Yamaha Jack-O-Lantern (customized unfold)

Revell-Fan · Oct 12, 2016

Hello folks,

Halloween is approaching and like every year it is time for me to build something for my dear colleagues. This time I chose the Jack-o-lantern from Yamaha.

I built one for myself last year to check out how the piece was assembled. It is really a cute model but the unfold could be improved. Some steps were rather difficult, the model was about to be severely damaged during assembly. That made me edit the unfold to produce a more user-friendly arrangement. It took me two builds to see which changes had to be made. And now I'll show you how to do it.

First, fire up InkScape since the Jack-o-lantern a vector file. This preserves images quality and makes editing much easier. Then import the first page of the two-page file: File > Import (Ctrl+I) > OK:

Center the image by clicking the "center" buttons in the positioning dialogue:

Right-click the image and "ungroup" it:

All separate elements are compsied by an "ants road line". Now move in onto the image by using the "+" button on your keyboard. (NOTE: "+" is for zooming in, "-" for zooming out; the mouse wheel moves the image up and down). Using the hotkeys is much easier than going through the command functions.

Draw a rectangle around the lower mouth parts and the bottom piece to select them. Move them away from the body piece using the up / down / right / left keys or the mouse:

Click on the flaps comprising the bottom piece and delete all but one of them.

Zoom in and move it to one edge of the main body piece. Double-click it:

Drag the little cross in the center to the top left edge. This is the new rotation point. Then grab the "turn" arrow at the bottom right and turn the part towards the edge:

Zoom out. Chose the "rectangle" drawing tool:

Now draw a white rectangle to hide the single top ring parts on the main body. This will hide the parts forming the top ring of the main body. If you assemble the ring as is, the ring will look segmented. In addition, glueing all the single elements together is a it tedious. It is easier to hide them than to edit the shape of the part. Choose "no colour" for the contour:

Revell-Fan · Oct 12, 2016

Draw a new flap using the freehand drawing tool:

Select both flaps by holding the Shift key and clicking on them.

Double them by either Ctrl+C > Ctrl+V or Ctrl+D (the latter doubles the elements and is the easier combination because you don't have to execute the paste command). Then move them up to the next empty edge. Continue till all edges on the body piece have flaps:

Mark the center pieces of the top part the same way, double them and move them to another location on the canvas. This gives us a new complete ring for the main body. Re-arrange all parts till the page looks like this:

Now you have four separate parts which are much easier to assemble.

Save the new file as *.pdf: File > Save as > *.pdf.

Next: The build. CU!

Tonino · Oct 13, 2016

THIS is a wonderful example of how a tutorial should be!
Step by step, nothing is taken for granted, all is explained and documented, every single mouse click!
I would like to see a lot of these "how to" ! ! !

BRAVO RF!!! :Bravo:

Revell-Fan · Oct 13, 2016

Thank you!

This is the first time I actively used InkScape. I mainly use CorelDRAW12 but it has problems opening / importing *.pdf files correctly. This is a known problem with that version. One of the most irritating things is the use of the mouse wheel. In Corel you zoom in and out with it, in InkScape you scroll up and down. The "+" / "-" keys are much easier to use for zooming than the menu commands. Another thing which should be improved is the lack of an elements explorer. You cannot see which elements are grouped and you have to click on an element on the canvas to select it. This is more of a trial and error method. In Corel you can select certain elements from a special dialogue box which is much easier if you want to move, delete or recolour something:

I still have to discover the "snap-to-corner / -edge / -line" function in InkScape which would make aligning elements more precise.

Rhaven Blaack · Oct 13, 2016

@Revell-Fan It looks like you have made that "Jack-O-Lantern" project your own. I like the tutorial that you did on the redo of the unfold. Your version looks like it makes more sense. I am looking forward to seeing the build of it.

Revell-Fan · Oct 13, 2016

Oops, just forgot to tell you where you can get this nice model:

http://global.yamaha-motor.com/showroom/papercraft/seasons/09/

Gandolf50 · Oct 14, 2016

Have fun with snap function...it always wants to snap to every-thing in the world but where I want it to go...same with snap to grid!! Then I forget and use the wheel to zoom in an woosh...there it goes...but for FREE what's to complain about...

Nice Tutorial by the way!!!!

Revell-Fan · Oct 15, 2016

Gandolf50 said:
but for FREE what's to complain about...

I completely agree! I'm looking forward to what more surprises InkScape will offer to me.

Revell-Fan · Oct 15, 2016

The build begins!

The parts are cut out as usual. However, I found out that it is better to leave the eyes and nose cutouts intact for the time being. I also left some "flesh" around the upper jaw area. That way the main body part will get more strength. If you cut out all openings first the part will become very flimsy.

The parts are pre-shaped (rounded) by pulling them over a pencil:

The main body leaves are glued together one by one:

You may have noticed that I did not cut out the flaps as intended. I wanted to save time and only made several cuts into them.

When the main body was completed I attached the top ring:

Then I cut out the eyes and nose and removed the excess flesh at the mouth:

The next picture shows how the new unfold compares to the old one (on the left):

zathros · Oct 19, 2016

Freaking awesome!! You amaze me Revelle-Fan!!! with a nice fat candle in there, or one of those lights that blinks bright and erratically, it would look awesome, and it won't rot!!

Revell-Fan · Oct 22, 2016

...

AHEM! :hammerhead:

OK. Back to topic.

Assembling the top piece can be challenging. It took me a few attempts to find out the best way to do it.

I start with scoring and pre-shaping the leaves as usual:

The leaves have to be glued together one by one. I begin with the one next to the ones with the stems. I find this easier because it prevents the stem pieces from getting in the way.

Having glued all stemless leaves together I take care of the stem leaves. They are glued together and then to the neighbouring leaves.

The stem halves are glued together, folded down and attached to the surface.

Done!

Of course you may proceed as you prefer, the way presented here is just a proposal.

Rhaven Blaack · Oct 22, 2016

You did a good job!:Bravo:

Revell-Fan · Oct 24, 2016

Now that I have officially gone crazy..!

Rhaven Blaack · Oct 24, 2016

You are not totally crazy!

spaceagent-9 · Oct 24, 2016

SMASHING!

Revell-Fan · Oct 31, 2016

Howdee pumpkin people, right in time I'll give you the conclusion to this build thread.

I have created a white pattern and printed it at 300 %. It was then traced onto heavy orange cardstock. I'll explain how to turn a colourful pattern into a white template for enlarging in another thread in the new GIMP section, BTW.

This huge pumpkin is almost the size of my head.

It will be turned into a candy jar for my cousin's birthday. Assembly does not differ from the smaller ones, so I'll show you only a few random images I took during the build:

I cut off the stem and assembled it separately. Since it was orange like the rest of the model I had to cover it with brown crafts paper. The edges were painted with a brown felt-tip. Easy-peasy.