jonhaag's ANOVOS TK Build (1st Timer - Have Shims, Will Travel)

[jonhaag[501st]]

Hello all!

 

Almost exactly a year after I ordered my kit (wife and I saw the prototype in person at ANOVOS' booth at Celebration Anaheim and she told me if this was ever something I would want to do, $350 was a price that could not be passed up - so hooray for wife approval!), I'm finally starting into my build proper. I've been trimming and such over the past month or so and attended my first armor party with my local garrison, Tyranus, about 2 weeks ago to get finish up trimming and get some fit/shimming advice from the likes of tkrestonva.

 

I'm on the shorter side (5'7") and the wider side (~280, but actively working on lowering that number as I plan to run next year's Star Wars half marathon @ WDW, plus a bunch of 5Ks and 10Ks in between now and then), so I know I'll be doing some trimming and shimming to make things fit right. I've already removed the return edges off most of the extremities during rough fits, and that did help things feel better. We'll see how much more trimming and adjustment will come as I get this kit assembled for real.

 

Working full time, going to school, and having a wife and kiddo to spend time with does not lend a ton of time to work on my kit. Thankfully, I've got about a 4 week window now between the end of spring semester and the start of summer, so I'm going to try to knock out as much assembly as possible while I've got some extra time.

 

Probably unattainable goal? Finish by the end of May in time for the local AAA baseball team's SW night.

Likely goal? Finish by early July, just in time for my birthday.

Worst case goal? Finish by October, in time for Air & Scare up near DC

 

So enough about me, and onto the build...

 

I'm basically going to follow Tony/ukwrath's guide, so I started with assembling the forearms tonight:

 

 

Assembling the front of the right forearm was relatively easy. Honestly, the tough time I had was getting all of my magnets apart so I can stick them on the cover strip.

 

 

Front of the left forearm was a little more difficult. You'll note my not-so-straight cut lines (I used lexan scissors rather than score & snap). Also, note I didn't peel back the plastic wrapping at first...oops.

 

 

After realizing my plastic covering error and reapply E6000, I got the cover strip in place. Unfortunately, the shape of the left forearm is just ever-too-narrow to allow the the clamp I bought to sit at the bottom end of the forearm, so I did doubled up magnets to keep the end of the cover strip in place. I'm hoping that'll work. I also had more separation on this side than on the right, so I added a strip of tape over over top of the cover strip to hopefully keep it pulled together.

 

 

 

That used up all of my available magnets, so I'll let these two strips cure overnight and hopefully glue down the other sides tomorrow night. Looking at these up close shots, I'm reminded that I still need to sand down the edges of the armor, but I think it'll be best if I save that for towards the end once I start doing final fit checks and determine if I need to shorten any of these pieces (like the forearms could possibly lose just a tiny bit of length I think).

[DarthDawg[TK]]

Way to go!

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Following Tony's build will be a huge aid but make sure you always check things fit before making a cut. Tony is a skinny guy so just double check things. As far as shims go, they are not hard and the great thing is you can always trim them down or eventually remove them all together. It takes some time to do right but it's worth it in the end. 

[jonhaag[501st]]

Following Tony's build will be a huge aid but make sure you always check things fit before making a cut. Tony is a skinny guy so just double check things. As far as shims go, they are not hard and the great thing is you can always trim them down or eventually remove them all together. It takes some time to do right but it's worth it in the end.

Definitely making sure to make things fit yours truly, not taking Tony's cuts/sizing as gospel. I know I'll need shims for biceps, calves, thighs, and some on the kidney. My plan is to not make them super-permanent, and to eventually reduce their size a good bit as I make progress.

[jonhaag[501st]]

2nd night's progress update aka forearms part 2:

 

 

Turned out ok, but the cover strip is pulling up slightly on one side of each one. Seems pretty secure, though I do need to clean up some dried E6000 that seeped out.

