hupspring's ANOVOS build

[troopermaster]

See how it goes but I think you will feel like a robot in your armour. It will not flow and will be even more cumbersome to wear. I honestly do not know how people cope when they use webbing to strap their armour.

[hupspring[TK]]

See how it goes but I think you will feel like a robot in your armour. It will not flow and will be even more cumbersome to wear. I honestly do not know how people cope when they use webbing to strap their armour.

 

Good plan for now - I'll leave what I've already done with the webbing (butt/kidney/ab connections) and do the rest with elastic. Then I can replace the nylon with elastic later if it's too stiff.

[hupspring[TK]]

I was about to put on the right thigh's ammo pack, but I wanted to get some opinions/confirmation first - does this look correct for placement?

 

 

 

It's being held on by clamps at the moment as I didn't want to drill any holes until I was sure the placement is good. 

 

Also a few more questions:

1. Should I fill that gap under the cover strip with ABS paste? 
2. I found some double cap rivets that my wife had - are these better to use than the split rivets? Is one better than the other for the ammo pack?
3. Is that gap between the ammo pack and the thigh okay? The gap is easier to see on the first picture above.

[kman[TK]]

1) I filled the gap in mine, although mine was larger.

 

2) I think ukswrath uses the double cap rivets for his, but Anovos gave us split rivets. I believe either are acceptable. I used split rivets because I had them. Also I think they're easier to remove if needed.

 

3) I stretched the ammo pack tighter to get rid of the gap, and to keep it higher on the thigh, in front. Mine is positioned tightly so it just touches the bottom of the thigh front cover strip. (covers up that ABS paste patch, so why did I bother? LOL)

[themaninthesuitcase[Admin]]

I don't plan on filling mine, the originals wouldn't have been. My reference isn't high enough resolution to prove this, but I can't see them spending the time to do it. I'd want it a bit tighter too, I'll be doing mine some time next week.

[hupspring[TK]]

I ended up using the split rivets (Kalani's point about them being easier to remove helped with that decision) and put the ammo pack pretty much where it was on the images above, but I tried pulling it a little tighter to avoid the gap. I might fill that other gap under the cover strip with ABS paste later, but for now I'll leave it as is.

 

Before doing that, I did a bunch of random things. I painted the ab buttons, made four double snap plates for the shoulder straps, made the straps for the shoulders (chest to back) and the shoulder strap to shoulder (my wife did all the sewing!), glued a small piece of ABS into the first plastic shoulder strap bump to aid in gluing when I glue them onto the chest, and started working on the thermal detonator (I cut off a quarter inch from the tube, sanded both ends down, and glued on the face plate). I didn't actually get anything finished but I got a lot done. And I was so busy doing it all that I forgot to take any pictures.

 

The only picture I got was of the helmet - I used some paint thinner and removed the paint from the frown. I also sanded the inside of the bucket and cleaned up the eyes and teeth a little. I didn't want to go crazy and take too much off, so it's a subtle difference. Tomorrow I want to start painting the interior with plastidip 

 

 

For now I'm only going to paint the frown - in the future I'll try tackling the tears/traps/tube stripes. After painting the ab buttons, I know I'm definitely going to need templates since my hands are so shaky.

 

Oh yeah, I finally broke down and tore my shins apart - they were being held together by an inner cover strip. It definitely looks better with the parts switched but I haven't taped them together yet to check them out fully. I'm hoping I didn't cut too much on one side and that they both still fit.

[kman[TK]]

Nice! I'm in a similar boat, although I'm using the Anovos straps (for now).

 

I have paints from TB on their way, at which point I'll probably tackle the helmet, too. Mostly the frown, although I have the rank template and the paint, so I might do that, too.

[hupspring[TK]]

I didn't have time to do much today (so no plastidipping yet), but I managed to drill holes on the inner side of the helmet between the ear screws for the mics on ukswrath's hearing assist system. I used a 3/8" forstner bit and hand drilled the holes (yes you read that right - I held the bit in my hand and kept turning it) since one of the ears is glued in (see my previous post about that issue) and I didn't have a small enough drill to fit in the bucket. 

 

 

It went a lot quicker than I expected and the mic tips fit snugly into the holes. Now I need to tape the helmet up in preparation for the plastidip.

[hupspring[TK]]

This is going to be a much briefer update than I originally planned - I typed out a much longer update but accidentally hit the back button on my mouse and lost everything I typed. You could say I was a bit upset.

 

Soooo, on to the abbreviated updated. I had today off from work, so I was able to get a lot more done. I plastidipped the helmet, doing three coats with about 30-45 minutes between coats.

 

First coat: not very pretty with a lot of brush strokes.

 

 

Third coat: looking much better. If the plastidip doesn't feel thick enough after it cures, I may do another coat or two.

 

 

Between coats I did some small things like gluing the forearm to bicep elastics. I used the Anovos supplied 2" black elastic and removed the velcro with a seam ripper.

