DancinFool - Iron Man Mark 3 Pepakura Foam Templates

[spideyman12004]

I hate to ask, but are you able to use the "measure distance between two points function"? That changed the whole game for me! If you are already, I apologize, but it took me a quite a few hot messes and re-does to get somewhere.. until a friend pointed that one thing out! Four freaking boots! LOL! If I had to do another boot just for sizing I would die :cry
I tell you, if it were easy then everyone would have armor and I guess it might not be as special. PM me if you want and I'll do what I can to help... I'm no master, but I can try.
M
PS glad you like the foam! You have to find the medium you feel best working with!
I personally don't care for the foam and love the pepakura, LOL! Despite the pain sometimes, when a difficult part goes together, it can give you quite a rush! (ThoughI 'm not sure that isn't just resin fumes!) :confused I love pepakura more than any other hobby I've ever done!

I do have that function, but not sure how it can help. When I first started just messing around making parts (didn't care if they fit) it was fun. Then I decided to make a suit for myself. Thats when the headaches started. Also send you a PM

 

[spideyman12004]

I knocked this together quickly. I hope it helps understanding pepakura and sizing better.

I have tried that before. Measured from below my ankle to the top of my knee (18" comes to 457mm). Went to change scale and put 457 into the height column and this is the final product. As you can see (if it lets me load the pic) it's way to short and the width is off big time. Can't even get my foot in. I'm sorry that I keep going on about the scaling. It's to the point now I just want to put my head through a wall

 

[Triton]

I have tried that before. Measured from below my ankle to the top of my knee (18" comes to 457mm). Went to change scale and put 457 into the height column and this is the final product. As you can see (if it lets me load the pic) it's way to short and the width is off big time. Can't even get my foot in. I'm sorry that I keep going on about the scaling. It's to the point now I just want to put my head through a wall

This is most certainly NOT right. This is where your problem lies.
You need to re-read that link I posted bro. It explains it perfectly.

You should be doing the math to figure out what your number is based on your height, and using THAT to individually scale each piece based off a photo of the armor itself. You don't just measure your body part, and plug that into pepakura.

 

[spideyman12004]

This is most certainly NOT right. This is where your problem lies.
You need to re-read that link I posted bro. It explains it perfectly.

You should be doing the math to figure out what your number is based on your height, and using THAT to individually scale each piece based off a photo of the armor itself. You don't just measure your body part, and plug that into pepakura.

I have tried all 3 of the methods in the link you showed me and everyone of them never worked. Either came out to small (as in the pic I posted) or they came out huge. It has to be something that I'm doing because there is no way it shouldn't work for me. Unless I'm just built in a messed up way

 

[Triton]

I have tried all 3 of the methods in the link you showed me and everyone of them never worked. Either came out to small (as in the pic I posted) or they came out huge. It has to be something that I'm doing because there is no way it shouldn't work for me. Unless I'm just built in a messed up way

You're absolutely right, it's not something wrong with yourself. :lol Gotta be something you're doing wrong.

On an unrelated note. Mr.Bibou, how do you get those crisp lines like here:

Because I can't seem to get edges like that.

 

[Cixs]

DancingFool -

Two questions:

1.) What are the approximate dimensions on your Pep files? Meaning, what is your basic height and weight?

2.) What foam did you use? I am currently using 2mm "Foamies" foam. What do you recommend for this build?

Thanks.

My last 2 questions are open ended:

1.) For a begin doing his first project, what is the easier armor to create... the MARK III or the MARK IV/VI (from STEALTH's thread)?

2.) Has anyone investigated printing the templates on paper and then pasting them to their foam directly, and using the lines on the sheet to cut the foam out (as opposed to printing on card stock, cutting out, taping to the foam, tracing on the foam, then cutting the foam out)?

