Republic Commando - Part 1

A Republic Commando has been a dream project of mine for a long time. But as I've never had enough experience and enough ideas to build one, I decided to push this project back.

Of course I could have bought a kit, but most RC kits are huuuuuge. And that's why I decided not to buy an expensive kit (that would cost me lots of shipping and customs, too), to cut away half of it.

I had the chance to get a Pepakura file from someone to make the helmet. It took me 4 tries until I had a helmet, that I was content with and that I was sure of I could use as a basis for what still lies ahead.

Although I had already started fiberglassing the helmet, I have no photos yet, but I will post some soon.

The Pepakura thing brought me to the idea of making the whole armor that way. There are many great cosplayers, that do their "Halo" armors out of pepakura and as clone trooper armors are also rather solid and not as thin as stormtrooper armor I thought this might work out pretty well.

As I don't have the knowledge to make my own Pepakura files I started simply by getting a pen and a ruler. First of all I needed to get an idea of how it is like working that way with paper and so I started out on a simple part of the armor: the elbow.

Take your own look on how it worked out:

In the end the elbow was quite the right part to start working with, as it has a simple structure but everything that is needed as the basic skills for the parts to come, sharp edges, round ending, steps, etc.

It is one of the smallest and simplest parts of the whole armor but quite fundamental for all other parts. So therefore I can only give you the advice, that if you want to start your own RC paper build, start with the elbow!