 

 

Also need to trim up the overlap a bit:

 

 

 

Thankfully the shape of the inner portion of the forearms didn't prevent me from using clamps on either end, but I did notice some slight lift in the middle:

 

 

Used my bright work lamp to check how the strip lined up from below. Could be better, but I think it'll be ok:

 

 

Up next are the biceps, which as I said up above will need shimming. I only need to add maybe an inch to make it comfy - can I just add a big cover strip in the back? Or will I need to bust out the ABS paste to blend a seam to make it approvable?

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

For the biceps, make a bigger INNER strip and please make sure you're only using E6000 as you may want to make changes down the road if your arms get skinnier. Then make an outer cover strip that's as close to original size as you can without looking silly. Obviously, if you need a lot more room, you don't want a huge inner strip with an outer strip that is barely covering the seems. If you need a cover strip that's 20mm or whatever instead of 15mm, that's fine. Just keep it in the back and not the front. 

[jonhaag[501st]]

Something along the lines of this technique for the biceps?

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/31170-expanding-biceps/page-1#entry401193

 

 

And then I'll add the appropriate sized cover strip over top (15 or 20mm if needed), right?

 

And don't worry, E6000 is the only adhesive being used in my build. I made sure to do my research on that part.

Edited May 3, 2016 by jonhaag

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Perfect, no ridges either so no one except you will ever even know. 

[jonhaag[501st]]

Perfect, no ridges either so no one except you will ever even know.

I stole that shot from the linked thread, but that's what I'll be building tonight. We'll see how it goes!

[jonhaag[501st]]

And now for a new question from the shots I took last night of the glued together forearms. Due to the general shape of the forearms being a bit of an oval, I've got some pinching/tightness in the left forearm:

 

 

 

If I squeeze the top and bottom (opposite from where the cover strips are) slightly I can make the forearm a bit rounder and it sits/fits me better. Is there a way to permanently reshape that without having to completely disassemble the two halves?

 

Aside from that issue and some edge & glue cleanup, I'm happy with my first two assembled pieces:

 

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Put some rubber bands on to hold the shape you want and dip it in a pot of warm water

[jonhaag[501st]]

Put some rubber bands on to hold the shape you want and dip it in a pot of warm water

Near boiling and how long? I'm seeing 5-10 minutes but that seems long.

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Shouldn't be that long, just long enough for the material to become pliable. Maybe a minute or so then run it under cold water 

[jonhaag[501st]]

Taking pictures in the bathroom mirror is a quick way to realize how messy your little one's fingers are after he messed with it...

 

Didn't have much time tonight, but I played with some tape "shims" on the biceps to try to find out how big I'm going to need them to be on the left side (the tighter side, just like with the forearm).

 

 

 

 

Aside from needing to smooth the upper edges so they don't cut into me as much, I feel relatively okay with this sizing. I can get away with a 10mm gap with an inner cover strip to be covered by a 15mm strip on the front side:

 

 

The problem comes when I get to the backside... I need at least 30mm extra back there to make things feel comfortable-ish and to be able to get the bicep pulled up my arm to a reasonable height:

 

 

I'm thinking I'll do the method I already posted above to give some space up front, but I'm thinking I'll be adding a big shim to one side in the back and making the exposed edge of that the new place I'll join to the other side with the cover strip. I guess this will give me practice for the bigger shims to come.

[gatetrooper[TK]]

Greetings jonhaag from an apparently very distant and long lost cousin, andrewhaag. Good luck with the build. My build is RS, but I'm watching here with interest.

[jonhaag[501st]]

Greetings jonhaag from an apparently very distant and long lost cousin, andrewhaag. Good luck with the build. My build is RS, but I'm watching here with interest.

Thank you good sir!

 

Fun fact: my middle name is Andrew.

[jonhaag[501st]]

Time for another update on the build process. I started out by measuring out 70mm shim pieces for biceps. 20mm to adhere to the inside of the bicep initially and the rest to play with how much of the shim to expose to get the best fit.