 

[MrBibou]

I glued the pieces together and them traced the lines with a soldering Iron

@ Cixs :
1. I believe they are done for a 6" tall person
2. I would not recommend you to use foamies as they are too thin. They are perfect for the gloves and neck but for the whiole built, I would recommend you to use 6mm EVA foam sheet. Right tickness and easy to cut

1. I think you should start with STEALTH mkIV/VI as the templates are more foam friendly than these ones IMO. You should start with these for a first foam built.
You will also have over 50 or 70 pages to read on STEALTH's thread with a lot of progress pics and answered questions you might ask in the future
2. That's what I do. I print on regular paper, place the template on foam and trace it with a utility knife instead of using a marker so the line stay as thin as possible.
Don't need to tape them or what, it worked just find for me this way

 

[electraflier]

2.) Has anyone investigated printing the templates on paper and then pasting them to their foam directly, and using the lines on the sheet to cut the foam out (as opposed to printing on card stock, cutting out, taping to the foam, tracing on the foam, then cutting the foam out)?

I have and here is a link to my thread.
http://www.therpf.com/f24/mixed-pep-foam-war-machine-gatling-gun-152950/

While it was a noble experiment, it will probably be better, in my opinion, to go with the tried and true, foam or Pep methods.:confused
For my trial, I first coated the foam with PVA, then glued on the templates. The parts were cut out and glued, which seemed to work well...The resin was added and the hope was to Bondo over it then make a mold.
The hope was the speed of foam and the crispness of pepakura.. In theory.
My biggest issue was it really doubled the time. :angry The templates had to be cut and glued, then the edges beveled then struggle with alignment, then, then ,then. It would have been faster to just pep or build straight foam and use X-Robots foam hardening techniques.
I am not really sure how the template covered foam would handle actual wearing. It might peel off. The Bondo probably might not handle the flex of the foam.. You could try coating everything with 65D which was my next experiment, but I really felt like I was wasting time and materials.
The other issue is the edges. They (the foam) need to be deeply beveled to butt up smoothly together so the templates formed nice edges. I ran into problems with that. The foam sands, but you end up damaging the templates..:cry
here is a couple of pics. If you save the picture and then go to your picture viewer, then zoom in on the parts, you can see the issues with the edges. They could be filled, but all the time would probably come out the same for peps. :cry In my opinion.

Never want to shoot someone down, if you have lots of time and money to spend on trials, I would love to hear how it comes out!!!
I think it is an idea with merit, but I really would rather get to an end product then keep on trying dead ends, of which I have had several LOL!

 

[MrBibou]

Oh that's what he meant by pasting the paper templates on the foam :lol
My bad

 

[electraflier]

I quess MrBibou! LOL! I may have over read the question!! :$
Wouldn't be the first time! hehe:behave
Love the solder tip idea! Your seams are to die for!
M

 

[Simple]

Instead of tracing the patterns onto the foam, I've been using straight pins to just pin the templates to the foam. Works great so far . . .

I have what may be a dumb question. Has anyone completed a leg ? I'm having a bugger of a time figuring out the thigh / shin connection. I think I need to add a brace to bottom of the thigh to hold it open enough to match up with the shin, but can't find any decent pics.

Thanks

C

 

[Cixs]

I glued the pieces together and them traced the lines with a soldering Iron

@ Cixs :
1. I believe they are done for a 6" tall person
2. I would not recommend you to use foamies as they are too thin. They are perfect for the gloves and neck but for the whiole built, I would recommend you to use 6mm EVA foam sheet. Right tickness and easy to cut

1. I think you should start with STEALTH mkIV/VI as the templates are more foam friendly than these ones IMO. You should start with these for a first foam built.
You will also have over 50 or 70 pages to read on STEALTH's thread with a lot of progress pics and answered questions you might ask in the future
2. That's what I do. I print on regular paper, place the template on foam and trace it with a utility knife instead of using a marker so the line stay as thin as possible.
Don't need to tape them or what, it worked just find for me this way

Well, I am trying to determine which suit would be the easiest to build. It seems like the MK III has more parts, but less complex parts. The MK VI seems to have more complicated parts and I'm not sure that would be the best case scenario for what I'm doing.

