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

Can you add Food Colouring to Resin?

I ask this because I was trying to find a decent plastic to mould and as I was doing a resin coat I noticed after the resin left in the cup was hard, orange and see through - so I want to know if I could mould the resin around the eye in my faceplate and add a colour to make it blue
 
Hey guys I have worked with Pepakura before but now im coming across this problem. I am Trying to download the files for a warmachine and I have found a few but when I click to download it takes me to this site (in picture) and I dont know what to do. Anyone who knows how to fix this or knows what I am doing wrong please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated. wrong page.jpg
 
Kryro said:
Can you add Food Colouring to Resin?

I ask this because I was trying to find a decent plastic to mould and as I was doing a resin coat I noticed after the resin left in the cup was hard, orange and see through - so I want to know if I could mould the resin around the eye in my faceplate and add a colour to make it blue
Click to expand...

There are tints that you can add to resin to give it colors, both transparent and opaque. Keep in mind, regular old home improvement/auto store resin is not made to dry clear anyways, so adding tints to that type might not give you the best finish for what you want.
Take a look at www.smooth-on.com; they offer both resins that dry crystal clear and also the tints to change resin colors, and they are great to do business with. You could try food coloring in a little leftover resin before it sets, but you're going to have to mix it like crazy, and it can't have gelled at all or the coloring will just swirl out.

LobonoaZoro21 said:
Hey guys I have worked with Pepakura before but now im coming across this problem. I am Trying to download the files for a warmachine and I have found a few but when I click to download it takes me to this site (in picture) and I dont know what to do. Anyone who knows how to fix this or knows what I am doing wrong please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated. View attachment 188964
Click to expand...

Well, outside of 4shared's tacky advertising, everything looks fine. 4shared (I believe still) requires you to sign up first to download from their site, so you'll have to do that. As much as I don't like 4shared anymore, it is free to sign up, and they don't spam or pop-up the heck out of your computer. Now that I said that, they will probably start. ANYWAYS....
Sign up for 4 shared if you haven't yet. On the screen you posted up, you would click on the download box next to the share with friends and add to my account boxes. You will then be taken over to another screen to download. On this second screen, there is a box on the right that says something like waiting time:20 seconds with a Free Download box below it. Click on the free download box. When the 20 second counter reaches 0, the download will begin automatically. When it's finished, your computer should ask you whether to open the file or save it. I just save all of my part files into one folder to keep them organized, such as 'War Machine' or 'Mark 1' or whatever.
Just a heads up too, 4shared doesn't really tell you download progress, so after you click free download and the countdown finishes up, it can take 5 seconds or 5 minutes depending on connection speed and file size. .PDO filles usually download pretty fast though. Good luck!
 
Alrighty, after reading through the first 12 pages of the thread I am still led to ask, just for complete clarity- we are talking about fiberglass resin, right? Like the stuff you use to fix fiberglass car parts? I keep seeing the word resin, but can't quite be sure what exactly we are talking about.
 
Ummm, I made an iron man helmet out of paper, and the face plate and the helmet don't connect by tabs or anything, when i resin and fiberglass it, should i do them separately, and if not, how should i connect them?
 
ThisNameIsTaken said:
Ummm, I made an iron man helmet out of paper, and the face plate and the helmet don't connect by tabs or anything, when i resin and fiberglass it, should i do them separately, and if not, how should i connect them?
Click to expand...

Here are a couple of options:

1) Leave the pieces apart, coat the outsides with resin and let them set up. The pieces are going to warp a little bit at least, so heat them with a heat gun and flex them back into the correct shape to fit together. Then fiberglass the insides with your cloth/mat and resin.

