First pep build - Samuray Iron Man mask

[EDBANGER]

Firstly thanks Mr Samuray for your work on the pep files. This is my first ever Pepakura build and it's been fun so far. Learnt lots but feel like I've got a huge amount of improving to do to get anywhere near the quality of some of the stuff i've seen on this site. I literally finished this a few minutes ago and I'm yet to tweak some of the folds to make the pieces fit together properly. How do you guys attached the three pieces together?? I was thinking about using double sided tape along the joining edges in the hope that once I've fibre glassed it I could easily seperate them still.

I was lucky enough to have someone lend me a robocraft printer to cut out the pieces. Once I'd got the thing set up and working (which took several days) I had all 20 pages printed and cut out in approx 2 hours. The cutter was a mm off to the right on all pieces which meant some of the folds and sticking probably isn't as good as it could have been. I'm gonna have a look at calibrating the printer for next time.

I found that pritt stick was the easiest method for doing the majority of the joining although for really small flaps I would pritt them and hold them in place before adding a bit of hot glue. I also hot glued over some of the larger flaps on the curves to make it stronger.

I'll add some better pics when I've attached the pieces together so you guys can rip into it and tell me where I went wrong There's definitely room for improvement but I think I'm quite happy for a first attempt.

 

[MasterBest1]

For a first pepwork, this looks great!! Very clean folds! If you continue working this good then you will get a great Iron Man helmet in no time! Good luck with the rest of your build!!

 

[Andrew Lambright]

i WISH my first pep peice turned out this good! i've never used a craft robo for that exact reason, it's also a lot more personal if i build my armor completely from hand i think. anyhow, it looks great! cant wait to see more!

 

[EDBANGER]

Cheers guys, much appreciated. To this point I reckon it's only taken about 9 hours of work over three days which surprised me. I hear what you're saying about cutting the pieces out by hand and I think that you'd probably get a better finish but the thought of all that knife work makes me want to cry. Maybe I'll give that a shot if I can't suss out the calibration on the robocraft.

Here's a few more pics now I've stuck the three pieces together......

There's a part on the one side where the face part joins the back of the mask that has a bit of a gap. Do you think I can sort out bits like that during the filler bondo part???? All critisism welcome please. Any suggestions, tips etc much appreciated.

I'd like to do a war machine helemt next but I'd like a medium def build. I can't seem to find one using search. Does one even exist?

 

[EDBANGER]

I still havn't got around to buying the resin to strengthening this first mask because I was waiting for my friend to get back from holiday to give me a hand with it. In the meantime I decided to try and have a go at a HD War Machine helmet and I'm quite pleasade with how it's gone. I was definitely getting better at it towards the end and this one was built entirely using the glue gun and no pritt stick. In these pictures I've used cellotape just to fit it whilst I wore it. I still need to finish one little bit on the chin piece that I just couldn't get my head around at the beginning. Can't wait till this one is strengthened.

 

[vshore100]

Great job on your first two pep helmets. For joining the pieces together for resining, (if you didn't know already) many of us here use small binder clips. They work really well for holding everything where you want it. Best of luck with the builds!

 

[CoolC]

I hope you realize that the helmet is way too small. It looks right now, but once you resin, fiberglass it you will never get your head through. If you are rubbing your face against the paper helmet, wait until it is hardened. I suggest that you redo the helmet at least by 10-15% increase in size.

 

[EDBANGER]

Long time without any work on this one. Got around to applying a coat of resin to the outside and a coat to the inside today. It's fairly sturdy already and I'm wondering if it actually needs anymore resin or fibre glass matting on it or whether I could get away with just applying filler to the outside as it is?

Regarding the sizing issue and getting my head through I was thinking about splitting the mask into three pieces and using magnets to hold it all back together. Just a thought? Any suggestions welcome.

 

[Carpathia]

I would still add in at least one layer of glass. It may feel sturdy, but the first bit of unintentional pressure it takes will crack it, then you'll find yourself repairing it and adding in some glass anyway. Better to save yourself a headache.

The pep looks great, I can't wait to see more of this!

 

[EDBANGER]

I forgot to add that I haven't been doing absolutley nothing pep based whilst I've been away. I made most of a glove for my friend who has nearly finished the filler part. I think he intends to cast it and then make it in a rubber. Came out pretty well I thought....

 

[EDBANGER]

I've decided that I am going to use some fibreglass matting on the inside to give it extra strength. I'm looking on Ebay and they all have different gsm's. I assume this is the grade of thickness. What GSM would be recommended?