And now for something completely different...Anovos ANH Stunt by MadMax

[MadMax]

Hello All,

 

I thought a little tongue in cheek was appropriate to start off yet another Anovos build thread, number 78 if I am not mistaken . Like many I found myself unable to resist the allure of armoring up at the very attractive entry price offered by Anovos. Something I always dreamed of since seeing the first movie on the silver screen in 1977 but thought to difficult or expensive to achieve. I was unable to convince my Mom to build my brother and I suits of armor at the time so we had to settle on something a little less complicated (that's me on the left)

 

So now here I am almost 40 years later, ready to build my first TK. Very exciting! But before I get into the build I thought I might start with how I got here. An introduction of sorts. It all started when...(insert start of dream sequence here).....

 

...I was riding my motorcycle one day thinking that I could make a really cool Iron Man helmet. Some air brushing and a see through applique on the visor, simple as that. But then I thought "Surely someone has done that already!" so I consulted my good friend Google to see what he had to say about it. Sure enough lots out there. Oh well. Bubble officially burst! But then I stumbled on an image of a really cool iron man riding suit. Like so:

 

After some research I discovered the company UD Replicas was behind the suit, who unfortunately no longer made it.   But, what I discovered was even better....Batman!!! The dark knight has always been my favorite character as evidenced below (me on the left again with a broken finger...must have been a tough day of crime fighting).

 

With much consideration and heavy deliberation I took the plunge and procured myself a new suit. However, no suit is complete without the appropriate accessories. The search for these led me to an amazing world I had only heard of but had never brought myself to delve into and could not have imagined. So after many more hours of surfing the tremendous amount of content out there I found a website known as theRPF. An incredible treasure trove of costumes and props. Oh My! So after many late nights of reading and research I got myself some gear and suited up for my first Comicon with a friend of mine...Bane!

 

What a great time we had. We were at the con for about 6 hours during which I spent 5.8 hours posing for what seemed like a thousand pictures, even got a TV spot on YTV. How cool! I don't think I actually ended up seeing anything inside the con at all. Oh well, it was a blast anyway!

 

So over the next while I started to make frequenting theRPF a habit to see what other favorites of mine I could conjure and collect. Then one day someone posted a thread "Anovos Stormtrooper...thoughts?" with a link to a pre-order! I think I deliberated with myself until almost the end of the initial offering before deciding that it was too good to pass up, almost too good. So with that I pulled the trigger and things were underway...well at least sort of. Still had to wait out the whole development and supply process but it didn't bother me at all. With fairly low expectations and not a lot to loose but so much to gain I patiently waited....and waited...and waited.

 

All those months later, once the BBB day arrived I realized, oh crap! I have no idea what I am doing! Thanks to some additional threads and advice on the RPF I ended up here at the FISD. Now my second home, the first website I hit everyday on my lunch. I have been studying, reading, learning and occasionally drooling over the projects you guys share here. I love it! So thanks to all of you for enabling, teaching and motivating us newbs 

 

So that's me. With the introduction over I promise to get into more things TK related in my next post.

 

Cheers

 

P.S. Yes, the Batsuit is also a motorcycle suit that I actually use on occasion. Does get a lot of attention on the road

Edited February 21, 2021 by MadMax
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[MadMax]

So BBB day is of course the next big milestone in any TK build. A very exciting one for me as I fell somewhere in the middle in terms of delivery timing. This allowed me to see what I was getting through other peoples threads and posts. So instead of posting the same old pictures of what was in the box (because if you are reading this you already know) I will post a few images of what BBB day means in my house.

 

First off the obligatory picture of the box. On it already a clue of what was to become of it...my kids work fast!

 

After unpacking the contents and laying it all out my son (8) and daughter (5) thought it appropriate that a box that contained stormtrooper armor ought to become some form of space worth item. What better than a space ship! So with a pair of scissors, some tape, a box of markers and some other various household items this is what they built.

 

Not to leave details out they fully decked it out with all the required items one would expect in a Star Wars vessel. A view from the cockpit

 

What would any space exploration be without a garbage chute, always need some form of escape should you get pinned down by blaster fire Also notice that a ships manual is available (was the packing slip from the box).

 

Need refreshments in space too

 

Propulsion

 

And since I feel bad for leaving it out, here is also the obligatory shot of the contents of the box, strewn across the futon in my "Man Cave".

