Converting ANOVOS kit to ESB Centurion

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Ouch!, were they glued Shaun? I though they're just screwed on.

[shaunpug[TK]]

Ouch!, were they glued Shaun? I though they're just screwed on.

Only that one was glued. The other one was just screwed on! Pretty weird.

 

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[shaunpug[TK]]

Got the helmet all clean! Well...clean enough at least. I figure since I'll be repainting the whole frown black I don't need to clean off the gray. I lucked out and got a helmet without significant over spray so the black will cover everything up nicely. I did need to remove the other paint apps though so the decals had a nice clean surface to bond to.

 

I settled on using Mr. Color Thinner to remove the paint apps. Those of us who build model kits are familiar with this stuff, but it's a bit hard to come by here in US. That being said it took me only 20 minutes to remove everything I wanted to remove.

Like the frown, I'll be painting satin black over the chin so the excess isn't a big deal.

 

 

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[Sly11[Admin]]

Popcorn, looking forward to seeing this one complete. As Paul mentioned in an earlier post , you will most probably the first EI ESB Anovos. Keep up the good work.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[TheLilTK[TK]]

Hi Shaun!  Awesome progress!!  I'm working on converting my Anovos to ESB as well.  I have a build thread over in the build thread area (it's very quiet over there).  I replaced my decals with TB ones too, but plan to convert my holster (have to save some pennies somewhere).  I bought handplates from ATA and a new belt from TKittle.  Looking forward to watching your progress too.

[shaunpug[TK]]

Hi Shaun! Awesome progress!! I'm working on converting my Anovos to ESB as well. I have a build thread over in the build thread area (it's very quiet over there). I replaced my decals with TB ones too, but plan to convert my holster (have to save some pennies somewhere). I bought handplates from ATA and a new belt from TKittle. Looking forward to watching your progress too.

Glad to see another ESB fan! I wish I would have gone with a belt from Tkittle...I'm debating on whether or not to cancel my order from RS for the accurate assembly pack and just order the parts seperate from guys on the boards. I'd be able to finish faster!

 

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[shaunpug[TK]]

Got some more done today. Installed T Nuts using E6000. I cut the barbs off using a dremel. I also marked and cut the lenses out with my Lexan scissors.

I might cut down the lenses a tad more. But it's fine for now!

 

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[shaunpug[TK]]

I could really use some help from the masters. I repositioned the brow to a place that I liked using my screen used helmet reference from my first post, but now it seems that the right earpiece (as you look at face on) won't fit correctly.

 

The other side seems fine as you can see.

Is there anything I can do to "reshape" it before I rivet the cheeks?

 

 

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[shaunpug[TK]]

This hobby is a curse. I'm too much of a perfectionist and I've decided to try again on the brow placement. I slept on it and took a second look at it and saw that the brow wasn't quite snug enough. I'm also going to do some more trimming on the indented teeth. I forgot to do that earlier!

I may also do some very minor reshaping/trimming around other areas of the helmet to bring it closer to what I feel like the screen used ESB helmets look like.

The right ear on my Anovos helmet was already trimmed too much so I'll need to do some additional work to get that to fit flush against the helmet (a personal preference).

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

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[ukswrath[Staff]]

This hobby is a curse. I'm too much of a perfectionist and I've decided to try again on the brow placement. I slept on it and took a second look at it and saw that the brow wasn't quite snug enough. I'm also going to do some more trimming on the indented teeth. I forgot to do that earlier!

I may also do some very minor reshaping/trimming around other areas of the helmet to bring it closer to what I feel like the screen used ESB helmets look like.

The right ear on my Anovos helmet was already trimmed too much so I'll need to do some additional work to get that to fit flush against the helmet (a personal preference).

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

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AH HAHAHAHA 

 

Edit: Stop over thinking it 

[shaunpug[TK]]

AH HAHAHAHA

 

Edit: Stop over thinking it

Haha. Ok. I stopped over thinking it and just did it.

 

I couldnt find accurate screws anywhere near me so I got them from Trooperbay.

The ears on my bucket were trimmed a bit too much from the get go, but lowering the brow helped alot to get them as flush as they can get!

 

And another front angle.

 

Next up is Plastidip!

 

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[shaunpug[TK]]

DECALS

 

I decided to get to work on the decals before I Plastidip.  Based on some research I've done, and corroborated by this video:

and this page:

http://www.starwarshelmets.com/original-ESB-stormtrooper-armor-helmets.htm

and specifically this picture:

http://www.starwarshelmets.com/2014/ESB_Type2_02.JPG

You can see that the gray color of the ESB decals was very close to the handpainted details of the ANH helmets.  It seems the very slight difference in color was most likely due to the process of printing the decals.  You can see that when they reconditioned the helmets to be used in ESB, they didn't repaint the ear details.  They only added more black stripes...this says to me that the color of the decals was meant to be the same.

