West Point ANOVOS ANH Build

[kman[TK]]

Nice job on the padding! One thing I've often noticed is particularly with the left leg, the thigh seems to naturally press to one side of the knee, positioning it off-center from the sniper plate. Padding in that part of the leg can definitely help. You see this in your test fitting shots in post #19, too. You clearly know what you're doing with the foam padding, though, so I'm sure yours is going to look great.

Edited March 18, 2016 by kman

[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

kman- you hit the nail on the head there! Yup, I noticed that with the left thigh, I added some extra padding there to eliminate that. Didn't know that was a common issue... I was afraid it was just me haha. Anyway, should be good now, going to do a full test fitting tomorrow.

 

In other news though, while I was waiting for glue to dry, I started tinkering with a Hasbro E11. I'm liking where it's going. This should just be a place holder until I can save up for something a bit nicer... Maybe a hyperfirm, we'll see.

 

 

 

 

Lemme know what you all think (and if you have a spare folding stock for an E11 around)

 

 

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[kman[TK]]

The Disney blasters are only (maybe?) good enough for basic cert, but they're a heck of a lot of fun, and have awesome sound effects! I'm still trying to figure out if there is a way to steal the audio and somehow stuff it into my Hyperfirm, LOL.

 

If you're on a tight budget, you might consider the B-grade Hyperfirms.

[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

Right, yeah, unmodified should get me basic cert, heavily modified should bring me to EIB, and a hyperfirm is pretty much standard for centurion. At least that is to my understanding based on what I read in the CRLs. But yeah, you're right, the Hasbro here is a lot of fun and is more of a side project for stuff and giggles. I'm hoping I can use it to get my kit up to EIB when I finish modding it, but I guess I'll see what happens. Right now I just need to get this thing fitted...

 

As it turns out, I never got to have this properly fitted on me because I spent most of spring leave helping to build two mandalorians for some friends of mine. Anyway, now I'm back at West Point. The TK should be coming up next weekend for Easter. Until then, all I have are a few pictures of my friend wearing it when he tried it on. He's shorter than me, but I have to say, it looks pretty dang good:

 

 

 

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[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

I just remembered some other mods I did that I happened to take pictures of! So, here are some of those (unfortunately I don't always document everything I do because I get caught up in actually doing it).

 

Anyway, so, I had mentioned the slot and tab system that I made for the ab and kidney plates. After a little bit of research I found out it may have been a little bit overkill to do it on both sides, when I could've had one side riveted together with webbing in between... On the plus side, the slot method at least allows me to break the ab-kidney section into two different pieces, which makes it easier to store, especially when you're working with the limited space underneath my bunk. So, now with the tabs glued in place, the ab and kidney edges match up perfectly and and the two pieces form a nice complete loop that fits around me. I don't have to worry about the plates gnashing return edges or folding over each other. Check it out below. It may not be film accurate, but it makes wearing and storing the armor a whole lot easier for me:

 

 

And here are the pieces together when worn:

 

 

Little to no gap, and the tabs are hardly visible.

 

Alright, so, next modification I made- I got rid of the construction liner on the helmet. Wasn't a fan of it from the start, and it never seemed to stay in the proper position. Noticed a lot of people were using ACH pads in their buckets, so I figured I'd do the same. I had a few lying around and put some Velcro in the dome and now the helmet fits nicely. At some point I plan to add an elastic chinstrap of sorts, as well as to bolt in the lenses, but for now, those are staying as they are:

 

 

I also cleaned up the area around the eyes on the helmet. ANOVOS trimmed the eyes pretty straight along the top, which meant that the green lens didn't sit quite right. Not a difficult fix- just traced out a line roughly parallel with the outer surface and dremeled it out. Sanded to a smooth finish and now the lens sits flush. Very pleased with it, but apparently not pleased enough to take a picture of the finished product... Oops...

 

Also added two helmet fans and I have a friend working on a mic and amplifier system, however I do not have pictures of that...

 

And finally, I had discussed reinforcing the vac formed portion of the belt. For this, I cut two strips of polystyrene and glued them along the outer edges around the snaps and riveted areas. Turns out, that's all you really need. Belt is much stronger now and I'm very happy with it.

 

Now my major concern is the belt itself. I'm planning on replacing the canvas, but I'm on a tight budget and don't have a lot of resources. I was considering sewing the canvas myself, but I won't be able to leave post to pick up supplies and sew the belt anytime soon. I started looking into Trooperbays stuff, and while it looks great and seems like a good option, I don't think I can justify the price right now with my current budget.

 

Other than that, this kit should be nearing the finish and approval.

 

And, as always, if any of you guys see anything I can fix, adjust, or improve on my armor, let me know. I always appreciate feedback.

