Hey rpf! i fairly new here and I wanted to show everybody the project that I've been working on. Im building stormtrooper armor with the use of pepakura, fiberglass and bondo. I've heard people say vacuum forming with ABS or buying pre-formed pieces works best but i really want to try with pepakura first and maybe in the end i will vacuum form over the pieces i build. All the models Im working on are from dungbeetle and they are really spectacular. thanks a lot to him! I also take alot of inspiration from stealth/ delray's tutorials, toxx's helmet, and terra1's helmet so if you haven't already check those out.
anyway here's what I have so far, feel free to criticize constructively and add suggestions:
These two pieces are all the front armor put together. shoulders look a little big but i think they'll look smaller from the side
Here is the back piece and the kidney/butt plate
These are the handplates. Im not a huge fan of the size of these. as you can see thy are really thick so they might not sit very well on my hand. also they are super accurate towards the stormtroopers in the films, so i may redesign these.
Forearm: turned out pretty good although they do warp a bit as you can see in the 2nd picture. I also glued paper braces on the edges to keep them the right size
Bicep: these pieces were probably my least favorite because it was the inside bicep piece (3rd picture) constantly warped and the folds dont fit together great. Also the file has 2 layers, on each piece and i didnt realize that until I started to put it together. I only ended up using the outer layer. in the last picture you can see 3 sets of biceps, the bottom one was too small so i scaled the other 2 up.
Shoulder bells: these were easy pieces but they also had 2 layers so i only used the outer one. as seen in the last picture the sides warp in a little bit so i need to brace those.
Chest: this also turned out pretty well although some the folds got a little messed up. I also braced the inside of this one but i used dowel rods that I cut up.
Ab/ cod plate: this turned out a little small so I will probably have to remake it. This was a difficult piece and it took a while to make so im not too excited to remake it. when i resin it i will probably cut the 2 pieces apart so it will be a little easier to move in. Also the ab plate file does not come with any of the details so i will get to do that myself
I have more pictures that I will post later and I plan to post pictures as my build develops. thanks a lot!
anyway here's what I have so far, feel free to criticize constructively and add suggestions:
These two pieces are all the front armor put together. shoulders look a little big but i think they'll look smaller from the side
Here is the back piece and the kidney/butt plate
These are the handplates. Im not a huge fan of the size of these. as you can see thy are really thick so they might not sit very well on my hand. also they are super accurate towards the stormtroopers in the films, so i may redesign these.
Forearm: turned out pretty good although they do warp a bit as you can see in the 2nd picture. I also glued paper braces on the edges to keep them the right size
Bicep: these pieces were probably my least favorite because it was the inside bicep piece (3rd picture) constantly warped and the folds dont fit together great. Also the file has 2 layers, on each piece and i didnt realize that until I started to put it together. I only ended up using the outer layer. in the last picture you can see 3 sets of biceps, the bottom one was too small so i scaled the other 2 up.
Shoulder bells: these were easy pieces but they also had 2 layers so i only used the outer one. as seen in the last picture the sides warp in a little bit so i need to brace those.
Chest: this also turned out pretty well although some the folds got a little messed up. I also braced the inside of this one but i used dowel rods that I cut up.
Ab/ cod plate: this turned out a little small so I will probably have to remake it. This was a difficult piece and it took a while to make so im not too excited to remake it. when i resin it i will probably cut the 2 pieces apart so it will be a little easier to move in. Also the ab plate file does not come with any of the details so i will get to do that myself
I have more pictures that I will post later and I plan to post pictures as my build develops. thanks a lot!