 

 

The sheet of ABS I ordered off Amazon is thicker than the armor - it's more like the thickness of the ANOVOS cover strips. I got a 24" x 48" sheet, so I'll probably use some of it to make inner cover strips down the road. The thickness does mean that I will probably need a heat gun or water bath to a bit of curvature to my shims though.

 

Here's the shims attached on the first side:

 

 

 

 

Next on tonight's agenda: I apparently never got around to trimming the shoulder bells. After a quick test fit, I removed the return edges. I also can already tell that I'm going to need to flare out the bells, as they feel snug right now.

 

 

Last task for the night was prepping the front of my right thigh and applying the cover strip.

 

 

 

I forgot to snap a pic, but I measured 10mm from each ridge on both sides and trimmed it down so there isn't any real ridge exposed from under the cover strip.

 

 

I got the two sides pretty well synced up me thinks. I want to try to keep as much of the front of my armor looking normal and do all of the shimming in the rear. I'm going to knock out the front of the other thigh and then the calves next (plus finishing up the biceps). Once I do those, I'll start measuring and figuring out the logistics of my leg shims.

[jonhaag[501st]]

Been a few days since I've had a chance to work on my kit, but I knocked out a few things tonight.

 

First up though, is a note about my attempts to use a water bath to reshape the ABS I was using to shim my biceps... It was an abject failure. I must not have had the temperature high enough or else this ABS just doesn't like being molded. I couldn't get it in achieve any sort of curve to better fit my bicep. So I just went ahead and glued the front cover strips to my biceps. I'm going forward with my plan to keep the fronts of the armor "stock" and use the standard cover strip sizes, with any additional space purely being added to the back.

 

Left bicep after front cover strip install:

 

It's got more of an oblong/rectangular shape currently with my tape in 40mm shims.

 

Right bicep glued and waiting to cure overnight:

 

 

Based on how the left bicep and right thigh turned out, I think it will be a good idea for me to add inner cover strips to provide extra strength for any bending or flexing that will happen at the front due to all of the shimming in the rear.

 

Speaking of thighs...

 

Prior to trimming down to fit the cover strips:

 

Measuring out 10mm from the return edge on each side:

 

Oops:

 

Assembled halves:

 

I forgot to grab some shots of the left thigh that I did a few days ago (will do that in a later post), but that one came together much easier/better than the left thigh. Not super happy with the separation I'm getting, but most of that should be hidden by the sniper plate I'm hoping:

 

 

I'll definitely need to do some cleanup on both ends of this thigh.

 

Next two agenda items: install shims in backs of both biceps & get the wifey to help me test fit the thighs to measure out the size of the needed shims.

[jonhaag[501st]]

Next two agenda items: install shims in backs of both biceps & get the wifey to help me test fit the thighs to measure out the size of the needed shims.

Or maybe I should work on assembling the torso first too see how that all fits together and where the tops of my thighs will line up with the bottom of that. I'm going to use the ANOVOS strapping system for basic approval and then one of my first projects post-approval will be replacing it with snaps or brackets.

[jonhaag[501st]]

Did some rough fitting of the torso parts this evening to get measurements for the side shims:

 

Front shot (ignore how crooked the cod piece is):

 

Left side. The cod is sticking out at the bottom for both left & right shots because I didn't push it in fully when wifey took the pic, but I did make sure to push it in when taking measurements.

 

Right side:

 

I'm wearing a stomach wrap (TNT Waist Trimmer: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KWIOF2Y/ref=abs_brd_tag_dp) to help keep my gut sucked in and help with posture while wearing the armor.

 

Rear:

 

I'll initially need about 20mm in shim on the side if wifey's measurements are correct. Looking at rear photo, despite it not being the best lighting, I'm a little worried about the love handles. I'm thinking shims + belt will keep those fleshy bits in check. Just a reminder that I need to continue hitting the gym and keeping my calorie intake in check. Working a sedentary office job with a ton of food days and unhealthy options galore in the cafeteria makes it all too easy to have put on more pounds over the past few years.