 

 

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[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

Alright, I think I'm just about done. A few tweaks here and there maybe, but other than that, nothing serious. Please, look through these shots I took on the weekend and let me know what you think. Let me know of any improvements I need to make.

 

Also, I'm leaving out the blaster in my photos until I can get a hyperfirm or something like it, because I doubt the conversion I'm doing now is going to fly:

 

Action Shot:

Without helmet:

 

Please let me know what you all think. Your feedback is much appreciated.

 

 

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Edited March 28, 2016 by wreakHavoc309

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

The photo of your left side makes it look like your shoulder portion of the back plate is either sitting too low or could use some heat bending. I also noticed that your shoulder bells look like they are riding a tad high. You'll see in a photo how they are sticking up a little. Bicep hooks will help stop that. 

[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

Alright, thanks Jason! The back plate can definitely be adjusted, I'm glad you caught that. And the bells do seem to ride a little high... Can you explain what you mean by "bicep hooks"? I'm not familiar with them, but I'd love to try them.

 

 

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[tkrestonva[TK]]

Nice build overall.

 

Four points:

 

1. Rotate the shoulder bells forward some and/or shorten the straps that connect to the white chest-to-back strap. It's intuitive to think that the black shoulder bell straps should connect dead center to the white chest-to-back strap, but that's actually not the case. What you actually want to do is connect the black strap forward of the midpoint, about halfway between the midpoint and the chest attach point.

 

2. Remove the return edges at the wrists and (if you haven't already) ankles.

 

3. Belt - either remove the top two holster rivets, upgrade to a TKittell belt, or alter the helmet to do a full-on Hero trooper.

 

4. Eventually get yourself a more form-fitting undersuit. The Anovos undersuit looks baggy on you.

 

As a minor point, you might want to take some heat to the butt plate and gently curve the ends in so that it better fits you and properly aligns with the kidney plate.

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/tutorials/article/37-howto-create-a-bicep-strap-hook/

[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

Brian, thanks for the advice. I didn't actually know that about the shoulder straps- being forward of center that is. Very good to know, and I'll make sure that is adjusted next time I'm wearing the armor.

 

As for the return edges, they have been removed at the ankles. The edge curves in a bit, but what would be the return edge is cut down so it's flush with the inner surface. As for the wrists, I'm leaving on the edge right now, simply because I don't currently have access to the equipment I usually use for trimming and sanding edges (yes, I could do it with a knife and some sandpaper, but I prefer to use a dremel because it's less work and comes out nicer usually). I think that's only a Centurion requirement too, right? If that's the case then it should be fine for now. It will be gone eventually though.

 

The belt rivets definitely need to go. I was thinking of getting one of Trooperbays belts on the recommendation of another cadet. If not, I might just see if I can have my family back home sew one for me.

 

Also, the ANOVOS suit appears a little baggy on the arms and chest because I was kinda rushed to take this picture. Underneath the forearms, the sleeve is bunched way up, but if I had actually taken the time to pull on the shirt properly, it would've looked better I think. Good to know though. I'll make sure I fix that in future images.

 

And on the butt plate- it definitely is a bit too wide for me, that said, I've been hesitant to heat it and bend it because of some previous bad experiences with heating ABS. Although, when I look at some of the screen caps from ANH, it appears that a lot of troopers have this issue... I do want to correct it at some point if I can, so if anyone has any recommended methods, tutorials, etc, I would love to see them.

 

Thanks for the input!

 

 

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[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/tutorials/article/37-howto-create-a-bicep-strap-hook/

Thanks! This is brilliant... I wish I had thought of this. Definitely going to do it now.

 

 

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[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

So, a small update. Not too much has happened, seeing as most of the work needs to happen on the belt. As for the bicep hooks, I'm currently out of the plastic I need for them (2mm thick ABS strips, essentially excess cover strip pieces). I was originally planning on picking them up on pass on the weekend of the 16th, but seeing as there is now training scheduled for that weekend, I can't leave to get some. So this may set me back until the end of May, but I am looking into options.

 

So, as for the belt, I took y'alls advice and ordered one from TKittell (less expensive than Trooperbays, no offense to either maker- I'm just on a tight budget). Hoping that comes in soon so I can remount the holster and plastic belt assembly. Currently working on getting tools for that. What do you recommend for reattaching the plastic part of the belt? (Just so I can order the materials ahead of time).

 

Lastly, just for fun, I played around with my painted Hasbro E11. Found a silver sharpie and went to town. Perhaps a little heavy on the weathering, but at this point, this is mainly to create a cool looking shelf piece. I wanted it to look like it had been salvaged by some rebel from a crashed Star Destroyer, so that's why the damage is so heavy. Might end up using it with my Merc anyway:

 

 

And the lights still work too, same as the sound!

 

 

Let me know what you all think!