I am doing to try a bicep and shoulder with the Foamies (it was only $4 for 12 sq. ft.). I am curious to see if the pliability of the Foamies will compensate for their inability to cut angles.

 

[MrBibou]

Well, I made both of them and the difference of difficulty between the two wasn't that big.
It depends on your taste and which suit you like better, but STEALTH's template are a bit easier to work with IMO. DF mkIII is not an impossible suit to start with, but I do believe it's a bit harder.
Don't forget that in the end, the suit will have to look hard. Be carefull with foamies being a bit to soft and ending up with non symetrical pieces.

 

[Kurtis876]

I glued the pieces together and them traced the lines with a soldering Iron

@ Cixs :
1. I believe they are done for a 6" tall person
2. I would not recommend you to use foamies as they are too thin. They are perfect for the gloves and neck but for the whiole built, I would recommend you to use 6mm EVA foam sheet. Right tickness and easy to cut

1. I think you should start with STEALTH mkIV/VI as the templates are more foam friendly than these ones IMO. You should start with these for a first foam built.
You will also have over 50 or 70 pages to read on STEALTH's thread with a lot of progress pics and answered questions you might ask in the future
2. That's what I do. I print on regular paper, place the template on foam and trace it with a utility knife instead of using a marker so the line stay as thin as possible.
Don't need to tape them or what, it worked just find for me this way

hey man great work... any chance you could post a pic of your soldering iron..particularly the tip you are using? I have a soldering Iron nib for my hotknife, and i have been trying to do exactly what you mentioned. I keep getting debris left in the groove after using the soldering Iron, almost as if it isnt melting fast enough or something. Maybe I should work slower? Thanks man!! :thumbsup

 

[jrpage74]

DF, This is my first foam build and first of anything with templates from pep. My silly question is, ( and I re-read the whole thread looking), are legs and arms the same templates, but you flip them over for the other (right printed, flip for left)? I understand the single pieces that are mirrored to save paper.

Thanks again for all the work you have put into these, and everyones input. It is a great help and inspiration.

 

[Kurtis876]

DF, This is my first foam build and first of anything with templates from pep. My silly question is, ( and I re-read the whole thread looking), are legs and arms the same templates, but you flip them over for the other (right printed, flip for left)? I understand the single pieces that are mirrored to save paper.

Thanks again for all the work you have put into these, and everyones input. It is a great help and inspiration.

I'm going to jump in out of boredom... Yes you are correct. Once you have it printed, just flip it to make the opposite limb. You might run across the occasional polygon that needs to be mirrored to complete the piece you're working on as well. Also, be sure you scale it to your body, piece by piece might be necessary. By fit it I mean you have to build a leg, for example, out of card stock, and see if it fits...I know it can be time consuming, but it's also foam saving. I, for one, have the legs scaled t 1.4, from the file's original 1.65 I think it was... But the forearms I scaled to 1.32. The way I do it is go under 2d menu, then under scale, if I feel it is 5% too big, I will multiply the scale of the piece (1.65, etc.) by .95, then use that number as my scale. This is, for me, the easiest way to do it piece by piece.

I'm close to completing the jf edited mark iii, and most pieces have fallen around the 1.4 scale, myself being 5'11, 180 lb. But you neeeeed to scale it to yourself. Good luck and have fun

 

[jrpage74]

Thanks Kurtis. I had spent the last 3 nights watching the Olympics and cutting templates and then this morning said "I should probably make sure this is going to fit right before I continue". I took your advice and taped together the Arm file (after printing another set of templates) ad try it on. It was rather large as I am 5'10" and about 155lbs now. From your input on scaling and MrBibou (who thankfully is the same height and awesome enough to share his scaling as well), I am going to purchase the Pep Designer so I can scale and try MrB's scaling tomorrow. I have attached the trial/learning pics of this Titan armor. As Electriflier says, this is good practice and he is right. I am getting much faster at cutting the templates out and building this arm showed me where to connect pieces before cutting foam to reduce unnecessary seams.
Onward...

