Mkjava's Anovos ANH Stunt Build

[kman[TK]]

I got the same fans but my head is quite big and I'm having trouble finding a good spot to place the battery/battery box. My USB battery is not from him since I'm in Canada but it's about the same size.

Worst case you might extend the line to go down your neck, and put the battery in the chest or back, where there's more room.

[wingnut65[Staff]]

i've been waiting for Echo but it looks like that won't happen any time soon; and with summer coming soon I think i really need to get on that lol.

 

Same here.  I ended up getting them from ukswrath and had them in about 3 days.  He has them ready to ship!

 

BTW, Mike's fans are from 'eqdizzle'

[WhiteWalker[TK]]

I got the same fans but my head is quite big and I'm having trouble finding a good spot to place the battery/battery box. My USB battery is not from him since I'm in Canada but it's about the same size.

 

I was kind of surprised that it fit me as based on my cap size I think my head is a bit large.  It does sit nicely though right at the back of my neck.  I assume you tried along the tubes on the side?

[WhiteWalker[TK]]

which fans did you order? from where? i've been waiting for Echo but it looks like that won't happen any time soon; and with summer coming soon I think i really need to get on that lol.

 

Here's the thread where I ordered my fans:

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35951-helmet-fans-by-eqdizzle-basic-and-double-tap/

 

I went with the Double Tap Slim, came with 2 fans, the AA battery box, and L-Ion battery.  Took less than a week from ordering to receive it, very quick service!

[WhiteWalker[TK]]

 

 

I like the helmet pads as well.  Sure looks nicer than my random pieces of leftover foam.  Is the top piece padded much?

 

Hey Jeff, here's the link to the helmet pads that I ordered:

 

http://amzn.com/B016GTU3PK

[WhiteWalker[TK]]

The End is Near!

 

Well it's not here just yet but it's getting close.  The work on the thighs continues to plod along one half of a cover strip at a time.  Here's a photo 'play by play' of how I had to approach these, starting with inside cover strips on half of the thighs at a time and continuing in that fashion until the end.  I was able to finally close up the thighs last night although I do still need to add inside back cover strips to finish them up:

 

 

 

 

 

As another side project as I wait for glue to dry, I turned my attention to the belt.  I've disassembled the Anovos belt as shown here:

 

 

You see here the Kittle belt, the Anovos belt, and the plastic ammo belt.  I've placed the old belt on the new one and made marks where the holes need to go for the holster and ab mounting snaps.  I have no intention of trying to pry the rivet cover plates off or removing the rivets from the plastic, just way too many incidents that I've seen of destroyed plastic to make that worth my trouble.  What I'm thinking instead is to use the industrial strength velcro that I have for the shins and use some of that to mount the plastic ammo belt to the new belt.  That velcro is very strong and I don't see a lot of stress on this part so it seems like a good approach to me.  If that proves to a problem at some point, I do have Chicago screws that I can use to create 3 small mounting plates on the belt to make the connection.  As always any feedback is appreciated!

[wingnut65[Staff]]

Thighs are looking good, Mike!

 

One additional thought on the belt is to put on the Kittle belt and get it where it needs to be and then attach the Velcro as you wrap the plastic ammo belt around your body.  In other words, don't try to attach it while it is flat on the table...

[kman[TK]]

Further to what Jeff was saying, about the belt:

 

I don't know if you have installed the snaps into the ab plate or not yet (for the belt to connect to), but if you have, DON'T copy the Anovos belt snap positions, because the Kittell belt curves differently due to it's thickness and rigidity.  One set of snaps MUST move (slightly) from the Anovos positions: Either the belt snaps, or the ab plate snaps.  (1) If you haven't done the ab plate snaps yet, then go ahead as planned: Copy the Anovos belt for the snap positions.  But when it comes time to install the ab plate snaps, ignore the Anovos instructions (and don't use ukswrath's measurements, either, since he used the Anovos belt for that part!), and use the belt itself to see where the snaps need to fall.  (2) If you've already installed the ab plate snaps per ukswrath OR Anovos' instructions, then DON'T install the snaps in the exact same place.  Instead, again, place the belt on the ab piece to see exactly where the snaps will need to fall. 

 

Either way, bear in mind the height and placement.  The ammo belt is taller than the belt itself.  The whole thing should just kiss the bottom of the button plate (which you probably have not glued on yet).  You don't want it too high or too low.

[WhiteWalker[TK]]

Thanks Jeff, Kalani on the belt advice.  I have not yet drilled the holes or installed the belt snaps on the ab side for the very reason you mentioned Kalani.  I saw the measurements that ukswrath did and his caveat that he added to not use his numbers if you were going to use the Kittle belt (I actually read and remembered that!).  I figured I was safe copying the holster and ab snap positions from the old belt and then install the snaps on the belt first.  Then I can place the belt on the ab plate to see where to install the ab snaps.  