 

 

I then tried my hand at giving parts of the armor a hot water bath. I boiled some water in a large skillet and put one side of the butt plate in for about 10-15 seconds. Then I pulled it out and held the side, giving it a curve so that it doesn't flare out. I did the same with the other side. The butt plate now sits better on me, not sticking out the sides.

 

I also did the hot water bath on the back piece, specifically the shoulder connections. As they were, they curved in too much, not allowing me to wear the back piece farther down on my back to avoid having a 2" gap between the back and kidney. So I did both shoulder connections in the boiling water for about 20 seconds each and tried to straighten them out. I ended up doing this about 4-5 times for each side and it kind of worked (they aren't as curved as when I started) but I noticed that stress lines were starting to show, and one actually cracked on the left side.

 

 

I ended up gluing a small piece of ABS behind the crack, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do now. I might finally make some ABS paste to make sure the crack doesn't get worse.

 

The ab buttons have been painted for a while now and I was able to glue those onto the ab. I had trouble getting the large plate to stay still as it wanted to shift all over the place when I put the magnets on. It took about 5 minutes of moving the magnets and pushing the plate around to get it in the correct spot (more or less).

 

Then I finished up on the strapping on the back to kidney. But I totally forgot that I was going to use elastic and instead used nylon. I also had to make more female snaps which I hate doing.

 

 

Lastly I made the snap plates for the shoulder bridges but instead of single buttons, I decided to go for double snaps. Which meant I had to make 8 more female snaps (did I mention I hate making these!). I destroyed at least 4 posts for the female snaps while making these. For some reason I can't hammer these in straight, probably because of the rounded button.

 

Overall a lot of work done for me today. I had a checklist of items to do today, and I covered all but one of them (gluing the fronts of the calves together). There is another armor party on Sunday that my wife and I will be going to so I can work on the calves or belt while there - I think those are the last two major items that I have to do.

Edited March 3, 2016 by hupspring

[kman[TK]]

Great progress! I'm jealous of your helmet work. I really want to going on that... But I also keep feeling like the helmet will probably pass (basic) as-is, so my time is better spent working on other areas, until I actually get into the 501st with fully working armor. THEN I can start on all the tweaks I want to do for EIB/Centurion. *sigh*<br><br>

I had the EXACT same crack on my backplate, btw. I'm going to have to figure out how I want to reinforce mine, too.

[hupspring[TK]]

Great progress! I'm jealous of your helmet work. I really want to going on that... But I also keep feeling like the helmet will probably pass (basic) as-is, so my time is better spent working on other areas, until I actually get into the 501st with fully working armor. THEN I can start on all the tweaks I want to do for EIB/Centurion. *sigh*

 

I had the EXACT same crack on my backplate, btw. I'm going to have to figure out how I want to reinforce mine, too.

Initially I was shooting for centurion out of the gate, and I think I'm still doing pretty well but I really want to get into the 501st as well, even if it's just basic approval at first. I think painting the outside of the helmet will be the hardest part for me, so that may not happen for a while.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[welshchris77[TK]]

Great progress! I'm jealous of your helmet work. I really want to going on that... But I also keep feeling like the helmet will probably pass (basic) as-is, so my time is better spent working on other areas, until I actually get into the 501st with fully working armor. THEN I can start on all the tweaks I want to do for EIB/Centurion. *sigh*<br><br>

I had the EXACT same crack on my backplate, btw. I'm going to have to figure out how I want to reinforce mine, too.

If the backplates are cracking then the plastic really wasn't hot enough, I had mine is boiling water for a few minutes until it was soft enough to bend without damage, the only danger with boiling water is on thinner pieces, the backplate is quite think.

Use abs paste to reinforce the back where it is cracked, blob it on there and leave it for a day or two to fully cure before sanding it back, take your time sanding too as it seems to heat up faster than the existing abs for some reason 

[gazzadavis8]

Hi there,

 

For the snaps you should get the prym snap tool, you can get the attachments to make the holes then change them for the either the male or female snap attachments. Took me about ten minutes to do all of my snaps and only managed to break one.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[hupspring[TK]]

Hi there,

 

For the snaps you should get the prym snap tool, you can get the attachments to make the holes then change them for the either the male or female snap attachments. Took me about ten minutes to do all of my snaps and only managed to break one.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I may have to look into that - especially if I switch from nylon webbing to elastic in the future. There will be a whole lot more cursing going on if I have to keep hammering them!

[gazzadavis8]

Yeah it can be good and quick, but don't go too quick, I had to redo a few because I put them the wrong way round, doh!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[hupspring[TK]]

Yeah it can be good and quick, but don't go too quick, I had to redo a few because I put them the wrong way round, doh!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I've been making simple mistakes like that the entire build! I accidentally put two male snaps on a strip of nylon webbing that was supposed to have two female snaps a couple of days ago. I'm just prone to making careless mistakes.

[hupspring[TK]]

Not much done tonight, but I did glue both halves of one calf together with the inner cover strip after taking the calves apart and switching the halves. Hopefully it's all correct now. I'll probably do the other one tomorrow. I also glued the elastic strap from the forearms to the biceps which you can see drying in the background. 