I also know the inner cuff on the forearm is backwards here as I only printed the one dongle.

 

[Kurtis876]

Thanks Kurtis. I had spent the last 3 nights watching the Olympics and cutting templates and then this morning said "I should probably make sure this is going to fit right before I continue". I took your advice and taped together the Arm file (after printing another set of templates) ad try it on. It was rather large as I am 5'10" and about 155lbs now. From your input on scaling and MrBibou (who thankfully is the same height and awesome enough to share his scaling as well), I am going to purchase the Pep Designer so I can scale and try MrB's scaling tomorrow. I have attached the trial/learning pics of this Titan armor. As Electriflier says, this is good practice and he is right. I am getting much faster at cutting the templates out and building this arm showed me where to connect pieces before cutting foam to reduce unnecessary seams.
Onward...

I also know the inner cuff on the forearm is backwards here as I only printed the one dongle.

Hah awesome man sounds like you have the right idea! Stick with it!

 

[MrBibou]

Instead of tracing the patterns onto the foam, I've been using straight pins to just pin the templates to the foam. Works great so far . . .

I have what may be a dumb question. Has anyone completed a leg ? I'm having a bugger of a time figuring out the thigh / shin connection. I think I need to add a brace to bottom of the thigh to hold it open enough to match up with the shin, but can't find any decent pics.

Thanks

C

Here's how I joined mine with some regular screws. Hope this will help you

hey man great work... any chance you could post a pic of your soldering iron..particularly the tip you are using? I have a soldering Iron nib for my hotknife, and i have been trying to do exactly what you mentioned. I keep getting debris left in the groove after using the soldering Iron, almost as if it isnt melting fast enough or something. Maybe I should work slower? Thanks man!! :thumbsup

Hey mate, sorry for the long response, I've been busy with the olympics as well and took some time to take a little break but I'm back now
I used a regular soldering iron too, with a pointy end :

I have to trace the lines quick cause my foam is pretty soft and burns very fast, otherwise I would end up with a big hole in it :lol
I guess you couls try goind slower, depends of the density of the foam you're working with. Just try differents method, you'll find the good pace

Thanks Kurtis. I had spent the last 3 nights watching the Olympics and cutting templates and then this morning said "I should probably make sure this is going to fit right before I continue". I took your advice and taped together the Arm file (after printing another set of templates) ad try it on. It was rather large as I am 5'10" and about 155lbs now. From your input on scaling and MrBibou (who thankfully is the same height and awesome enough to share his scaling as well), I am going to purchase the Pep Designer so I can scale and try MrB's scaling tomorrow. I have attached the trial/learning pics of this Titan armor. As Electriflier says, this is good practice and he is right. I am getting much faster at cutting the templates out and building this arm showed me where to connect pieces before cutting foam to reduce unnecessary seams.
Onward...

I also know the inner cuff on the forearm is backwards here as I only printed the one dongle.

Looks really neat so far for the paper fit test, a bit big though but you'll find the right scale
I did a complete fit test the other day and boy I'm disapointed..
The legs came out few inches too short :facepalm
I'm a bit mad cause they actually fit me perfectly (around my thigh) with a nice tight feel, just like the arms. I used the same scale for arms/legs but i guess I should of have use a bit larger one for my legs..
Don't feel like re doing them AT ALL so I'm already worlinkg on lowering the abs/cod to gain the few laking inches
I'm currently gluing the upper thigh pads as I'm writting this post so the big hollow between the legs and cod is goind to be covered, don't worry guys :lol
Scaling is really the most important part of the built so take your time and don't rush it. It makes your suit looking from just nice to awesome

Any way, looks fine from the back though..

ps : Don't mind the silk pyjama, I was too bored to change my under outfit :lol

 

[mizuno hadouken]

I still think it looks good. Is that a default scale chest and back?