 

I already have my button plate glued on so I can use that for a reference.  If I place just the belt without the ammo belt on the ab plate, should it touch the bottom of the button plate at all?  And does my plan to use velcro to attach the ammo belt to the Kittle belt sound reasonable?  I know it's the easy way out but if it works that way, why not?

 

Thanks!

[kman[TK]]

Thanks Jeff, Kalani on the belt advice.  I have not yet drilled the holes or installed the belt snaps on the ab side for the very reason you mentioned Kalani.  I saw the measurements that ukswrath did and his caveat that he added to not use his numbers if you were going to use the Kittle belt (I actually read and remembered that!).  I figured I was safe copying the holster and ab snap positions from the old belt and then install the snaps on the belt first.  Then I can place the belt on the ab plate to see where to install the ab snaps.  

 

I already have my button plate glued on so I can use that for a reference.  If I place just the belt without the ammo belt on the ab plate, should it touch the bottom of the button plate at all?  And does my plan to use velcro to attach the ammo belt to the Kittle belt sound reasonable?  I know it's the easy way out but if it works that way, why not?

 

Thanks!

 

Take a look at Centurion applications for the right belt height.  I'd describe it as just touching the lip of the flat rim of the button plate (left after the little return edge was removed), but not covering any of the raised detail.

 

The Velcro is probably worth a shot.  I'm not sure if it'll work out long term, but it's a non-destructive method so if it doesn't get the job done well enough, you can always pull it off and try something else.

[WhiteWalker[TK]]

Successful Anovos to Kittle Belt Surgery!

 

It survived, the patient is alive!  I've completed the belt surgery and I've got a play by play of my procedure:

 

Step 1 as already shown in a prior post, I cut the old belt away from the ammo belt leaving the rivets and cover plates intact.  I have no intention of trying to remove those and risking damaging the plastic:

 

 

Next up I used the old belt as a template to mark the hole locations for the ab snaps and the holster.  I did not already drill the holes in the ab for those buttons, I will use the new belt and holes to mark those locations.  Here you can see the new belt after I installed the snaps.  Yes I know one snap is bigger than the other.  My plan was to use line 20 snaps for this but I only had 2 and messed up the post on the 2nd one, had to go with a line 24.  Please keep this a secret ok?

 

 

You can also see in the picture above my method for attaching the ammo belt to the new belt, industrial strength velcro, the magic fastener!!

 

Here you can see the snaps set into the ab plate using the new belt holes as my guide.  That was a very tense measure, re-measure, and measure again period before I actually drilled the holes!

 

 

Following both my hole locations from the old belt and the measurements given in ukswrath build, i made the holes for the holster and installed it as shown:

 

 

Here you see my method for insuring the drop boxes stay in place, one again turning to my trusty velcro:

 

 

And finally here is the completed belt and it fits great on the ab plate and ammo belt is strong.  I think unless someone tries to pull me across the Death Star by the ammo plate, it will stay secure to the belt:

 

 

Mission Accomplished!

[DadintheFog[TK]]

Kman's advice is right on the money. I wish I would have dropped my belt a 1/2 inch or so. I may end up pulling it apart to fix.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[WhiteWalker[TK]]

Thighs are Done!

 

Woohoo, finally finished up my white, plastic, crotchless shorts, ready to hit the beach now!  Seriously, these were some of the toughest parts of the build.  Because of the thickness of the plastic and the unwillingness of it to bend where I wanted it to go, it was a slow and tedious process.  In the end though I won and here's how I did it:

 

I noticed something was up at the beginning when I put one of the thigh edges together and saw this gap:

 

 

There was no amount of trimming that would remove the gap and allow the edge to meet without totally messing up the fit.  After getting feedback here and on the Anovos FB forum, I discovered this isn't unusual (even the famous ukswrath has a gap at the top of one of the thighs covered by the outside cover strip).  With that in mind I just had to force them together as much as I could gluing one half of the cover strip at a time, starting with inside strips.  One half at time, inside then outside, front, then back, with 24 hours of gluing set time in between.  Some of that action packed work is seen in these pics:

 

 

 

And now you can see the finished product, with ammo belt!

 

 

 

I'm holding these babies up using the world famous pencap510 garter system as shown here.  Based on feedback from other troopers, there's no better way to keep your plastic pants up!!

 

 

So this mission is accomplished and I just need to finish up the shins and I'll be done, so close now I can smell it (or maybe that's just the E6000).

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

I love my pencap510 garter belt. Now finish and submit for approval so you can get your race shirt! You'll kick yourself in the butt if you have to wait another year. 

