BDWC's ANH stunt ANOVOS build WIP

[BDWC[TK]]

Hey, if it were easy then everyone would be in the 501st. The best part of this is seeing the finished product after investing the blood, seat, and tears...figuratively with the blood part.

 

Post pics and ask for guidance. Meet with some members of your garrison for a hand. There is NO WAY this is a lost cause.

 

Take some down time, let everything settle and marinade. Then come back to it.

 

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Well it would be easier if I had wanted to be an officer instead of an armored trooper, but I don't look good in those hats

 

 

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[Strength]

Ha ha ha ha ha, touche!

 

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[DK5IDE[TK]]

Hang in there, brother- those fixes are coming along nicely!

 

 

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[BDWC[TK]]

I am looking forward to an armor workshop I am hosting this Saturday for several reasons:

1. I get to meet my fellow garrison members in person 
2. I have not been able to travel to any of the recent other workshops due to health issues
3. I'm going to be working on my armor anyway
4. It's 4th of July weekend so whats better than a cookout with other troopers? (and some fellow veterans)
5. Definitely needing the morale boost after the above tragedies 

[BDWC[TK]]

I really enjoyed the workshop today thanks to my fantastic garrison troopers.

A successful mission of troopers helping troopers and a great morale booster.

Thanks to Jon, Josh, and Phil, I am back on track.

Plus it was a great pre-4th cookout

 

 

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[BDWC[TK]]

Double post

Edited July 5, 2016 by BDWC

[BDWC[TK]]

Just an FYI update, that although I am sooooo close (just need to resubmit a couple of photos, and I had hoped to do it this weekend) it will now be a few weeks out.

Thankfully my back and hip kept quiet for the armor workshop, but I woke up not being able to walk today. Then this evening a disc decided to take out my other leg with pain like I have never felt before.

So after an ambulance ride, 7+ hours in ER and various IV meds, I am now back home.

So I will have to put my kit updates on hold while I get some of my own parts fixed ( I offered them E6000 )

 

I'll be back soon, (optimistically with an operating # once I get patched up )

 

Thanks again for everyone's help on getting me so far on this journey

 

 

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Edited July 4, 2016 by BDWC

[BDWC[TK]]

Okay, I am determined to finish this, and hopefully soon retake my submittal photos in the next month or two (fingers crossed, knocking on wood, et.al.)

It is just so frustrating that my ab plate popped out for the photos and the next day my back sent me to the ER.

I do guarantee you one thing though, once all the dust settles and I have my operating number, I definitely will not take my 501st membership for granted!

What started as a fairly straightforward armor build has turned into more challenges than I could have imagined.

Outside of my current physical limitations, it's really ironic that I was so careful trimming out the armor parts so as to not have any stray Exacto cuts anywhere on the armor.

I even waited until just before suiting up for my submittal photos to take all the protective wrap off the armor out of fear of it getting scratched up during the build process.

Turns out that scratches on a thigh or butt plate would really mean nothing...so what do I screw up...the center of the face (I genuinely hate Murphy and his law)

So, I am biting a huge bullet and trying to rebuild the damage.

 

I disassembled the helmet (again), gave it a hot bath, and using used a form I made (from another ANOVOS bucket belonging to an awesome Garrison friend), I was able to restore the indents marked by the arrows and add most of the gum-line back in that center tooth area. This took four rounds of boiling, rubbing into the form and repeating until I thought it was as good as it would get.

 

 

 

Below is the form I used:

 

So, another leap of faith, I sanded down the remaining "rough area" and filled it back over with ABS paste.

And here is where I am at now.

You can see that the other areas are pretty well straightened out (not perfect, but about as good as it's going to get)

Also, the tear on the right bottom gumline next to last tooth has been filled.

I'll give this at least 24-48 hours to fully cure, then start the sanding process.

Luckily my 1500, 2000, 2500 wet/dry sandpaper and my Novus 1-2-3 kits already arrived. (I bought all of that preparing for adding my ab shims, but looks like I'll be fairly versed on the process by the time I get to adding those pieces.

 

To anyone who has read this far and has had any experience in the ABS filling and sanding process, please comment with any tips or lessons learned. I would really apprecite anything that could help me though my first ABS paste experience.

 

(the nose...why'd it have to be the nose....deep sigh)

Edited August 3, 2016 by BDWC

[BDWC[TK]]

okay start to sand down the ABS paste and I found several "pits" in the fill

....so I applied another thin layer of ABS paste, first kneading/mixing it well to try to work out all the air bubbles.

Next day, sanded down well, minimum pitting, but for some  reason the ABS paste fill (from the same trimmings no less) seems a little bit darker than the rest of the ABS.

Is this just while it's wet from the sanding?

I had sanded using 100->400->600->1000->1200 and it still looked pitted....so back to 100 and start over..ogh...this is going to take some time 

Anyway, the sanding has thinned out the upper gum point to almost braking through, so I'm putting some "back-up" ABS paste behind that to reinforce the area.

I'll let that sit and try again tomorrow  

[jamiex210]

Paint color for frown

[jamiex210]

Curious what specific Humbrol paint you used for the teeth? Same grey as for buttons? It seems darker than Anovos frown grey.

[BDWC[TK]]

Paint color for frown

It is Testors #1138

I also wasn't entirely happy with the fix, so I applied an additional smoothing coat of newly mixed ABS paste and repeated the entire process

 

I also refined the teeth-to-gums and completely repainted the frown

 

 

I'll post new pictures once the screen glue has dried :-)

 

 

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[BDWC[TK]]

Nose damage fixed, frown repainted.... Reassemble Time!

 

 

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[BDWC[TK]]

Well I made it through basic approval, so now on to upgrades!

