Problems with pepakura

SuperTrooper

Jr Hunter
Recently I built the basic N7 helmet from Mass Effect 2 in pep. the initial build for some reason turned out crooked even though i tightly bent all the fold lines, in the right direction, with super glue, and taking all precautions in between.

Has anyone else encountered this problem when building a symetrical object in pepakura? could this be from it being left sitting a certain way inbetween sessions of building it such as right side up on the non reinforced neck causing warping?

I tried to realign the warped spots and it only made other areas worse....I have a feeling that this isn't going to be easy to combat. Any suggestions? pics incoming
 
nope, and thank you! I will give this a try for sure.

here are the pics i promised

Me2_3.jpg


ME2_11.jpg


ME2_10.jpg


Me2_5.jpg


ME2_8.jpg


ME2_13.jpg


ME2_1.jpg


Me2_2.jpg


ME2_6.jpg


ME2_9.jpg


ME2_7.jpg


Me2_4.jpg


ME2_12.JPG
 
Problem A appears that you glued the tabs on the outside. It really doesn't do much, but that could account for some of the warping. It is harder to see if the alignment is correct. That's my best guess. Try re-pepping it. What lb of cardstock are you using?
 
110lb. i tried gluing the tabs on the outside to try and keep from having all kinds of little indentations from them in the Rondo. but yes you have a point. will use the 2nd file with supports as well as tabs on the inside this time around.
 
110 lb... then you're covered on that front. And once you put padding in there, are you going to nocice the indentations? Plus, it takes about 10 mintes of sanding to smmoth that out anyway. Good luck with it!
 
Not every line needs to be folded. If the part has a gentle curve, don't fold there. The majority of warping issues is caused by too many folds. Reduce the threshold for "hide almost flat folding lines" in settings-other settings-line style. Reduce it to about 165 and you will have a much smoother model and will experience less warping. You will still need to fold some of the tabs, but you will like the result.
 
I will be sure to follow your advice on that one. Hopefully the fewer folds I have the less filling with bondo I will have to do as well! that should save me some cash.
 
A couple If things I have found and the preceeding advice is excellent. Dungbeetle is clearly a master -

1 - Not critically bending on fold lines but gently bending in the direction of the fold.

The reason I say this is that unless there is a specific bend instead of a curve, when you come to do the assembley, if you glue the tabs one by one and alternate left to right from a centre reference point, the natural tension in the card pulls things which creates a tension in the model. This helps tension the shape. You can also use allignment marks to keep the assemble even. (This worked very well when I assembled Skips Royal Guard and worked from the join line down the back of the helmet. The build was really smooth and contoured, not faceted. It will still require a bit of forming to get it perfect though which is why I'm now practicing with something a bit easier to get my glassing up to speed first.)

2 - If you're doing an assembley job of pre shaped components, use a partially inflated balloon to give shape as well.

Again, you can pre stress shapes and then hold them together over a former. This method worked very well when I did an assembley job on Dungbeetles Iron Man helmet. I then glued the corresponding flanges together giving excellent structure, shape and balance to the build.

Plus both the Iron Man and Royal Guard lids are excellent bases to work from. That helps a lot.

One point to note from fibreglassing around the inside of these flanges is to MAKE SURE YOU DONT TRY AND GLASS MAT OVER A 90 DEGREE BEND! I tried to glass mat over the joined inner bits and ended up with lifted glass mat and voids underneath. I should have pre formed the glass mat bits better to fit in between the raised portions. Project scrapped! The paper build was a piece of cake though

I hope this is of assistance and isn't too late. Hopefully it will help someone.

Good luck and enjoy. I find pepakura quite theraputic
 
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