 

Those with keen observation will notice that the armor looks a little slimmer than when it initially arrives. However, that is a post for another day.

 

Cheers

Edited February 21, 2021 by MadMax
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[MadMax]

So by now you can probably tell that this build and subsequently this thread is not moving at a blistering pace. A lot of good reasons for that: kids, wife, job...you know the drill. Having said that I was able to bang through all of the rough cutting in pretty short order. I decided to go with the score and snap method after trying it out on a few pieces in the areas that were to be discarded anyway. The dremmel method just seemed to messy and too noisy when the kids are asleep. The scissor/trimmer method seemed too clumsy. After a few tries it got pretty easy so I decided to stick with it. After the first few pieces I started to get pretty good and they started to fly by, although my hand and shoulder paid the price the next day.

 

One key note for me on the score and snap method: There is a fine line between too shallow and too deep when scoring. Too shallow and the snap doesn't work. Too deep and you may end up with a run-away blade cutting where you don't want to because you are pressing too hard. What I found best is a multi-pass method. The first pass I would lightly scribe the line where I wanted the cut to be. By doing this you prevent (or at least minimize) the potential for the run-away blade problem and create a path for the blade to follow. Even though it is very fine it still helps to guide the blade on the subsequent passes. The second pass follows the first with moderate pressure, the main focus being to follow the first and to get some depth of material cut. After this is done give the snap a whirl. Sometimes it will be enough, as on the thinner pieces, and other times nothing happens, it just bends. When it is the latter I give it a third and final pass (sometimes while actually bending the score to open up the "trough" where the cut is) and find that this is the final straw. It is after this pass that the material finally gives up and succumbs to the snap portion of the procedure!

 

For me when trimming I decided to give myself as much material as possible. I am not a small guy, at 6'6" and 220 lbs, so figure I needed as much material as I could get. So for this I cut outside the pre-marked lines as far as I could on all the inside seams in the hopes that it will allow me to assemble without shims. I figure easier to fill in the pre-marked cut lines with paste than to assemble shims. Rough cut looks like this:

 

Forearm Inner:

 

Bicep Inner (not too much extra meat on this one):

 

Thigh Back:

 

Hopefully this will be enough...we shall see.

Edited February 21, 2021 by MadMax
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[MadMax]

Not sure where to begin I mistakenly decided to start with the Shins. Start from the bottom up right? Wrong! I made this call before the whole debacle started with the mislabeling and so on, so it turns out this was a bad idea and the absolute worst place to get my feet wet with armor building. I think this is one of the main reasons for my severe lack of progress. Even if not I am going to blame it anyway   But being as stubborn as I am I stuck with it.

 

Like many I have to give a big shout out to ukswrath and his super awesome thread here: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35086-ukswraths-anovos-tk-build/. I would be so lost without it. Thank you ukswrath!!!

 

First off I started with trimming down the front to get the correct spacing for the cover strip. Even in this part I learned a thing or two. The main one being to trust the line the ruler makes for you! When I first marked out the lines they did not look right so I adjusted by my eye to compensate. After cutting I held the pieces up together and they looked OK at the front (sorry no pic) but the backs were a mess. So I had at it again. Same distrust of the line and of course still no love. It was not until I actually clamped the parts together to make the fronts perfectly in line with each other that the true form appeared and guess what, the ruler was right! So if I had any advice here for others it is to trust the straight edge, even over all those curves and surfaces. So long as you get the bendy type ruler and have it clamped in place it will not let you down.

 

With that done it came down to which part goes where. Not wanting to rely on the stickers and also not rely on what others did (no guarantee mine would be the same) I decided to go the anatomical route. Based on human anatomy and physiology the human calf looks like so from the front.

 

From this we can see that the Peroneus Longus on the outside of the calf creates a long progressive curve starting high then tapering all the way down. Where as the Gastrocnemius pops out more abruptly a bit lower down with a much sharper taper. So based on this I came up with the following arrangement of the calf armor (pic as if the lags are facing you).

 

 

So this is the part where I ask you what you think. Please don't be shy. I really only want to glue these things once. If you have a compelling reason this does not look right please say so.

 

Cheers!