 

 

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[illusionz_09[TK]]

BTW the hasbro conversion is good enough for submission for Basic approval and for EIB. Where you will have issues with is for Centurion; hasbro will not work.

 

as far as the armor goes, i believe it has all been said. Honestly i'm not a fan of the Anovos belt in general, you should consider just getting a new Canvas Belt. But that being said, you have to remove the top 2 rivets of the holster strap to the belt. Stunt Tks have a different configuration; anovos belts come prepped for the Hero build with the 4 rivet configuration.

 

The other thing that stood out as they mentioned was the shoulder bells. They definitely need some touch up for alignment and position.

 

Good Job though, you're almost there.

[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

Update:

 

Got my belt from TKittell. Very pleased with it, as far as belts go. Fast turnaround, good quality and decent price. I'd highly recommend his belts to anyone with an ANOVOS kit that needs to fix their belt.

 

 

So now I've gone to work disassembling the ANOVOS belt... Holster came off nice and easy, so that should be just about set (I contemplated trimming the leather belt attachment tabs, but opted not to because if at times I want to put this holster on another belt, for example, my Mandalorian, I'd like options for attaching).

 

 

The harder part has been removing the plastic front boxes. They used a really strong adhesive on the buttons that covered the rivets and so removing those has been no easy feat. I only have two off right now and I'm waiting on the third, seeing as I stabbed through my hand when I slipped with a knife trying to remove the second... So just waiting for my hand to heal up.

 

 

Anyway, the rivets are presenting another challenge, with only one fully removed now. The other is tearing up the plastic and won't seem to budge. Not sure how to remove it, but this thing has to go before it tears another hole in the plastic... I can't afford to have to replace that piece.

 

 

Finally, once I get the belt fully disassembled, what should I used to reattach the stuff? For the plastic belt, what should I use? I assume some kind of rivets, but if anyone knows specifics, let me know so I can order some parts for em.

Otherwise I might just use up they would split rivets I have left, or use snaps.

 

 

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[SupRsloth[TK]]

Update:

 

Got my belt from TKittell. Very pleased with it, as far as belts go. Fast turnaround, good quality and decent price. I'd highly recommend his belts to anyone with an ANOVOS kit that needs to fix their belt.

 

 

So now I've gone to work disassembling the ANOVOS belt... Holster came off nice and easy, so that should be just about set (I contemplated trimming the leather belt attachment tabs, but opted not to because if at times I want to put this holster on another belt, for example, my Mandalorian, I'd like options for attaching).

 

 

The harder part has been removing the plastic front boxes. They used a really strong adhesive on the buttons that covered the rivets and so removing those has been no easy feat. I only have two off right now and I'm waiting on the third, seeing as I stabbed through my hand when I slipped with a knife trying to remove the second... So just waiting for my hand to heal up.

 

 

Anyway, the rivets are presenting another challenge, with only one fully removed now. The other is tearing up the plastic and won't seem to budge. Not sure how to remove it, but this thing has to go before it tears another hole in the plastic... I can't afford to have to replace that piece.

 

 

Finally, once I get the belt fully disassembled, what should I used to reattach the stuff? For the plastic belt, what should I use? I assume some kind of rivets, but if anyone knows specifics, let me know so I can order some parts for em.

Otherwise I might just use up they would split rivets I have left, or use snaps.

 

 

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I'm using chicago screws on my rebuild. I've seen those used as well as pop rivets.

 

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[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

Did a little bit of work last night, namely I found some plastic scraps and was able to make some bicep hooks.

 

 

Didn't have a lot of plastic to work with, nothing longer than 5cm, but I made it work. Both are glued in underneath the interior padding with hot glue. They're holding pretty well.

 

 

 

 

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[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

Okay!! Final stretch!!

 

So, now that the shoulder situation should be fixed, I tackled the belt. Unfortunately, impatient me didn't take many in progress pictures of the belt work... Hopefully my narrative can clear anything up that the pictures can't.

 

I started by removing the old rivets from the old ANOVOS belt. Not having a drill readily available, this was extremely difficult. I pretty much had to remove the plastic caps and then dig away at the rivets with my multitool. Using everything from the knife blade, to pliers, to screwdrivers on my multitool, I chipped away at the metal rivets until after a few hours, I was able to pull them loose. This was a real pain, and if you have a drill or a dremel to do this kind of job, use that.

 

Anyway, rivets removed, the next step was to move this pink adhesive that was used to fasten the plastic rivet caps to the plastic belt. I got rid of most of the stuff by using my multitool and hammer as a hammer and chisel kind of deal. The pink stuff was pretty brittle, so it chipped away decently. Still would've went better if I had a dremel, so I recommend that.

