Pepakura and the art of scratchbuilding star wars armor cheaply
44 replies, posted
So I've always been interested in building my own stuff, and now I've finally urged myself to start something big!
I decided I wanted to make some Mandalorian armor from star wars, but as cheaply as possible, so I found some people who make helmets out of papercraft (pepakura) and then resin the pieces and fiberglass the inside. they then take bondo and shape the outside with it! I thought I'd try my hand at it... I started a week or so ago, and here are some of the build pics so far!
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSC00032.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSC00034.jpg[/IMG]
I'm having some trouble figuring out how I want to do the ears and rangefinder so for the moment I just decided to patch them up for fiberglassing.
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSC00035.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSC00037.jpg[/IMG]
here's after I glassed the inside
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0781.jpg[/IMG]
and then bondo'd and sanded roughly (keep in mind I have little clue what I am doing)
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0776.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0777.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0778.jpg[/IMG]
Then I went ahead and bondo'd just a TAD bit more and decided to hit it with some primer to see how bad it was for my next bondo.
With flash it doesn't seem so bad
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0795.jpg[/IMG]
but without it you see all the crap
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0800.jpg[/IMG]
Here you can see where it's worst, I really need to fix those
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0798.jpg[/IMG]
And here you can see some problems I am having with the dome.
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0793.jpg[/IMG]
and I thought the cutting and gluing was hard...
I worked a bit on my custom armor also!
Here's where I'm at.
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0805.jpg[/IMG]
It's made from $2 lowes buckets, weathered just a bit with some scratches, pockmarks, and small blaster marks.
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0808.jpg[/IMG]
excuse the with/without flash pictures, some show certain details better.
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0783.jpg[/IMG]
and an overview with the helmet, all primed in grey.
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0782.jpg[/IMG]
This was my concept art, and will be what I paint it like hopefully
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/mandoarmorcopy.png[/IMG]
and finally a quick photoshop showing my plans for paint!
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/photoshopmockupcopy.png[/IMG]
Thanks for looking guys!
ingenious! i think it's brilliant. really cool way of making a sort of cheap ensemble. i like the attention to detail that you have been able to obtain. and about your kinks and scrapes and stuff on the helmet; i'd keep some of them and just paint the whole helmet in the colours you want, and then detail the scrapes and stuff with metal colour. i mean it would just look cool considering you're doing it with the armor. good job on it so far man.
Thanks for the feedback! I do plan to keep some of the dents and scrapes on the helmet but I am going to smooth it just a bit more, its still a little rough for what I am looking for. I've gone and painted all the pieces except the helmet with some silver paint and then I'll get to masking the battle damage with masking fluid and then off to the next coat of paint
Leave some dents and scratches in and give it that worn, battle-hardened look.
i actually forgot to ask something before. i'm not familiar with boba fetts helmet or anything but i imagine he must have some way of seeing out of it. are you planning on having something like that or is this just a sort of collectables piece that will make your room more awesome?
I'm gonna cut out the T visor area which right now hasn't been bondo'd. then I have to find some material for the visor, but yes there will be a visor that is see through
[QUOTE=Death King83;32820478]I'm gonna cut out the T visor area which right now hasn't been bondo'd. then I have to find some material for the visor, but yes there will be a visor that is see through[/QUOTE]
maybe like a colored plastic wrap applied to the inside of the visor?
Here's a quick update on the armor,
I decided to take a break from the helmet for the time being, I went and picked up a bunch of paints and got to work painting my armor. Here you can see all the armor pieces painted up, the chest piece on the right has the mustard removed, my silver undercoat seems to have dulled out considerably and turned a bit yellow but I'm overall pretty happy with the results. the collar armor has had only a little bit of mustard removed.
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0833.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0834.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0835.jpg[/IMG]
Here's the pieces without mustard removed at all
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0836.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0837.jpg[/IMG]
Paint job does look a bit messy, needed more smoothing imo.
thats battle damage. its intentional.
That's intentionally indeed, that kind of look is hard to get, even without messing up.
Armor's had all the mustard removed, it's not really that yellow tinted on the battle damage areas in real life, Also my flightsuit and some ammo pouches I ordered came today and yesterday!
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0846.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0850.jpg[/IMG]
this is going to be so cool when it's finished
may i direct you here: [url]http://forum.rebelscum.com/f624/[/url]
i'm sure they would love to see the progress on your work, they'll probably be able to give you some tips aswell
do you pla on doing anything else from star wars?
Well it's been one of my life dreams to have a full suit of either stormtrooper armor or better yet, scout trooper armor, but those armors cost a ridiculous amount of money and theyre better saved for another day when I have the money to throw down on premade stuff.
I'm excited to display my soft parts so far! I've been weathering the suit and the ammo pouches, and today the gaiters came in and I'm excited because I think they look pretty cool. Here's some shots of the whole soft parts setup so far:
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0854.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0855.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0856.jpg[/IMG]
and here's a little better picture of the boots, sorry for the shoddy pictures, I'm working in bad lighting and with a sub par camera.
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/DSCN0852.jpg[/IMG]
I feel like I'm drowning everyone with pictures and nobody's looking, but I'm just so excited to show my progress. I've completed the weathering on my armor pieces with match heads, fire, ash, and a clear coat to top it all off.
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8630.jpg[/IMG]
I took the pictures today in the beautiful weather/lighting we're having today in Arizona.
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8631.jpg[/IMG]
I wanted to get some real close detail shots of the weathering so I used a better camera today.
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8635.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8632.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8638.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8633.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8636.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8634.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8637.jpg[/IMG]
Hope you all enjoy the armor.
How will they connect to your person?
I've got to go to a fabric store and sew a vest for the pieces to attach to with velcro. I'm thinkin a vest the same sort of color as the gaiters I have.
Whew, so I've been painting ALL DAY. I tried masking off the cheeks but that failed pretty horribly, so I made the decision to break out the ol' paint brushes and hand paint the cheeks , and visor details with spraypaint, which is no easy task. I painted all day, and I'm finally satisfied (liiiiiittle bit more touching up to do).
It went from this this morning:
[img]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8641.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8642.jpg[/img]
to this this evening:
[img]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8643.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8651.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8646.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8650.jpg[/img]
Remember I still have to remove mustard, fire and ash weather, as well as paint the white stripe on the dome.
I went ahead and finished up the helmet... The visor was a paiiiin to install right...
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8662-1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8653.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8659.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8658.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8660.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8657.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8664-1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8667-1.jpg[/IMG]
And here's the whole set so far.
[IMG]http://i352.photobucket.com/albums/r351/DeathKing83/Helmet/IMG_8675-1.jpg[/IMG]
-snip, I'm an idiot, already cut out-
Holy sweet damn good weathering!
That is seriously awesome man. Good work.
Thinking of adding any electronics to the work overall?
That is looking so rad. The sheer amount of detail is unbelievable. :o
Jesus christ, I wish I had the time to do this kind of stuff. Of course, I am a bit more ambitious and want a full set of Blood Raven armor...
