Pepakura files can be viewed and printed from Pepakura Viewer 3, which is available for free here. It's a legit download. Pepakura viewer is free, but the designer program is what requires you to pay for a license. As long as all you want to to is scale and print pepakura files, it will be just fine. I'm assuming you're running a Windows system; if you're using Mac, you're on your own; I'm not sure that there's a program for viewing and printing pepakura files for it.
You will also need access to a printer and everything you see here:
That's printer-compatible cardstock (I recommend buying two packages; if you're new to pepakura, you will make mistakes, and will need to reprint, recut, rescore, refold, and reglue everything until you get it right), a ruler, a pen, sharp scissors, a piece of cardboard (or a cutting mat), Xacto knives, and a hot glue gun. This whole setup cost maybe $40 at our local Walmart, though I wish we'd gotten a better glue gun, because this one is not ergonomic in the slightest. The manila folder is optional, but useful for containing pieces between work sessions, since it keeps them together, and keeps say, curious kitties from using them as toys when you're not looking. If you've print and cut several models, I recommend keeping each model in a separate folder and labeling it to keep them all straight.
When you go to print your files, you will need to scale them to your own size. I'm fortunate in that I'm 5'4" and 125lbs; I printed my gauntlets on letter-size paper with no custom scaling and they seem likely to fit perfectly. My husband is a wizard at scaling pepakura because he's 6'2" and had to make the pieces bigger. He'd be the one to ask about that, but as he's currently unavailable, a more detailed tutorial can be found here.
One recommendation that the tutorial makes is using differently colored pens to trace where mountain and valley folds go before you cut the pieces out. Since I had a couple of errors the first couple of times I tried folding these models, I recommend doing so.
I've seen a saying on a bunch of costuming forums regarding armor: you can do it fast, you can do it cheap, it'll look good. Pick two qualities. Pepakura is, in my opinion, the cheap and good-looking option... if you go slowly. Rush it and it's not only cheap... but looks cheap, too. Starting this now, I'll be very surprised if I have it done by Halloween this year.
After you've printed your files, time to start cutting them out. I bought scissors specifically for this project, so they're sharp and won't make bad cuts. Go slowly. The solid lines are for cutting; do NOT cut the dotted lines. I recommend trying to cut evenly just a hair outside the lines. When you're done with cutting them out, make sure you cut out whatever inner pieces need removing. This is the first time you'll need the Xacto knife, because it's easier to use in the smaller inner spaces. If you're like me and work well with a minor distraction, like a movie in the background, set up on the living room floor and do it. If you're doing it right, it should take awhile. The 6 pages of pieces for my left gauntlet took roughly the runtime of The Empire Strikes Back to cut out.
At the top is the left gauntlet, fully cut out, with the lines colored according to the type of fold (even dashes mean mountain, long and short dashes mean valley). The bottom is the right gauntlet, which is printed but not cut to avoid confusion between the pieces.
When you have your pieces cut, it's time to start scoring with the Xacto knife. You want to cut through a little bit on the dashed lines, but not all the way through the thickness of the cardstock. This makes the folds later on both easier and more precise. You cannot skip this step and still have good looking armor. I recommend doing several test cuts on scrap paper to figure out the amount of pressure needed to achieve that balance. When doing long cuts, it's helpful to do them against a ruler to make sure the blade doesn't slip off course.
This is one part of the project I do much faster than my husband, because I'm very good at free-handing the smaller cuts. If you're starting out or haven't handled an Xacto knife much before, I recommend doing all but the smallest cuts against a ruler. This piece took about 40 minutes for me to score in its entirety, and while it is not the largest piece on this gauntlet, it is the most complicated (less complicated pieces generally require fewer cuts and, as such, require substantially less time):
It looks slightly 3-dimensional because I have already folded it slightly. Don't do this a ton, because it weakens the cardstock and it could tear if you're not careful (and then that's 40 more minutes of scoring you have to do over, after reprinting and recutting the piece).
Once all of your pieces are scored, go ahead and fold - carefully. Make sure you're doing the right kind of fold - coloring over the lines really does help, even if it seems awfully second grade. Do every single line, no matter how tiny, until every piece is looking a little 3D.
Now is a good time to stop working and start paying attention to all of the little numbers on the pieces - they need to match when you glue them. 1 goes with 1, 2 goes with 2, 113 goes with 113, etcetera. Unless your templates came with instructions - mine did not - you should get a plan in your head of what order you're going to glue them in. Figure out which pieces go with which and figure out what the most logical order of assembly is to make it easiest.
And then take a break. Stretch your legs. Take out the trash. Rest your eyes, too - it's close work.
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