2) Here's what I do. I tape the sections together on the inside so that they are fitting properly, then put a coat or two of resin on the outside. After the resin is dry, I check for warping and straighten it out as described above. I then remove my inside taping and pull/cut apart my different pieces to make sure they are not already bonded together, before putting them right back together and taping them on the outside this time. I resin in a layer of fiberglass cloth on the inside, going right over the section seams. After it hardens, I cut along those seams with my dremel to remove the fiberglass wrapped over the connected parts and to separate my parts again. Once my pieces are separate again, I'll also throw some resin on the areas that may have gotten missed up to this point. (The mating surfaces between a faceplate and helmet when they are together are good for that). Definitely not the only way to fiberglass, this is just what I do.
 
I want to use cardboard for a speed build display suit - This picture best describes what want to go for - Would I use the "Foam" Templates for this?
Also is this just casual corrugated cardboard or a special kind of cardboard?

LriePjo.jpg
 
Hi there, as many others I have become fascinated with all the awesome costumes shown here. I and my girlfriend like to cosplay but so far we rarely attempted complex costumes that required item not found ordinarily. I'd like to build her a Tali helmet. I realize this is not "easy" so can anyone recommend some armor part, a helmet, etc. that might be good to introduce me with the whole process? I'd like to use the foam process. I assume the files I have (by dungbeetle) are not optimized for foam. Also is anyone aware of pepakura files for the rest of her costume? Like the neck part.

Regarding the Tali helmet, one of the trickiest part I think will be creating the visor. I don't think I'll be able to go the vacuum forming route. By reading similar posts I think a good alternative would be using a heat gun to shape the plastic. Does anyone know of any useful resource on this matter?

I have read a lot and watched a lot of tutorial, so I think I have a good theoretical background :) Can't wait for everything to arrive!
 
Kryro said:
I want to use cardboard for a speed build display suit - This picture best describes what want to go for - Would I use the "Foam" Templates for this?
Also is this just casual corrugated cardboard or a special kind of cardboard?

View attachment 191136
Click to expand...

I don't use 'special' cardboard, per se, but I try and pick stuff that has a 'tighter' corrugation to it. Some packing boxes have thicker walls, but the corrugating in between the sheets is really loose and separates pretty easily. The best cardboard I've found is from packaging for small appliances and such, where it's got a shiny full-color printed side. The stuff is usually thinner than packing boxes, more durable, and the shiny side doesn't absorb paint like raw cardboard.
You can use foam templates, and glue end-to-end with hot glue, but you'll likely want to add little 'bridge' pieces on the back side to reinforce the joint. Once it's fiberglassed, the pieces will be fine, but those seams suck up a lot of glue to hold until then.

AvengerDr said:
Hi there, as many others I have become fascinated with all the awesome costumes shown here. I and my girlfriend like to cosplay but so far we rarely attempted complex costumes that required item not found ordinarily. I'd like to build her a Tali helmet. I realize this is not "easy" so can anyone recommend some armor part, a helmet, etc. that might be good to introduce me with the whole process? I'd like to use the foam process. I assume the files I have (by dungbeetle) are not optimized for foam. Also is anyone aware of pepakura files for the rest of her costume? Like the neck part.

Regarding the Tali helmet, one of the trickiest part I think will be creating the visor. I don't think I'll be able to go the vacuum forming route. By reading similar posts I think a good alternative would be using a heat gun to shape the plastic. Does anyone know of any useful resource on this matter?

I have read a lot and watched a lot of tutorial, so I think I have a good theoretical background :) Can't wait for everything to arrive!
Click to expand...

I haven't seen any file for Tali's armor, only a 1/4 scale (or so) pep of her entire figure (not a lot of help).

For a first project, that helmet is pretty ambitious. No matter how you build the rest of the costume, I would build the helmet out of cardstock. There are a lot of fine details and angles in the helm, and the extra work (IMHO) is worth it for a nicer finish. Also, I've had better luck installing visors in resined helmets over foam ones, but once again it's just my preference.
You've probably already seen this, but the W.I.P. here is a great reference:

Tali | The 'Zorah Project

You don't need to use those exact materials, but the process is generally the same. The paper-and-resin route also allows you to use your pepped visor as the buck for your final visor. A heat gun can be used to shape the material over the form, or a home oven can be used as well (can be hazardous, PM me if you are considering that route and I'll explain how). Good luck with your build.
 
