The PEPAKURA question thread - PLEASE READ RULES IN FIRST POST!

[lolzprox]

Hi guys, i just joined the forum like today, and im having some questions about building of iron man suit.

Basically, i made iron man mark VI suit out of foam, including the helmet, and it is also my very first suit, results are fine, just that it wasn't up to the expectations i had for it, especially the durability and the shape of the helmet.

Now i'm thinking of using the normal pep method to make a new suit, preferably the helmet first, but my biggest problem im facing is that, i live in Singapore, and this country don't sell Fiberglass, Resin and Bondo! Any substitution for these three items? Please, and suggestions are appreciated .

Or if there are alternative methods which still give a rather good product in the end, that is also really appreciated.

THANKS! Hope someone will help me asap...

[Rennoc]

DO you just eyeball it to figure out how much each piece needs to be folded in order to get the shape or is there an actual method?

[thepman1]

Hey! I'm looking to build an Iron Man suit (surprise surprise) to wear at parties and Halloween, etc. I was wondering what the cheapest method was to create a full suit at a quality/durability level similar to the classic resin/fiberglass/bondo method. Being a almost broke student, I'm trying to build it for under $100, but based on my research so far it looks like that won't happen. Is foam cheaper? Are there any steps I can sacrifice in the name of my wallet, or cheaper alternatives to resin/fiberglass/bondo materials? What would be the average cost for a project like this? I'm willing to spend more time on the project if it means less of the green stuff. Oh, and tools/equipment aren't an issue.

Thanks,
-Pete

P.S. I apologize in advance if this has been covered; I've spent hours on this site and the 405th's site and I couldn't find much regarding costs...

[EyeofSauron]

Hey! I'm looking to build an Iron Man suit (surprise surprise) to wear at parties and Halloween, etc. I was wondering what the cheapest method was to create a full suit at a quality/durability level similar to the classic resin/fiberglass/bondo method. Being a almost broke student, I'm trying to build it for under $100, but based on my research so far it looks like that won't happen. Is foam cheaper? Are there any steps I can sacrifice in the name of my wallet, or cheaper alternatives to resin/fiberglass/bondo materials? What would be the average cost for a project like this? I'm willing to spend more time on the project if it means less of the green stuff. Oh, and tools/equipment aren't an issue.

Thanks,
-Pete

P.S. I apologize in advance if this has been covered; I've spent hours on this site and the 405th's site and I couldn't find much regarding costs...

i dont think its possible

either you go the expensive route with pepakura, or even scratchbuilding, to have a quality suit, or you go the "cheap" route by making it out of foam. but even with the foam build, you wont be able to do it for less than 100 bucks. im guessing thats about as much as you would need just for the foam. also paint is expensive.
but it definitely needs less materials. all you need is foam, pva glue, gluesticks/hot glue gun and paint. PVA glue isnt all that expensive, it can be bought in 5 litre buckets pretty cheap. you can use cheap paints, but i guarantee you, that you wont be happy with the results

[white434]

Okay guys, I have been looking at materials to use to pep an iron man suit just like a lot of people on here. I am new to the pep scene and am very excited about the possibilities with it. I have read through the forum for days and haven't seen anybody mention or experiment using a thinner more durable plastic material for the pep. The material I had in mind is just using a rubbermaid container to cut the pieces because their containers aren't brittle when bent and it would be sandable to an extent. Does anyone think this would be an acceptable material for the whole suit? I haven't started my build yet but I did find a good deal on 1/2" foam so I have approximately 60 square feet of it for when I hope to build a war machine later.

Thanks,
Brian

[daniloferro]

Very helpfull... Thanks...

[thepman1]

i dont think its possible

either you go the expensive route with pepakura, or even scratchbuilding, to have a quality suit, or you go the "cheap" route by making it out of foam. but even with the foam build, you wont be able to do it for less than 100 bucks. im guessing thats about as much as you would need just for the foam. also paint is expensive.
but it definitely needs less materials. all you need is foam, pva glue, gluesticks/hot glue gun and paint. PVA glue isnt all that expensive, it can be bought in 5 litre buckets pretty cheap. you can use cheap paints, but i guarantee you, that you wont be happy with the results

So assuming I didn't have a price limit for the pep build for a quality suit, but still wanted to keep it relatively cheap, in what price range are we talking about?

[Rick Hanson]

Okay guys, I have been looking at materials to use to pep an iron man suit just like a lot of people on here. I am new to the pep scene and am very excited about the possibilities with it. I have read through the forum for days and haven't seen anybody mention or experiment using a thinner more durable plastic material for the pep. The material I had in mind is just using a rubbermaid container to cut the pieces because their containers aren't brittle when bent and it would be sandable to an extent. Does anyone think this would be an acceptable material for the whole suit? I haven't started my build yet but I did find a good deal on 1/2" foam so I have approximately 60 square feet of it for when I hope to build a war machine later.

