Alrighty! Ive got to tell you this project really caught my eye so i hope i do the same to you. The 5 pictures ive shown here represent the 5 phases (as i like to call them) of building a pepakura helmet. 1- downloading files 2- paper n' glue 3- resin 4- rondo, bondo, and sanding 5- painting and detail. For this instructable we're going to get through the first and second phase :D

Yes the 3 rd pic is not my recon helm...

Step 1: Materials + Lots and Lots of Explanation...

Sorry im unable to retrieve any pictures of what im going to explain to you. But no worries this will be explained thoroughly.

So materials include- stock paper, Elmer's glue, a tooth pick, scissors-exacto knife- regular knife-something that you can hold comfortably and cut with, etc, and last... Your precise and accurate cuts.
- p.s. Im taking no responsibility if you injure yourself with anything i mentioned. If your young, get and adult to help.

Explanation to ease some questions.

Stock paper- this is a thicker brand of paper that makes it easier for the pepakura piece to hold together. Ive tried using regular printer paper but it is awfuly difficult to use.

Sharp pointy thinks that i am not-accountable-for-your-actions stuff...- i prefer using a sharp knife for the more advanced cuts and i use scissors for longer straight cuts but you can do whatever.

Glue- Elmer's. Period. No glue gun. Messy messy.

Stock paper- you can go to staples or a place that sells this (just ask or do some research). Stock paper has a yellowish tan hue and if you do a helmet like me, you will need only 25 pages max.

And lastly

The toothpick- this can be many things but you just need some small object to spread the glue.

(Also clamps are optional)

Step 2: Finally! Downloading

Link to download pepakura designer. ( all i know is that mac is unable to download it).

http://www.tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/

When going to this link click on the place where it says HERE to download... For those who wont find it...

Sorry i havent explained this yet..

Pepakura designer- this is the desktop application that allows you to download a file containing your pepakura piece (helmet, armor, items, etc) it allows you to exam every part of your piece and it allows you to scale and print it

Ok now for the armor downloading. So... Fyi I am a dedicated halo fan and this is the first link i came across and its pretty great. Im sure you can surf the web to find something but here ya go.

http://halocostuming.wikia.com/.../Pepakura_Fi

With this, the piece you want to download.. Click the blue words to the right of it. You should be redirected to a download site. Just a tip. I only download the ones that redirect you to 4shared (download site). I say this because its the one that works best for me.

If you find it, i downloaded the recon helmet.

Step 3: Scaling, Rearranging, Printing

SCALING- ok so i am going to assume you have downloaded a helmet. If something else then go somewhere else because I'm not teaching that here :/ OK so on the pepakura (opened) application, the very top in the grey bar will be something that says "2D menu." Click it. Go to something called scaling in the pull out menu. (I know as a fact it wont say just scaling but my computer is broke so i cant go and see for you) if you go to the right scaling thing, it'll bring you to a screen that shows depth, length, and width, all in millameters.

MEASURING YOUR BRAIN HOLDER THING *~•
So get a tape measurer and put 0 at the bottom of your chin and measure to the top of your head. (Reference- look at pics) once getting your correct head height, add 2 inches for adding padding and other details inside the helmet. IF MEASURING IN INCHES- multiply how many inches by 25.4 IF MEASURING IN CENTIMETERS- multiply by 10. both of these ways will get your number converted into millimeters.

By the way!!! Make sure to measure like in the picture and NOT but putting the tape measure to the curve of your forehead!

REARRANGING- so now head back to the 2D menu/scaling pop up and do the math i told you to and put the number into the height. Ex. 260mm height dont bother changing width or depth because it will just change things more... So once you put the numbers in, all of the shapes to the left of your screen will be "off" and not perfectly within the lines. There are two ways to make them in the lines... 1- quickly press the rearrange button near the top of the screen. This way can waste paper because the computer doesnt know to jam as much stuff into one box at a time... It can really waste paper... But 2- slowly you can rearrange everything yourself.

I dont know where but i do know as a fact there is a rearrange shapes button near the top of screen. If you havent figured this out, each box represents one sheet of paper. Just make sure not to overlap ANYTHING at all or that the shapes are too close to an edge of the box.

Step 4: Printing

So you want to make sure that your print settings on the computer are set to landscape and same with your printer. Put the cardstock in the printer, print, and i like to number my pages just to be organized whilst cutting the shapes out

Step 5: Cutting N Gluing

As explained in materials you know how i like to cut. In the first pic thats what pieces of the helmet will look like. Important!!- regularly dashed lines like - - - - - - mean mountain fold and anything that isn't a mountain fold is a valley fold which looks like - -- - -- - -- - -- - or ------------ (depending on who makes it shows what they use for "valleys")

Very helpful folding tip!- notice this in second pic. Tracing over all dotted lines will allow you to fold everything much easier! Your welcome

Third pic- difference between dotted lines

Step 6: Gluing = Time Consuming!

Once you have several pieces cut, use your computer as a guide- pick where you want to start (double click spot on helmet) then pick a piece next to your starting piece. Find these two pieces on your printed papers and cut em out, fold them, and glue any parts on your piece if needed. Ex. Pic 1- see how 310 and 310 go together on the same piece? Glue them together. And wait for it to dry so u can glue that whole piece to another piece. Pretty much just keep on gluing.. It just gets more and more cool looking every piece!

As in the title, this step is time consuming! Yay for labor.

The last 3 pics show the paper n glue stage becoming more and more complete.

Step 7: Pay Me a Comment!

Thats me and my armor... Thats what I've gotten so far the chest is an absolute nightmare since its the largest piece of the set. Thanks for reading all that if you did.
I know i wouldnt want to either but hey! All those scumbag words will get you a cool helmet. :D i hope i helped and definetely post a comment saying what i should do or if im missing anything that you guys/ gals see. and definetely dont forget to vote me for the glue & epilog contests :)