 

On a side note, I bit the bullet and went ahead and ordered some 2" webbing, 100 pack of Tandy Line 24 snaps, snap setting tool, and a new soldering iron for making the holes. I'm just going to go for snaps from the start.

[jonhaag[501st]]

Measured and cut out two side shims tonight, went to test for them with tape, and realized I cut enough to cover how much I will need exposed and completely forgot to add an excess portion to allow the shims to attach to the inside of the kidney plate.

 

Assuming I will be sizing down the shims periodically over the coming months/year, should I just use some industrial strength Velcro to attach to the kidney plate or will I be okay pulling apart an E6000 bond several times between now and when I hit my goals? I've seen both methods done while looking at threads here on FISD but I'm wondering if there's a general consensus?

Edited May 12, 2016 by jonhaag

[jonhaag[501st]]

Got my snap and strap supplies in today and dove into making some snap plates.

 

Cut a bunch of 2"X1" pieces to get started:

 

Sealed the edges and made holes for the snaps with a soldering iron:

 

 

Setting up my anvil workstation on a stool & ottoman:

 

 

Knocked out a bunch of snap installs and then...

 

 

DISASTER!

 

 

Notice the problem? I used the capped pieces for snap plates that are meant to be installed directly on the armor. The curve of the cap means it's a massive pain to attach that side to the armor (the stud sides are essentially flat). Because of how close I made the two snaps, they're mostly worthless for joining two pieces of armor, aside from maybe when I strap the side of the kidney to the cod...but that's a big maybe.

 

/bummer

[hupspring[TK]]

Don't let the snaps get you down - you got some good experience at making snaps!

 

To this day I still make mistakes with snaps. I was making a longer strap today for my chest/ab and accidentally used the outer part of the female snap but the inner part of the male snap so I had to remake that strap again. I actually have a pile of snap mistakes in a box in the garage. There are a lot of mistakes in that box.

 

Oh and concerning pulling apart pieces glued with E6000 - you can pull them apart multiple times. Just clean off the residue once the pieces are apart.

[jonhaag[501st]]

Don't let the snaps get you down - you got some good experience at making snaps!

 

To this day I still make mistakes with snaps. I was making a longer strap today for my chest/ab and accidentally used the outer part of the female snap but the inner part of the male snap so I had to remake that strap again. I actually have a pile of snap mistakes in a box in the garage. There are a lot of mistakes in that box.

There's a reason why the recommendation is to buy the 100 pack from Tandy, eh?

 

The setback at least gives me an opportunity to slightly rethink how I'm going to make the ends of the straps. I'll be doubling over the ends of the webbing to make each end thicker to make it stronger in the long run.

 

Oh and concerning pulling apart pieces glued with E6000 - you can pull them apart multiple times. Just clean off the residue once the pieces are apart.

E6000 all around it is! I plan on recutting those side shims this weekend and then using some color matched spray paint to get them properly colored before I slap them in place.

[jonhaag[501st]]

Another quick update. Working on my snaps & straps setup, and hey look, I got them on the right side this time!

 

 

I'm making my own snap "plates" using nylon webbing and utilizing the supplied ANOVOS straps with snaps added to them.

 

 

I also doubled up the webbing for the snap plates to give them a little more heft and to make it easier for the snaps to set tight.

 

 

I'm just going to work on the Posterior -> Kidney -> Back and Cod -> Chest connections over the next few days, plus probably the should straps. I'm just going for Basic approval (for now), so I will not be worrying about the Kidney/Cod rivets & connections (again, for now) since I will have a decent sized side shim in place to better fit my body.

 

After I knock that out, I'll return to finishing up the bicep shims and then strapping up the arms and connecting them to the main torso assembly. I start 2 6-week summer courses this week, so those are going to move at pretty brisk pace and take up some time unfortunately (hooray for going back to school in your 30's with a toddler to chase around too...). My goal is to hopefully be done and approved no later than my birthday in early July.