Edited February 21, 2021 by MadMax

[SlyFox740[TK]]

Hey man looking good so far! <br>

Fellow recruit here from Cambridge Ontario. I'm just assembling my armor as well, though I have the AP kit. I would have ordered the Anovos if I was able to get in on the pre-order pricing. Also I recognize the characters in you comic on photos. I was also there, I went dressed as Wolverine.

[MadMax]

Hey SlyFox. Thanks. Do you have a thread going as well? I've been following Anovos threads mostly but love to see others coming together too.

 

I remember bumping into a Wolverine...must have been you! Would love to do that costume as well, one of my favorites, but my dimensions are not really suited to the character.

[MadMax]

So I have decided to go the "one-side-at-a-time" method for the shin cover strips. Due to the way the two halves interact I figured this would give me better opportunity to control, adjust and fine tune only dealing with one side at a time. So with that said here are a few shots of the first half.

 

You can never have too many clamps it seems 

 

Close up. You can see where I marked the center line on the back of the strip to help me line it up.

 

And the finished product after a day of drying time.

 

Looks not too shabby if I do say so myself. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Not too much squeeze out but clearly enough in there to hold it just right. So now both RH halves of the shins are stripped. Next is to merge the other half    Still curious to hear thoughts on my matchup above. Please don't be shy...fire away 

Edited February 21, 2021 by MadMax
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[MadMax]

Well it has been way to long since I updated this thread. A fair bit of progress made but sadly did not make any time to post. So I have dumped all the pics I have taken along the way into my picture hosting account and will update the best that I can.

 

I finished off the front side of the shins with both the outer and inner cover strip. Looks a little like this.

 

On the inside (sorry not so easy to see)

 

After this I decided to leave the back of the shins for a later date. Having picked the worst possible parts to start with I figured I had better move onto something I can finish while also doing a decent job of it. Next up Forearms!

Edited February 21, 2021 by MadMax
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[MadMax]

So the forearms proved to be a nice little part of the project. Quite easy to handle and they fit together quite well, even with the little bit of extra material I am leaving on to accommodate my size. For this reason I decided to glue the strips to both halves at the same time, a departure from how I started with the calves. Here are a few shots of the LH outer cover strips going on:

 

 

And the RH:

 

 

Once these all cured up I moved to the inside and added the inner strips as well. They look like this:

 

As with many other TK builds I have been using cut off scraps from the initial trimming to make the inner cover strips. For the most part I have been able to find pieces big enough to make the strips. I am trying to match the size of the inner to the outer whenever possible but a few have ended up on the thin side (by a mm or 2) but I figure that's OK. They are not seen anyway and are merely for added joint support. So once all done here are my forearms.

 

 

An additional note on the assembly so far. Sanding! One thing that has not been so clear to me in reading other build threads is just how much sanding people are doing. With that in mind and the fact that I am what some might say "particular" I have been spending a lot of time getting my edges nice and clean and sanding down pretty much everything.

 

- Joint edges of the two halves

- All trimmed edges

- Edges of cover strips (yes, the finish of the pre-cut cover strips from Anovos just don't "cut" it for me  so I have been finishing them as well)

 

All of these I am taking down with progressive levels to 320 grit. Was going to go more but stopped myself and my OCD before I went overboard.

 

So with these done it was time to move up to the next section...my 24" Pythons!...I mean biceps 

Edited February 21, 2021 by MadMax
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[MadMax]

So the biceps were up next. These went much like the forearms. Fairly easy to handle (maybe even easier given their small size) so I won't belabor explaining the process. However, feeling more confident I decided to do both outer strips at the same time 

 

 

 

Then on to the inners

 

 

Final product

 

 

 

Up next...I am not sure 

Edited February 21, 2021 by MadMax
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[MadMax]

So to continue with the trend I worked my way down the body from the arms down to those dreaded calves. So up next were the shoulder bells. For this it really came down to fitting and trimming. Not so exciting. Here is how they look after my efforts.

 

 

 

After leaving almost no return edges remaining I discovered 2 things

 

1) They really loose their rigidity without those edges

2) Still not big enough for my pythons....I mean biceps 

 

Later on once I get to overall fitting I will give them a hot water bath and reform the shape a bit to give me a smidge extra room.