Hello, Question about creating Pepakura files from 3D models. I wasn't sure where to post this (The 405th website is kinda mess up a little :/ ), sorry if someone asked this already.

What formats are we talking here? (Any links to a tutorial could be useful)

Is obj. the best format for the 3D Model. For converting to a pepakura file a pdo. I've found a few 3D models online. I load the obj. file into pepakura designer (The full version) in theory to unfold it but it then proceeds to crash the program :/

I've loaded obj. files before in pepakura designer. However these files I'm currently having trouble with are around 800kb any advice on getting these files to open without making the program crash?

There is a bunch of awesome 3D models I want to convert any advice would be appreciated.
If all else fails I'll post a link and maybe someone else can give it a go.
 
Popeanator,

Can't say it's necessarily the best format, but I like to use .OBJs when bringing files into Pepakura. The format works easily for me and it converts to .PDOs nicely. An 800kb file should not be a problem in Pepakura either, I've brought in some much larger models (5mb+) into Pepakura without problems.

The likely problem you're having is that the .obj models you are finding are not Pepakura-friendly, meaning that the models are not configured in a way that Pepakura can easily understand. Models can be 'fixed' (meshes cleaned, normals corrected, etc.) to work better with Pepakura, and they can also be separated in to smaller individual .OBJs to lighten the load for Designer. Problem is, there are not really any easy tutorials on how to do this (that I know of). That leaves you with either finding someone who is willing to clean the files for you, or teaching yourself some 3d modeling (blender is free :) )
Speaking of Blender, I would recommend downloading a copy (if you don't already have it) and try troubleshooting on one of your crashing files. Import a 3d model (that crashes Pepakura) into Blender, and then export it as first an .obj, and then as an .stl file (name each one differently so you can tell them apart easily). You should now have to new saved copies of your model, one in .obj and one in .stl . Try opening each of these in Pepakura Designer and see if either will load without crashing. I have done this with crashing .obj files before, and after saving new versions through blender, they worked in Pepakura. Not sure why, but at that point I didn't care. :confused
 
Hi, I'm new here and I wanted to try out using pep for an iron man helmet project I am especially looking for the mark 5 or iron patriot if someone could send me the link that would be eccellent! :D
BTW are there any alternatives to fiber glassing the card stock helmet?
 
DoctorDork said:
Hi, I'm new here and I wanted to try out using pep for an iron man helmet project I am especially looking for the mark 5 or iron patriot if someone could send me the link that would be eccellent! :D
BTW are there any alternatives to fiber glassing the card stock helmet?
Click to expand...

Iron Patriot helmet link in Jackie's 1st post:

http://www.therpf.com/f24/jackieisr...t-pepakura-files-v2-files-coming-soon-164748/

If you intend to wear the helmet, I don't think you've really got any other reliable options outside of fiberglassing or using 'rondo' to strengthen it.
 
So yesterday I managed to do some experiments. I decided to stick to the foam method for now but with something easier. At least I suppose it's easier. I was starting to cut one of the N7 arm parts. I had sized my wrist and forearm length so that it would fit to me. But I have made a glaring noobish mistake: obviously I can't slide my hand through the wrist opening because of my thumb :rolleyes

So what should I do? Scale it up so that it becomes bigger? Won't this make the whole part too big? The diameter of the rest of the part is fine. I could also not close it entirely so that my thumb can slide in. Avoid gluing it? Cut my thumb? :D
 
Depending on your foam thickness and clearance, you could leave a length of seam unglued and use either velcro or rare-earth magnets to hold it together while wearing. Magnets adhered behind the seam for a close fit would work great. Velcro can work if there is enough surface area to mount it, but that might require backing the seam with more foam. I've had pretty good luck with adhesive-backed velcro, but sometimes the 'hook' side needed a lot of the hooks trimmed off with a razor blade because the velcro was actually grabbing too well and separating the adhesive back :facepalm
 
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