please PM me.

 

[mightymints]

Well, I was doing some work in my Dads garage today on the helmet and he put a box on the helmet pep and ruined it, so im pretty bummed about that, ah well .





Ill be working more on the armor today, so if anyone wants to watch then hit me up on skype, msn etc. I might actually broadcast on jtv.