 

After the bells I moved onto final trimming and edge finishing of all the main body armor plates (chest, abdomen, back, kidney butt). Nothing really to show here unless of course you really want to see my butt    One item of note with this armor that I commented on above, once the return edges are gone the main parts really loose a lot of rigidity. So my advice for those of you who are not on the larger size of the spectrum....leave as much as you can after satisfying the appropriate level of requirement and comfort. With all the edges I have removed I am a bit worried about the structural rigidity of the armor. Perhaps once all put together it will be OK, I dunno. Will have to reserve judgement until I am done.

 

Stay tuned...

Edited February 21, 2021 by MadMax
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[MadMax]

So moving on down the body comes the thighs. By this point I had relatively good confidence so things started going a lot easier. Since I figure you have seen enough clamps by now I will just move along to the end result.

 

Outer strips

 

Inner strips

 

and no right thigh is complete without its ammo pack. I opted for the straight look as opposed to the slightly tilted up variation. Given my height I figure I need as much coverage as I can get.

 

 

 

I am probably going to put some foam on the inside of the split pin to prevent damage to the soft goods whilst wearing the armor. So all good here I think. More to come...

Edited February 21, 2021 by MadMax
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[MadMax]

To help along my procrastination with addressing the back of the shins I decided to spend some time on accessories. Specifically the TD!

 

First off, I attempted to follow ukswrath's advice for straightening out the TD clips to match canon. However, when I got the angled portion to just about straight it snapped off! @#$%^&*!!! I tried to clean up the break in a lame attempt to salvage the supplied clips but it was just way too short.

 

 

So I endeavored to make my own. Off to the hardware store to find the appropriate material, which amazingly I did. Apparently fairly common in the household section. So aluminum strip in hand with some various pliers, clamps and tools I forged my first attempt.

 

 

 

 

Not bad! Not bad at all. In fact I think mine is a fair bit better if I do say so myself  However, the even harder part was to make a second one exactly like the first.....

 

 

 

Success!!!

 

Next up TD assembly...

Edited February 21, 2021 by MadMax
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[MadMax]

So the first step in TD assembly is to get the tube the right length. So I trimmed down the supplied to to best match the required dimension. Since cutting a hunk of PVC pipe is not so interesting I will spare you from the pictures..this time 

 

Up next was to fit the end caps. Following standard procedure I used the hot water method to allow fitment of the caps. Of course one must always follow safety protocols so make sure you have appropriate hand protection (aka: oven mitt).

 

 

Pressing into the cap

 

 

Looks good

 

 

Both ends done

 

 

Once these cooled off I set to work attaching the control panel followed by the mounting of the clips. Once again the action shots are a little dull so I will only post the result.

 

 

 

 

For the life of me I could not find slotted cap head screws of the right size to use for attaching the clips. So for the time being I am using Robertson type, which will not be so noticeable once painted black and being worn. In the mean time I will continue to look..

 

That's it for now!

Edited February 21, 2021 by MadMax
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[68Brick[TK]]

Welcome back Justin!

 

For your TD ... Swap those Robertson head screws out for common head pan head screws.

 

Looking Good!

[MadMax]

Hello all,

 

So it has been a very long time since I circled back and posted here. Almost 4 years!!! Sadly my TK project got side lined for almost all of that time. Super busy at work and unfortunately some health problems as well prevented me from making much progress. However, I am now back at it so I figured I would post up with what I have been doing of late to move the project forward.

 

With all the main parts trimmed and edges sanded I figured it was time to make up a bunch of snap plates. I don't intend to use the velcro method as supplied by Anovos. So snaps it is. I took some trimming scraps and made them into long strips to fashion mounting plates for the snaps that can be glued inside the armor. Here are the strips I started with marked out to maximize usage and centering of the snaps (you can see a few special snap plates I made in the corner of the pic)

 

 

I used a pin vice and a very small drill bit to make the center mark

 

 

Then of course a drill and the appropriate sized bit to make the hole for he snap

 

 

I wanted the back plate of the snap to sit down tight so I counter sunk the back side ever so slightly with a quite large drill bit to help it seat.

 

 

 

Here is what it look like with a snap installed

 

 

These strips are all drilled and countersunk and ready to cut the plates

 

 

 

First one done!

 

 

A bunch more. Probably not enough to finish but will get me started. The double ones (4 pcs) are for the shoulder straps

 

 

I cannot recall the final conclusion but I recall that one issue was that the metal with E6000 could cause issues the plastic material. So to isolate the back of the snap I used a small square of Tuck tape.

