Can I make big papercrafts with 160gr paper?
- Thread starter Antonis13
- Start date
Galactican
Sr Member
Oh my, I'm pretty late to the party but better late than never. 
160gsm paper is my weapon of choice. It goes through the printer without issues and is thicker than regular office paper. Such a big sculpture will need a lot of reinforcement, especially at the ankles. To do so you can use any scrap paper and card you can get your hands on. Recycle cereal boxes, amazon packaging etc. But make sure that the material you use does not smell. Unfortunately most Pepakura models do not provide parts for an internal support structure, so you'll have to come up with a unique solution. I would assemble strategic sections of the model and glue additional layers of 160gsm paper or card to the inside to strengthen it (similar to how you work with paper maché). That however will increase the weight of the final piece so it is necessary to add a support inside the legs and feet. I don't know if you could fill any holes with expanding foam, you should test that as well (but be careful because of moisture effects and the rate of expansion).
160gsm paper is my weapon of choice. It goes through the printer without issues and is thicker than regular office paper. Such a big sculpture will need a lot of reinforcement, especially at the ankles. To do so you can use any scrap paper and card you can get your hands on. Recycle cereal boxes, amazon packaging etc. But make sure that the material you use does not smell. Unfortunately most Pepakura models do not provide parts for an internal support structure, so you'll have to come up with a unique solution. I would assemble strategic sections of the model and glue additional layers of 160gsm paper or card to the inside to strengthen it (similar to how you work with paper maché). That however will increase the weight of the final piece so it is necessary to add a support inside the legs and feet. I don't know if you could fill any holes with expanding foam, you should test that as well (but be careful because of moisture effects and the rate of expansion).
Antonis13
New Member
Hello! Thank you for the reply and the tips!Oh my, I'm pretty late to the party but better late than never.
160gsm paper is my weapon of choice. It goes through the printer without issues and is thicker than regular office paper. Such a big sculpture will need a lot of reinforcement, especially at the ankles. To do so you can use any scrap paper and card you can get your hands on. Recycle cereal boxes, amazon packaging etc. But make sure that the material you use does not smell. Unfortunately most Pepakura models do not provide parts for an internal support structure, so you'll have to come up with a unique solution. I would assemble strategic sections of the model and glue additional layers of 160gsm paper or card to the inside to strengthen it (similar to how you work with paper maché). That however will increase the weight of the final piece so it is necessary to add a support inside the legs and feet. I don't know if you could fill any holes with expanding foam, you should test that as well (but be careful because of moisture effects and the rate of expansion).
I finished this project about and a half month after this post. And I got to tell you, i should have thought about reinforcing it before I finished it. Although nothing that cant be fixed. Also I done it with 200gsm paper.
About the expanding foam. I have thought about that recently, and because I love doing big papercrafts, I will get a canister or two to have. Although in this specific project i cant put expanding foam because there are 0 openings to put into. So i will have to find another way to make it more solid.
Lesson learned. Before doing papercrafts, especially big ones, plan my moves.
Galactican
Sr Member
Cool! But use only small amounts of foam to prevent this:
www.therpf.com
And check it out on a scrap model to see how it affects the paper.
Ranger 3 and A+B foam - a cautionary tale....
It was going to be a simple build. A couple of months ago, I picked up Timeslip's Ranger 3 kit, intent on making it the Season2 variant of Buck Rogers' shuttle. (Since the studio model had no cockpit, the sealed up windows in George's kit was perfect.) I proceeded to lop off the mount for the...
www.therpf.com
And check it out on a scrap model to see how it affects the paper.
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