First on deck is putting my new TKittle belt in place of the Anovos "Mr. Floppy".

Sure I could have just cut off the ammo pouches and velcroed it on, but I need a challenge. So I attempted to safely remove the rivets and covers.

 

I got the first one off with almost no damage, but not so lucky on the second two

 

One of the covers even tore

 

So on the ABS paste repairs on the ammo belt and may need to be performed on the cover as well

 

However I noticed that the cover recesses matched some button batteries I had laying around, so may try to vacu- form some replacements first

 

 

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Edited September 7, 2016 by BDWC

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Keep up the good work Jim 

[BDWC[TK]]

Well after a trip to Harbor Freight to pick up a hollow punch set, I got the ammo pouches re-attached.

 

Since the ANOVOS snaps are smaller than the Tandy line 24 snaps, I drilled out the "stock" ones I had already installed for the floppy belt.

This did make it easier to lay th TKittle belt in place and then just mark the snap location through the ab late holes. Then I centered the pouch assemble to transfer the rivet hole locations.

I found that the installed backer washers were more like 5/32 , but the rivet I had that size were too long or too short. So I just kept with the 1/8x 1/4s I had on hand (same as on Ukswrath's tutorial) and found the right size smaller ID washers to use. Good thing I'm a pack rat with hardware! After installing the pop rivets they didn't pull as tight to my liking, so I hammer riveted them down sone and now they look just like the cap rivets

 

Covers are now glued on place, all that's left is to pop in the holes for the holster... Just two please, LOL

 

 

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[BDWC[TK]]

Holster re-installed, and rivet covers glued up!

 

Next stop, helmet fans!!!

[BDWC[TK]]

Okay, I've had a LOT going on since I last updated my build thread, so now it the time!!!!

After fixing my helmet fiasco, things settled down, and after receiving official membership, I started trooping.

Of course I found areas in my biceps and forearms that were cutting into me, along with a small spot on one shin.

All easy fixes with lexan scissors, sand paper, and the addition of some weather stripping foam.

Well, I also went through a major move, and I am now in a new garrison, and trying to get used to how things are run somewhat differently.

All that aside, I desperately need to commit and start on my kidney plate shims so I can add the extra needed strapping and the required rivets for EIB and (hopefully eventually...) Centurion.

 

I'm afraid to cut off the front return edge for the kidney plate shim because I really don't understand if it's needed or just nice to have. I would think that it would make the plate look more uniform, than to be tapered down for this "love handle cover strip".

One idea I had was to cut off the existing return edge, about halfway to the notch location, and put the added ABS sheet in between. I ordered a 12"x12" white ABS .090 sheet to use as the shim and to overlap behind the kidney plate. YEs this makes for two sema fills per side versus one, but what's the difference once the ABS pasting starts and the sanding and polishing is all the same, right? LOL

Then I would use trim scraps I saved from the original ANOVOS ABS to make the shim flush with the kidney plate and the removed return edge portion, by gluing it onto the overlapping backer sheet. This was my idea to avoid painting and to have a perfect ABS color match. Yup, it'll be lots of sanding.

The question I have that is stopping me from starting this is, again, the whole return edge issue. I would "like" to have the top and bottom reuten edges, as well, but how do you make thise without damaging or snapping the ABS?

 

[BDWC[TK]]

Alrighty, it's been a while, and as I do more troops, I see more and more thing that I need to change/upgrade.

Right now I just can't stand the Velcro in the top of the Anovos stock helmet liner rubbing on my bald head. So time to put a real hard hat liner in it

Also, the mounting for my self-made fan system just isn't as sturdy and clean as I'd like.

I tried using some self-sticking craft foam to "shim" up some mounting Velcro for my fans, but it just didn't conform well enough to the inside areas of the helmet "tubes" where I had them mounted, just outside the frown area at the bottom of the helmet.

 

So I used some air dry clay to fill in the areas to make a flat mounting area for my fans (I used this same method for attaching the stud posts for securing my lens mounting screws)

I will then E6000 the clay shims to the helmet and glue the 'fuzzy' Velcro to the new flat mount area on the installed shims. I already glued the hookside of the Velcro onto the backside of the fans. ( I would post pictures, but I've reached my size limit....time to set-up an Imgur account)

 

Edited August 27, 2017 by BDWC

[BDWC[TK]]

More things to do:

• Cut out mounts from purchased hard hat & glue into bucket for new mounting
• Order/make thigh garter
• Glue in foam on biceps to help positioning to allow shoulder bells to sit better.
• Glue in foam on forearms to alleviate "armor bites"
• Trim down tops of thighs, and remove return on back sides
• Add in snap plates to shoulder-bicep connections where Velcro is installed (last of Velcro left for "fitting")
• Remove cod area return edged (because reasons!)
• Cut off end return areas of kidney plate to add in ~70mm of shim

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Man, talk about grit.  This is probably one of the most "never gonna give up" threads in a long time.  Makes my minor tweaks look really, really minor.  Keep that chin up

[BDWC[TK]]

Finished cutting out the hard hat mounting pieces and cleaned them up for installation


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[BDWC[TK]]

Using the hard hat liner, and the marks I made using the 'hard hat brim' with all the mounts still attached, I marked the locations onto white duct tape. Then I used rare earth magnet and duct tape to E6000 the front mounting clips onto place ( Note: I went with the duct tape since the regular blue painter's tape just didn't hold the parts in place securely enough)


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[BDWC[TK]]

Oh... here's what a cannibalized hard hat looks like, LOL


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Edited June 9, 2018 by BDWC

[BDWC[TK]]

Still waiting for the fan "shims" to fully dry. Maybe another day or two, then I can take s dremel to them for clean-up
These sure look ugly now, but they sure do fill in that egg shaped area by the hovi tips really well


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