 

After a fair amount of damage was inflicted on the plastic belt and rivet caps, I had to sort out a way to fix the holes the rivets had torn in the plastic. Fortunately, I had made some snap plates (without the snaps installed) over spring break, so I just cut those to size and glued them over the holes, thus filling the gap and providing a point where I could insert new rivets, or in my case, Chicago screws.

 

The plastic belt pretty much repaired, I then focused on the canvas belt. I measured and marked my holes for the three rivets that would hold on the main plastic belt, and then the two holes for the snaps that connect the belt to the ab armor. Creating the holes then became an issue. My method for this was to use fire. I took a paper clip, bent it into roughly a circle the width of a Chicago screw and then heated the metal circle with one of my shoe shining lighters until it was red hot. Taking the red hot paper clip, I then burned holes right through the belt. While kinda caveman, this technique worked decently:

Holes bored through the canvas, I attached the belt on the sides with the two extra Chicago screws taken from my holster. Not entirely a fan of this method, but they were all I had on hand, so hopefully they don't undo themselves while trooping... The center was secured with one of the two extra split rivets I had, just because I didn't have another Chicago screw...

 

THEN I SCREWED UP...

 

I had put the plastic part of the belt on the wrong side of the canvas belt... So, remove the Chicago screws, the split rivet and the snaps and redo it all. Fast forward a frustrating hour of self hatred and now it's fixed...

 

Put on the drop boxes before fastening the Chicago screws (important, as I forgot the first time). Then measure the holes for the holster, burn through the belt, attach holster. Done, done and done. Here's the result:

 

So, now, only two Chicago screws hold the holster on. Should be good to go for approval now I think.

Didn't bother to remove the excess leather though, figured it might work as some padding to keep the belt rubbing too hard against the armor. Also figured I'd leave it in case I make a ANH Hero someday... It's harder to add more material later once it's removed, y'know?

 

So, that should be about it, right? Anything more I need to fix? Otherwise, I think I'll try and get some pictures of me wearing the improved armor and post them here. I think I'm just about ready for approval. I'm getting really excited!

 

Feel free to comment your thoughts, opinions, etc. I'd love to hear your input!

 

 

 

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[illusionz_09[TK]]

Looking good.. You're getting there...

 

Much better belt!

[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

Finally got some pictures taken of the fixed armor. Check it out. Everything previously mentioned has been tweaked, so let me know if there's anything more that needs to be done:

 

 

Check those out and tell me what you think.

 

Also, I picked up some imperial cog patches that I plan to sew to the under suit where the shoulder bells would be. That way, when I'm not wearing the armor, it still looks like an official imperial uniform, kinda like what I imagine an off duty Stormtrooper would look like. I dunno, seem like an interesting concept? How's it look (I know it's not an official costume, just an idea I'm toying with)?

 

 

 

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[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Armor looks great. Those are some sweet hospital corners on that bunk. I do not miss doing those! Granted I only had to do that at basic and AIT. 

[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

Agreed, hospital corners are no fun- I've never slept below the sheets because of them...

 

Anyway, in other notes, May the Fourth be with You!! My armor was approved as TK-15775, and I've since joined the Hudson Valley Squad of the Empire City Garrison. Got to go on my first troop with them last weekend:

 

 

And today, in celebration of May the Fourth, I made the West Point Yik Yak again:

 

 

Funny story actually, the MPs in the pictures were from the same company that arrested the Fort Drum Stormtrooper. As long as I had the proper ID and I took off the helmet in front of them to prove it, I was alright. Not necessarily saying you should do this though, I'm just glad they knew how to have some fun too.

 

This place can be dismal, so when there's a chance to do something fun and harmless, by all means, do it. Even if that means you rack up a dozen or so walking hours... (Or sometimes you get away with it because it's national Star Wars day).

 

May the Fourth be with you all!

 

 

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[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Oh, I know all too well of that incident. Happened in my garrison's AO. Luckily, he was not a member but caused quite a bit of drama. 

[wreakHavoc309[TK]]

Yeah, the MPs kinda told me a little about the story, apparently the guy refused to show his ID and didn't take his helmet off... MPs may get a bad rap around the army sometimes, but they're really not that bad. Just do what they say because they're looking out for the safety of the post. And besides, one of them leaned out of a different guard shack and shouted "May the Fourth be with You" before I even had a chance to greet him.

 

Anyway, on another subject, does anyone know where I can get another set of shins? I think I assembled mine incorrectly and I'd like to get a fresh set and start over. Anyone know a good maker who would be able to make some for me, or does anyone have a spare set of shins they'd be willing to sell?

 

 

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[tkrestonva[TK]]

Congrats! Shins look fine as far as I can tell.

 

Make sure you post up here in order to get full access to the FISD forum:

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/16-501st-trooper-status-requests-include-link-to-your-501st-profile-in-your-request/