Working on my armor, need some help

[Lord of Reach]

Hello, guys! I wanted to share my progress, I'm doing my armor with pepakura since august (I think) and I'm not even close to finishing it, but I had some questions. Oh, and I'm from Mexico, so there may be grammar mistakes

Fist of all, this is my progress so far:

Helmet (I was starting the bondo part, it has a little over it but I ran out of it, so I was going to start again tomorrow or so)​

Left forearm and both shoulders/biceps. I just got the idea to do the right forearm a reach one, too, but the left forearm is going to have the tactical tacpad (I think that's how it's called)​

Chest. I used paper tape because I couldn't glue the damn thing, I hope the resine still works. If not I'm going to hang myself​

Waist. I just finished this ten minutes ago​

I will do the assault rifle and a magnum, and I want to do the attachment for the magnum in the thigh. I think i will do these bags for the stomach

​

The legs are going to be the reach ones, too. Goddamn, I really like reach's designs.
And the colors are going to be gold and black, I use these colors in every Halo since Reach. But the visor is going to be blue



I wanted to have some progress before doing this thread, but I need some help. I wanted to start working with the resine tomorrow, but I realized that I should cut some of the pieces so I can fit in them later on. Which parts should I cut? In the waist I think I will cut the butt piece, but should I cut the shoulders too? Or are they ok like that? I will be using velcro to join the pieces.

And is the forearm's size accurate? I'm not very sure, but I don't want to have pieces bigger than what they should be.
I'll do the spinal column with foam, but I can't find the files, anyone has it? Or should I do it manually?

Anyways, I think I did a lot of questions, but I really need the answers, I'm on vacations and I want to work as fast as possible, I want to finish the whole thing before summer.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Phauxelate]

Well, from what I know in Pepakura you should make the scale a few percentages larger (at least just for the helmet), because the fabric on the inside takes up room, and the resin on the outside can shrink/warp it a bit. (Correct me if I'm wrong though)

The only thing you should cut in order to put it on is the chest piece, as otherwise you'd have a problem getting your head and arms through. It should then be held together with parachute clips, but you might be able to get away with velco, but from my experience it's more trouble than it's worth. Everything else should slide on and fit nicely. If it doesn't, I've heard some people use foam padding on the inside to help it mold to your body more along with giving it more friction to stay in place.

I've only made one suit so far though (with EVA foam), so take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

[Lord of Reach]

So far, I haven't had any trouble with any piece, only the chest piece, but because it's paper and I was scared to break it or something, I was hoping that I will fit just perfectly once it's hardened.

the resin on the outside can shrink/warp it a bit.

Yeah, I've seen that the resine can warp the paper. I didn't have any problems with the helmet, luckily, but I have that covered with some wood sticks to keep it strong.

I've heard some people use foam padding on the inside to help it mold to your body more along with giving it more friction to stay in place.

Yeah, I think I will use sponges or something like that, I tried using eva foam because that's what I have at hand, but it's very thick and rough. But so far I haven't had any problems with the sizing, just with the left bicep, the piece is a little bigger than my arm.

I think I will start using the resine tomorrow, the only problem is the weather, but it will be like this the next few months so whatever