Thanks,
Brian

Ah, Rubbermaid.

Upsides: It's relatively inexpensive, fairly easy to cut, and can be formed and shaped to some extent by using a heat gun.

Downsides: It's polyethylene, one of the alkene (or olefin if you're old school) family of plastics. Very, very difficult to get anything to stick to it. Glue, paint, whatever...the stuff is slippery by design. It's inherently resistant to chemicals. Many nasty solvents come in polyethylene containers.

People end up riveting pieces together, and then you end up with hundreds of highly visible rivets in your costume. (I kind of like that look, actually, but you'll catch flak from the costuming purists about it.)

You can get paint to stick to it - for a while, anyway - by roughing up the surface with 120-grit sandpaper and then using the Krylon Fusion line of paint. This will eventually flex and peel though, because you're still relying on a somewhat dodgy mechanical bond with a chemically resistant material.

It's also possible to "prime" alkene materials by flame treatment...a good, hot blue flame like you get from a propane torch will actually alter the alignment of the little hydrocarbon molecules on the surface of the plastic and marginally improve its adhesion. This comes at the expense of finding that very fine line between "prepped surface" and "flaming molten plastic burned my garage to the ground." It also won't make a whole lot of difference in the long run.

The only real way to bond the stuff with confidence is to use a plastic welder, and that's kind of an art form in itself.

If I weren't so lazy, I'd find some links to the work of (banned former RPF member) Master Le. Virtually all of his construction material, regardless of what exotic name he makes up for it to make himself sound like even more of a tool, is Rubbermaid. His costumes look great from about thirty paces but really start to fall apart visually as you get closer to them.

In closing, Rubbermaid is the devil and you'll probably want to shoot yourself in the face after going down that road.

Fin.

[EyeofSauron]

So assuming I didn't have a price limit for the pep build for a quality suit, but still wanted to keep it relatively cheap, in what price range are we talking about?

i can tell you approximately, what went into my warmachine so far:

2 500 packs of cardstock: 20 bucks.
5 litres of resin: 30 bucks
5 m² of fibreglass cloth: about 20 bucks

i still need more resin to finish a few more parts so its at least 40 bucks for resin

and after that, theres still about 10 kg of filler at least, for the whole suit. after that. at least 4 cans of red automotive color, 1 can of gold, and 4-5 clear. plus about 10 cans of primer.

id say about 300 to 500 bucks, overall. that is, if you want to directly wear it. if you want to cast it, double the amount

[white434]

In closing, Rubbermaid is the devil and you'll probably want to shoot yourself in the face after going down that road.

Fin.

I believe with the very informative response you provided, I will be sticking with foam. Thank you so much for spending the time to give such a detailed description of the downfalls.

Brian

[thepman1]

i can tell you approximately, what went into my warmachine so far:

2 500 packs of cardstock: 20 bucks.
5 litres of resin: 30 bucks
5 m² of fibreglass cloth: about 20 bucks

i still need more resin to finish a few more parts so its at least 40 bucks for resin

and after that, theres still about 10 kg of filler at least, for the whole suit. after that. at least 4 cans of red automotive color, 1 can of gold, and 4-5 clear. plus about 10 cans of primer.

id say about 300 to 500 bucks, overall. that is, if you want to directly wear it. if you want to cast it, double the amount

D: Jeez I had no idea it would be that expensive... maybe I'll just make the helmet...
If anyone knows how to cut corners to reduce cost without sacrificing too much quality/durability that would be great. How much cheaper would foam be? Could I combine foam for some parts like the body and pep for the helmet and such without it looking ridiculous?

Thanks for the prompt and informative replies eyeofsauron! Everyone on here is super helpful.

[EyeofSauron]

D: Jeez I had no idea it would be that expensive... maybe I'll just make the helmet...
If anyone knows how to cut corners to reduce cost without sacrificing too much quality/durability that would be great. How much cheaper would foam be? Could I combine foam for some parts like the body and pep for the helmet and such without it looking ridiculous?

Thanks for the prompt and informative replies eyeofsauron! Everyone on here is super helpful.

foam is definitely cheaper. i imagine, 100 bucks in foam get you a full suit, and after that you would only need pva glue to seal it, and then a couple of spray paint cans to paint it, so somewhere around the 150 bucks mark.

ive seen amazing builds with foam, but in general, its not as detailed. and nowhere close to as durable. still. for costumes i prefer foam lately. its way faster, with some effort, you get decent detail, its cheaper, and as you really dont wear it that often, it has some lifespan to it still. also, you wont worry so much about it getting damaged

if i were you, id go the route most people are going these days with these im suits. build the suit out of foam, the helmet out of pep. because effectively, its the helmet that gets you the attention.
If you want to go really budget, look up the 25$ iron man build here on the forum

[Rennoc]

Wow 300-500 sounds cheap to me lol.