 

 

A bit tedious to do but I want it to be perfect. That's all for those. Next up mounting the plates....

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Glad to see you back at this build.

 

You can recess the snaps into the plates with a little heat.

 

 

 

[MadMax]

So here are all the armor sections ready to roll.

 

 

First up the chest plate. Here you can see how narrow I have my return edges.

 

 

Should snap plates installed. I haven't done the lower ones yet that connect to the abb section. Still figuring out the best place to put those.

 

 

 

Posterior plate next

 

 

 

 

Back plate

 

 

 

 

 

Kidney plate

 

 

 

 

Abb plate

 

 

 

 

 

Front pieces

 

 

Back pieces

 

 

Figure I am in pretty good shape with these now. Just a few minor things to finish up and I can start the strapping

 

 

 

 

[MadMax]

2 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Glad to see you back at this build.

 

You can recess the snaps into the plates with a little heat.

 

 

 

Thanks. Yeah, I remember seeing that but it made me nervous to get on them with enough heat to get them down. I think I tried one and I didn't like how it turned out. I was able to get them pretty flat so I am happy with them for now.

 

Cheers

[MadMax]

One of the last things I did before my hiatus was to work on the backs of the shins to get them to line up. So I taped them all up to hold them in place while with the intention of giving them the hot water treatment. Well, I got the taping done but never got around to the bath part. And then they sat for 4 years like this.

 

 

 

 

Well, it seems like holding them in that position for so long worked just as well as the bath. I took the tape off and they are almost perfect!

 

 

 

 

I do have a question on the next step that I am hoping another Anovos builder can help with. I am planning to use the velcro for the rear closure of the shins and I am wondering what a good overlap is for the cover strip. The velcro provided is quite wide so I don't think it can be use as is. The cover strip is 25mm wide. The hook side of the velcro is 20mm wide and the loop side is 25mm wide. So obviously some trimming of the velcro is needed to prevent it from being seen once installed. So what is a good overlap? Should I center the cover strip on the back seam of teh shins and trim the velco to suit or is it better to have a bit more overhang of the cover strip to allow for more velcro material? I tried looking up other build but did not find anything definitive. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

 

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Glad to see you pick this back up!

[tat2trooper[TK]]

Yea I went and purchased some new Velcro. The one that comes with the kit is pretty flimsy and crappy. 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

On 3/28/2021 at 2:15 PM, MadMax said:

One of the last things I did before my hiatus was to work on the backs of the shins to get them to line up. So I taped them all up to hold them in place while with the intention of giving them the hot water treatment. Well, I got the taping done but never got around to the bath part. And then they sat for 4 years like this.

 

 

 

 

Well, it seems like holding them in that position for so long worked just as well as the bath. I took the tape off and they are almost perfect!

 

 

 

 

I do have a question on the next step that I am hoping another Anovos builder can help with. I am planning to use the velcro for the rear closure of the shins and I am wondering what a good overlap is for the cover strip. The velcro provided is quite wide so I don't think it can be use as is. The cover strip is 25mm wide. The hook side of the velcro is 20mm wide and the loop side is 25mm wide. So obviously some trimming of the velcro is needed to prevent it from being seen once installed. So what is a good overlap? Should I center the cover strip on the back seam of teh shins and trim the velco to suit or is it better to have a bit more overhang of the cover strip to allow for more velcro material? I tried looking up other build but did not find anything definitive. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

 

 

When I use velcro I use roughly 1/4 - 3/8" wide strips, any more then that is overkill IMHO. This allows for half the cover strip to be fixed, the other half free floating for the velcro. 

Note: Use industrial strength velcro. What also worked best for me was taking some 3m Scotch Brite pad to scuff the mounting area, then mineral spirits to remove any remaining dust or body oils. 

 

 

 

[MadMax]

Thanks all for the feedback and encouragement. I appreciate it.

 

Glad to hear the rear strip centered is the way to go. Not doing that would have driven me crazy. Will definitely look into the velcro upgrade. 

 

More to come.

 

Cheers

 

 

[MadMax]

So I bought this to take care of the floppy Anovos belt. Stay tuned.....not only do I have an idea, but I have a plan!