[WhiteWalker[TK]]

I love my pencap510 garter belt. Now finish and submit for approval so you can get your race shirt! You'll kick yourself in the butt if you have to wait another year.

You know it, I want that shirt! With luck should be able to submit pics by end of week and hope for a quick approval.

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

You got this, brother! 

[WhiteWalker[TK]]

Shins!  The Last Items are Complete!

 

Assembling the shins was actually not that hard.  The hard part was getting about 100 different folks to confirm that I had the correct sides together and for the correct legs!  Once I had the consensus there, it was smooth sailing.  I'm not even going to tell you what number pieces I put together, it's irrelevant.  The key is to put the halves together that looks the most like the natural curves of your lower legs.  So with that, here's my work:

 

Just like with the other pieces, I did both an inside and outside cover strip (inside strip using scrap ABS from the build):

 

 

I'm using industrial strength white 1" velcro that I ordered from Amazon.  Man that stuff is strong, I think you could probably build the entire TK using it if you wanted to!

 

 

I followed ukswrath's directions for installing the sniper plate, first gluing the front and letting it dry before gluing the sides.  This once again proves how strong E6000 is as it took some serious clamping to keep things in place!

 

 

 

And here we have the finished shins ready to wear!

 

 

One last thing while I've got the velcro out, don't forget to put strips of the fuzzy side on the thermal detonator clips.  These will keep the TD from scratching your armor!

 

 

 

Well that's the entire build.  I fully hope that my next post will be my successful approval pictures, wish me luck!!

[Pencap510]

Congrats mike! I can't wait to troop along side you as a TK- build looks great!!!

[wingnut65[Staff]]

Looks great, Mike!  I know our Attaché will give you proper guidance and take some great pix! 

 

Like, Ty said, I can't wait to have an Officer join the Troopers!  I'd love to have you break it in with me tomorrow, but your plans will be much better for the Empire in the long run!

[WhiteWalker[TK]]

Looks great, Mike! I know our Attaché will give you proper guidance and take some great pix!

 

Alas I can't stop in to see Ken today as planned, wife's car battery died and I have to deal with 'real world problems' this morning. Perhaps I'll have her take some pics this evening and see how I look.

[WhiteWalker[TK]]

I'm cleared to troop as a TK but haven't received final approval yet. Call me the very impatient Stormtrooper!!

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[wingnut65[Staff]]

 

Can't wait to troop with you!  Congrats, Mike!

[illusionz_09[TK]]

how far are you trying to get.

You should post your submission pictures here.

[WhiteWalker[TK]]

how far are you trying to get.

You should post your submission pictures here.

 

For now I'm asking for Basic approval to add the TK to my Legion ID, I know I've got more work to do for EIB and Centurion.  I'm going to try the 'lose a few pounds' approach first to close the side gaps before I start looking at shims!  

 

These are my approval pics that I sent to my GML a week ago Saturday.  I've received an ok from him to troop but not the actual approval yet. Does anyone see any issues that might be holding me up from Basic level approval?  I'm hoping to get that in time to order one of the cool FISD shirts before the run closes this month!

 

 

 

 

 

[kman[TK]]

Standard advice applies: See if you can bring in the shoulder caps a little more, so they stay rotated forward. It's perfect in the first pic, but the last pic they've shifted back, exposing a lot more black.

 

Other than that, I see one area that you may be called on to fix, and one item you may want to fix but probably won't affect acceptance:

 

The easy (and optional) one: I suggest adding a little foam (thin stuff, like 1/2") to the inside of your armor in a few places: (1) Outside edge of your left thigh. (the leg with the sniper knee) That will push it out and center the armor a little better on your knee, as it's currently cocked slightly inward, which makes troopers look a bit knock-kneed. Similarly, you MAY want to add a little foam to the back of that same leg, which will pull the front in, and away from potential entanglements with the sniper knee plate. And finally, a little foam in the front of that same leg, at the top of the shin plate, will push the sniper knee out a bit, and help prevent it from tangling with the thigh plate.

 

The more important fix is your arms: They're hanging a bit too low, which is why your left arm is sliding over the hand plate. That should be fixed, and may actually be an issue with basic approval until it's fixed. If your arms are too short, and even after moving the biceps up the forearms are still too long, you may need to shorten the forearms but cutting them off one "bump" up along the arms, from the wrist side. That MAY require you to disassemble the arms to trim them down a little further so they're not too large at the wrist, so definitely try to move both pieces of the arms up, first.

 

Finally, strictly from a comfort standpoint, it looks like the back of the thighs are digging into your rear a bit? I had the same issue. You might want to SLIGHTLY smooth out that peak a little, so it's not digging in as much. If it bothers you, at least. I don't think it'll be an issue for acceptance.

Edited May 16, 2016 by kman