I'm a Star Wars Costumer and that's how much your average kit will cost not including all the other accessories you need. Armor only.


Question though...Do you need to put the spacers (or paper bars) inside the armor if you're going to resin it? Do they help keep the shape or what exactly is the deal with them. I'm planning on starting this week. I did a trial run making the forearm out of regular paper. Now I just need to get the 110lb cardstock.

[EyeofSauron]

if you are going to build a star wars armor out of pepakura with these materials, you wouldnt need more or less money. but if you buy a kit, you also pay for the worktime put in by the seller. depending on the piece you do or do not need spacers. if the piece is big and has big spaces in between (for example my warmachine chest), then you should do spacers
i learned that the hard way

for other stuff, you need spacers just to keep it in shape over all. the portal gun i built has rounded shells, and theres no chance to keep it in shape without the spacers

on other stuff, its not really usefull, and in the way. small parts with little spaces generally dont need it

[thepman1]

foam is definitely cheaper. i imagine, 100 bucks in foam get you a full suit, and after that you would only need pva glue to seal it, and then a couple of spray paint cans to paint it, so somewhere around the 150 bucks mark.

ive seen amazing builds with foam, but in general, its not as detailed. and nowhere close to as durable. still. for costumes i prefer foam lately. its way faster, with some effort, you get decent detail, its cheaper, and as you really dont wear it that often, it has some lifespan to it still. also, you wont worry so much about it getting damaged

if i were you, id go the route most people are going these days with these im suits. build the suit out of foam, the helmet out of pep. because effectively, its the helmet that gets you the attention.
If you want to go really budget, look up the 25$ iron man build here on the forum

Thanks for the help eyeofsauron. I think I'll start with a pepakura helmet and see where that leads me. I was hoping for the quality of a fully pepped suit but it looks like foam is the better way to go. I'll try and build everything for $100 or under, maybe cut some corners here and there. I'll let you know how that goes

Thanks,
Pete

[Rennoc]

if you are going to build a star wars armor out of pepakura with these materials, you wouldnt need more or less money. but if you buy a kit, you also pay for the worktime put in by the seller. depending on the piece you do or do not need spacers. if the piece is big and has big spaces in between (for example my warmachine chest), then you should do spacers
i learned that the hard way

for other stuff, you need spacers just to keep it in shape over all. the portal gun i built has rounded shells, and theres no chance to keep it in shape without the spacers

on other stuff, its not really usefull, and in the way. small parts with little spaces generally dont need it

Ok great.


at what POint do I remove the spacers?
After placing resin on the outside?

[The Ronin]

Ok great.


at what POint do I remove the spacers?
After placing resin on the outside?

That's when I removed the spacers/struts on my Halo armor. There were too many to try and glass around.

[EyeofSauron]

generally when you can say it will hold its shape without them

[GriZzm0]

Does anyone know what paper to use in Sweden/Europe? I've emailed staples.se which has 110lb cardstock on their .com site. They said that they don't have the exact same product on their Swedish site but recommended 160gram A4. From what I can tell 110lb converts to 200gram though but I'm not sure.

[astromechr4p17]

Dude, thanks for the info... it's helpful to have a bunch of foam shortcuts in one place!

[killergames2014]

i need help geting the templat

[danielsnake911]

hi folk!, anyone here have the file for the pepakura program with general grievous head?

[dariang]

Hey everyone,

I've been watching the forums for a few weeks now, getting tons of information from you all, but I can't seem to find a thread that explains the differences between the different types of body filler (aka bondo).

I went to Wal-Mart and all they had there was "Rusk auto filler" which contains short strands of fiberglass in it. Does bondo brand body filler also contain fiberglass?

What are the pros and cons of using bondo-glass over regular or lightweight bondo? I want my build to be sturdy, but I would like to know what the "normal" type of filler most people use is. It's my first build so I don't want to experiment too much, I just want to do it by the book.

Thanks!

[EyeofSauron]

there are different kinds of filler, the stuff with fibreglass, the standard filler, and spot filler.

generally i would just take standard filler, as the fibreglass one can be stupid to sand.
spot filler when you only have small spots left to fill, as its easier to sand

[jarivera]

guys i need your help.How do i properly rescale the pepakura files for my size? thanks in advance