finished pepakura props / costumes?

stormtrooperguy

Sr Hunter
ok, so both being a mac user and being a fan of traditional carving / sculpting methods, i've never used pepakura.

i keep seeing people asking for templates for things, but see very little actual finished, wearable stuff.

who out there has made stuff from pepakura files all the way through painted and wearable? pictures? i'd love to see how it actually works!
 
Well, you'll find a lot of quality builds over on the 405th for Halo armor and helmets. Though, you'll also see a lot of poor completed costumes too.

I built my custom Mando armor and helmet completely from Pepakura. T-Bone here has built a beautiful Royal Guard helmet from one of my files. I'm nearing the end of my DC-17 build. I made Pepakura templates for that but built it using sheet styrene instead of the usual card/fibreglass/bondo method. That's fine for helmets and armor but no good for weapons really.

I'll post some WIP pics of my Mando armor:

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Done!!!
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The DC-17 so far:

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I also built my Snow Clone helmet(now available as a kit ;) )using Pepakura to get the guts of it done before building it up and detailing it later.

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Feel free to poke around my Photobucket albums. ;)

http://s364.photobucket.com/albums/oo81/SPCPICS/
 
Outstanding, Skip, as always. If I'm not mistaken, didn't you use some sort of pourable resin to cover your pieces first? If that was you, what was the stuff called?
 
Some people call it "Mud", other(such as myself) call it "Rondo". It's basically Bondo/filler mixed with fibreglass resin in a 1/1 ratio. Mix it, then add the hardener. The filler and resin are both polyester based so the hardeners are compatable in most cases.

I didn't discover it by myself(can't take credit for that), I read about it on the 405th. Works well for smoothing out large areas and domes! Saves a heap of sanding and waste of filler too.

I used Rondo for my Mando armor but for my Mando lid and Snow Clone I used standard filler as I hadn't discovered the Rondo method.

Thanks very much, glad you like my work. ;)

I will add though that Pepakura is a great tool. Especially for those who have no sculpting skill or access to CNC or 3D printing tech. However, it still takes a lot of work and patience to make a Pepakura piece GOOD! Many have give up on Pepakura projects as they hit a wall during the filler/sanding process and give up. I think that's why many people out there kinda look down on Pepakura as a realistic method to produce quality costume pieces. The see some of the (dare I say it) half a**ed builds out there and make their minds up based on that. If you look around though you'll see the dedicated and talented people who can take card,FG, and filler and make some truly wonderful pieces!! You'd never know what the origins where unless you were told. ;)
 
Thanks, Skip. Great info. And after watching your build, and seeing your Pep files, I can definietly say that it's a option for a build (I'm just not that patient, heh).

And I'm done jacking your thread, stormtrooperguy.
 
Actually you did my a favour. :) I meant to post about the rondo in my first post here but forgot. LOL!

I'm working on another Pepakura based helmet right now but I'm not ready to show it yet. I think STG already knows what it is??
 
Well, I'm glad to have helped. Watching your progress (and yours, stormtrooperguy) is a pleasure. Maybe all this "watching other people do the hard work" will make it a little easier when I start my armor...
 
LOL! Someone wasn't watching the WIP thread. :)

Yeah, i'd love to have the courage to do what you sculptors do. I just get set in my ways and stick to what I know. :)
 
Skupilkinson said:
Some people call it "Mud", other(such as myself) call it "Rondo". It's basically Bondo/filler mixed with fibreglass resin in a 1/1 ratio. Mix it, then add the hardener. The filler and resin are both polyester based so the hardeners are compatable in most cases.

But Andrew, when creating the "Rondo", what kind of hardener do you use for the mixture? The liquid catalyzer for the resin, the pink paste for the bondo, both of them at the same time? :confused Can the "Rondo" be easyly sanded?
 
I think I heard somewhere that a 1/1 mix of the resin hardener and the bondo hardener works best. That way both substances have enough hardener to make them do what they're supposed to do.

Also, I'd imagine that even if the "Rondo" isn't as sandable as you'd like, you still wind up with a nice even surface to begin with, so later bondo coats don't have to be as thick.

Of course, as usual, I could be wrong...
 
No, you're close. :)

The Rondo is very sandable actually. Not as sandable as plain Bondo/filler due the the resin content but easy enough to not cause a problem.

I use the filler/Bondo hardener as it changes the colour of the Rondo mix so you get a better idea as to whether or not you used enough hardener. ;) Plus the resin hardener I've found doesn't work as well. :)
 
So, for the Rondo challenged such as myself... could you possibly break it down a bit more. Maybe even with pictures?

I've been considering trying my hand at some pep for a while now but just wasn't ever sure how to make the jagged edges so smooth without spending YEARS filling.
 
Thank you. :)

The green stuff is body filler. Normall the filler is grey and turns pink/red when you add the hardener but that brand was green for some reason????
 
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