 

 

I need to make the last connection between the ab and chest (using elastic this time!) and then I'll be able to better fit the shoulder straps and see if I need to bend the back shoulder parts any more. 

 

I did finally decide to make some ABS paste - when I initially took off the s-trim from the bottom of the helmet, I noticed a small crack about halfway between the front and the right ear. It was pretty small so I didn't think much of it. But while I was applying the plastidip, I noticed the crack got larger, probably just from handling the helmet without the s-trim on. I put a thicker coat of plastidip behind the crack, but I didn't think that was going to be a long term solution.

 

 

So I made some ABS paste. And since that isn't the only crack on my armor, I don't feel like I'm making it for nothing.

 

I grabbed a few smaller lengths of scrap and made sure to remove any plastic covering that was still on them (almost forgot about that plastic! I removed it from all of the armor parts a while ago as it was annoying me).

 

 

Then I used the lexan scissors to cut those pieces into much smaller pieces. I thought those scraps would be a lot and fill the jar more than it actually did.

 

 

Then I poured in a little bit of acetone, enough to almost cover the cut up pieces in the jar. I'm not sure how long I should wait before using it. I just put the cap on the jar and put it outside. I'll check it in the morning and see how it's doing.

[hupspring[TK]]

I checked the ABS paste this morning and it was a little too thick, so I put in a little bit more acetone. After about 4 hours the paste was more of a pudding like consistency so I decided to try it out. I put some on the back side of the back plate where the crack appeared from the hot water bath bending combo. I used a popsicle stick to mix the paste and also apply it.

 

 

It seemed to dry fairly quickly and looked pretty good, so I put a little bit on the front side of that crack as well. After a day or two (not sure how long you're supposed to let this cure) I'll sand it down. I also put small dab on the helmet crack that I showed in the previous post.

 

I still have a good amount of ABS paste left in the bottle - how long does that stuff last? Will it eventually harden to plastic in the bottle?

 

The armor party for tomorrow was cancelled due to rain, so I'm probably going to finish up the shoulder connections which I think will make the torso complete. And hopefully I won't have to make any more snaps. Have I mentioned the hatred I have for making female snaps? Here's a picture of the last group of snaps I mangled.

 

 

If I need to make more than a few more snaps, I'm probably going to look into a set of snap pliers and see how that goes. Actually I might need to make a couple more if I decide to make a bicep to shoulder bell connection. I want to try everything on and walk around for a while to see how the shoulders behave.

Edited March 6, 2016 by hupspring

[hupspring[TK]]

I was able to get the shoulder straps' snap plates glued on to both the chest and back plates. I was going to follow ukswrath's tutorial and glue the shoulder straps on, but I decided to go with double snaps so the straps are a little long which is why the snap plates aren't higher up. Hopefully this doesn't cause any issues.

 

 

Tomorrow I should be able to try on everything except the calves, both of which are now glued together with the inner cover strips. Oh and the helmet which has nothing in the interior and needs the frown painted still.

[Pyrates[TK]]

Really great progress and good job with that paste!

[themaninthesuitcase[Admin]]

Seeing those mangled snaps makes me so glad I bought the pliers!

 

I've got to bend the shoulders too to reclaim about 2". Any pro tips?

[Pyrates[TK]]

Seeing those mangled snaps makes me so glad I bought the pliers!

 

I've got to bend the shoulders too to reclaim about 2". Any pro tips?

If you're referring to the shoulder bridges/ straps use "Tony's Hot Tub Trick" - bring a large pot of water to a boil (197*F) - putting one in a time let them take about a 5 to 10 second dip then take it out and start to shape - repeat process until desired form is achieved Edited March 6, 2016 by Pyrates

[hupspring[TK]]

Seeing those mangled snaps makes me so glad I bought the pliers!

 

I've got to bend the shoulders too to reclaim about 2". Any pro tips?

 

If you're referring to the shoulder bridges/ straps use "Tony's Hot Tub Trick" - bring a large pot of water to a boil (197*F) - putting one in a time let them take about a 5 to 10 second dip then take it out and start to shape - repeat process until desired form is achieved

 

That's the technique I used, but I left them in the water for about 15-20 seconds and had to repeat it maybe 5 times before I stopped. I didn't have a thermometer to check the water temperature so I made sure the water wasn't actively boiling when the armor was in the water. Which is probably why I had to repeat the process so many times

[Pyrates[TK]]

That's the technique I used, but I left them in the water for about 15-20 seconds and had to repeat it maybe 5 times before I stopped. I didn't have a thermometer to check the water temperature so I made sure the water wasn't actively boiling when the armor was in the water. Which is probably why I had to repeat the process so many times

Boils down to thickness of abs pun intended lol

[themaninthesuitcase[Admin]]

If you're referring to the shoulder bridges/ straps use "Tony's Hot Tub Trick" - bring a large pot of water to a boil (197*F) - putting one in a time let them take about a 5 to 10 second dip then take it out and start to shape - repeat process until desired form is achieved

whats 197 in real money

 

(Yes this is a joke. Also what crazy altitude are you at if water boils at 91C?)