My first PDO - Stormtrooper

[Mike Stamper]

Typically for me I chose the most complicated model to start my PDO kits.

It is immediately obvious that there are two items that stand out from the usual kit. One, there are no instructions other than a moving, slightly “exploded diagram” and red lines that indicate gluing points on the parts page on the right hand side. Two there are no indications for folding.
The lack of instructions mean that the order of building is guesswork with a bit of experience from previous figurines I’ve made. I also printed the parts on card that was too thin. This resulted in weak areas such as the knees and a tendency to “cave in” even with the lightest touch.

The partly exploded diagram leaves many areas almost impossible to see - the hand holding the gun was almost pure guesswork. It is also made of two layers - the black suit and then the armour so the only way to see beneath the armour is to click on the black parts on the right screen of parts.

By now you will wonder if it was worth the effort. The parts fit together well and the finished figure is imposing at just over 24 inches tall when standing on the homemade base. I guess the satisfaction is actually in completing a kit using a new format.

Cheers
Mike

[Tom Lapinski]

Good looking build.

[Vermin_King]

I think 'build order' is the number one issue I have with PDO's. Surely there is a way to put numbers next to the parts on the template pages to at least give you a hint.

Yes, I agree on 'invisible areas', too. sometimes you just can't rotate to a view to show you what really needs done.

That being said, it looks really good, but I wouldn't have expected less from a skilled builder. As you get used to the format, it will become easier to work with.

[Mike Stamper]

Thanks for the comments, they make all the hard work worthwhile.

With the figures I make the feet first then I start with the lower leg and work my way up to the sholders. Then it's hands to sholders and finally the head.

My rule of thumb is to ensure that I can always reach the tabs inside.

Another PDO is on the way - much easier with only about 5 pages.

[romanmodels]

Nice looking storm trooper Mike where did you get her from.

[rockpaperscissor]

That came out great. I have the figure also, but have yet to build it. Nothing is really hidden in pepakura. On the LEFT side of the screen, click on any single part in the view and only that part will be fully envisioned - the rest will become a "ghost". If you hold the shift key down, and click again you can add another part to your view. Rotating the image will enable you to get "behind" most obscured parts, and a simple click will bring them fully into view. The blocking piece will disappear.

[JohnM]

I've been doing .pdo models for years Don, and I didn't know that 'Shift' trick. One day someone will write a half decent Pepakura Manual. I haven't even found a Japanese one to translate ... not that I'd like the job of translating it.

Attempting to correlate the Gimp .pdf instructions into a usable off line manual is taking me way, way much longer than I was expecting it to. I haven't even finished downloading it all yet, so I doubt I'll have anything shareable for quite some time yet.

[Yale]

The shift-key trick's new to me as well, Don -- thanks. Old hands such as you and Johnny must already know how helpful it can be to zoom in on parts -- on either the left or right side of the Pepakura screen. This can be critical for finding the fold lines of very dark parts. In some cases, I've zoomed up to 400% before I could make out those lines.

And most Pepakura models I've seen do indicate folds, Mike. For parts in the right side of the screen, mountain folds have even dashed lines, valley fold lines have uneven dashes. And if you highlight a piece on the left side of the screen (and perhaps zoom in enough), valley fold lines have a distinctive color.

At this point, Mike, I'd wish you the best of luck, but the way your lady storm trooper came out, you don't need much more. Wish my models would all look that good.

[rockpaperscissor]

I discovered the shift thing quite by accident, fellas. The zoom feature is critical also, Yale. My mouse has a scroll wheel, and I use that to zoom. Not sure how it's done otherwise. I generally like working with PDO files, I just wish Pepakura was higher res.

[rickstef]

Don,

the new Designer is high res, and price is reflective of that, instead of 38 for the standard, it is now 99 dollars for the high resolution version
Only downside, viewer is still in low res

Rick