Because of this I'm going to "remake" the Trooperbay decals in the "dark admiralty gray" 

The tube stripes look great the way they are, so I won't be changing them at all.

 

To do this, I first took the Trooperbay decals and used an Xacto knife to help me remove everything on the sheet except for the actual decals. Like so:

Before

After

 

Once I did this, I scanned the sheet at 600dpi.  You want to do the highest quality scan available to you to ensure no loss of edge detail when bringing it into your photo editor.

I used Adobe Illustrator and did a quick Image Trace (this is an automatic process and the results were very good).  After that I simply changed the gray color to this color using the eyedropper tool.

 

Here is a JPG of the result:

 

The next step is to print this out onto a sheet of White decal vinyl.  I'll post pics of the print out once I have it!  If the color ends up printing a tad too dark, it's a simple tweak in illustrator.

Edited February 23, 2016 by shaunpug

[shaunpug[TK]]

Did some tests with the decals and have discovered that the ink scratches off incredibly easy on the Vinyl I have.  At this point I need to get a different type of vinyl for printing.  In the meantime I'll move on to the Plastidip!

Edited February 24, 2016 by shaunpug

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Did some tests with the decals and have discovered that the ink scratches off incredibly easy on the Vinyl I have.  At this point I need to get a different type of vinyl for printing.  In the meantime I'll move on to the Plastidip!

 

Nevermind, maybe I should learn how to read haha

 

Have you talked to Jay GGG? He's doing a lot of stenciling these days

[shaunpug[TK]]

Nevermind, maybe I should learn how to read haha

 

Have you talked to Jay GGG? He's doing a lot of stenciling these days

Thanks for the info Tony.  I just sent him a message. Hopefully he can help out! 

[Haribon72[TK]]

I re-found your build thread. Here we go!

[ukswrath[Staff]]

I re-found your build thread. Here we go!

 

"This is not the build thread you're looking for" 

[shaunpug[TK]]

RS Props was taking far too long for a pack of hardware so I cancelled my order from them.

I ordered a full bracket set from MrNostripes and a new belt from TKittell. As far as hardware goes, what else do I still need?

 

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[ukswrath[Staff]]

Um,

 

1) Cap rivets for the thigh ammo pack to replace the Anovos supplied split rivets. 

2) If you're shooting for accuracy you'll want to replace Anovos supplied line 24 snaps and use "S" (popper) snaps

3) You'll need the Dritz #10 sew in snaps for the shoulder strap

 

I'll get back to you 

[shaunpug[TK]]

Um,

 

1) Cap rivets for the thigh ammo pack to replace the Anovos supplied split rivets.

2) If you're shooting for accuracy you'll want to replace Anovos supplied line 24 snaps and use "S" (popper) snaps

3) You'll need the Dritz #10 sew in snaps for the shoulder strap

 

I'll get back to you

There's a guy in the comissary selling "centurion rivets"...are these what you mean for number 1?

 

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[ukswrath[Staff]]

There's a guy in the comissary selling "centurion rivets"...are these what you mean for number 1?

 

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I think those are split rivets for the kidney to ab connection. Take a look at my Anovos build thread Page 1, it has a list of the rivets and where to buy them.

 

Also here's a ESB Centurion app thread. It looks like his is built to accuracy. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/28089-tk-29119-requesting-esb-stunt-centurion-statustm131/

[Haribon72[TK]]

Shaun, I have a bag full of rivets for your build.   Save your money.   I can mail them to you or wait until we meet.   =)

[shaunpug[TK]]

Shaun, I have a bag full of rivets for your build. Save your money. I can mail them to you or wait until we meet. =)

Lifesaver. Thanks Walter! That's super generous of you. Let's wait for when we meet to save on shipping.

 

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[bpoodoo]

I also got my clam shell hand guards from troopermaster; thinking of doing an ESB conversion at some point also.

 

I didn't see it in this thread, so want to be sure you know the holster for ESB goes on the right side:

 

(from ESB CRL):  "Holster is worn on right side of belt. Holster will be made of completely black leather or leather-like material and be worn on the right and affixed via two black loops over the belt (no fasteners)."

[shaunpug[TK]]

I also got my clam shell hand guards from troopermaster; thinking of doing an ESB conversion at some point also.

 

I didn't see it in this thread, so want to be sure you know the holster for ESB goes on the right side:

 

(from ESB CRL): "Holster is worn on right side of belt. Holster will be made of completely black leather or leather-like material and be worn on the right and affixed via two black loops over the belt (no fasteners)."

Nice! Ya I'm aware it goes on the right side...I actually prefer that! I haven't started to size and put together the armor yet. An expert will be assisting me in that regard (thankfully!). I'll be making a build video/showoff when I'm done as well!

 

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