Trash can Pepakura

[ArmorOfTwo]

Ok. I have a question that I can not find any answers to. Has anyone ever tried to use the plastic from trash cans to replace their card stock for making Pep pieces? Ive heard of people using this method for scratch building but I'm wondering if it will work for Pepakura.

 

[Charlieiscool12]

i think i saw one person try it, but it didn't work because the tabs wouldn't score. when he folded them the flaps would just snap off.

 

[ArmorOfTwo]

Yeah that's one thing i was thinking might happen. I'm curious if the plastic will fold at all. even withought the tabs there might still be a way to glue the pieces together.

 

[Charlieiscool12]

they sell 69 cent thin plastic 3 ring binders at target. i use them as carrier sheets for my craft robo, but they would work well for pepping.

 

[Goosebot 5000]

this is a similar method to how a boat load of people over on therpf.com are building their MKV ironman armor. Someone made templates that you just lay over the small office trash cans, and cut right out. pop rivet them together and boom. Timecon on this site had done something similar with cardboard and had it work great for him, you might want to see how he handled the tab situation, and then try to adapt and apply it to the plastic.

 

[Carpathia]

Seems like it would be too much work to me. Simpler just to pep with cardstock.

 

[Goosebot 5000]

it just depends on what youre trying to do. for smaller details i would stick with pep. but for larger areas that i wouldnt count it out at all. ive done similar with the craft foam, and ive seen loads of people use this technique for the bigger closed cell foam pieces. using it for something layered makes it actually look layered, instead of all being made out of the same sheet and folded over to imitate the look.

 

[mdb]

It depends on your plastic. Trashcans I think are mainly polyprop which is great stuff but is really difficult to glue well- it doesn't dissolve in much at all and so glues don't weld to the plastic as such.

Get some sheet styrene, remove the tabs and you can weld the pieces together (acetone and shavings from the styrene make a great glue/weld). Belakor here has been doing this work (I'm sure there is a thread on it) and I used it last year for some customising of greaves for a costume:
http://glittersweet.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d1xbkav
I'm also currently using this for my own armour (though not pep, I templated the pattern my hand):
http://pinkdiamond.livejournal.com/tag/sv

There are advantages to this as well as disadvantages. I can happily sand the welded sections this way rather than have to sand the entire faces of resined card stock But the pieces need to be aligned really well to start with which can be tricky when you are taping on one side and gluing on the other.

 

[ArmorOfTwo]

thank's guys im might try a few of these ideas.