TanRu's Anovos ANH TK

[TanRu[TK]]

I was able to get an Anovos TK from a garrison member who decided he didn't have time for it. I'm really psyched to be building a TK, now that I have some armoring experience from doing my TIE pilot.  I'm starting off as ANH Stunt, probably moving to HWT after that.

 

Reference materials gathered! I'll be using ukswrath's build guide of course, as well as various build threads and youtube videos. I always like to be able to go to a video since you can often get a lot more information from a moving video than a still.

 

 

 

Step one was to don the Anovos-provided hard hat.

 

 

I got all the rough trimming done this weekend. The markings Anovos provides made this go very quickly for the most part. The only parts I had to look at reference for were the button boxes and the right shoulder bell.

 

 

Now the real work of fitting, measuring, and trimming begins!

[magni[TK]]

Good Luck with the build Mike! Glad to hear you're interested in going HWT! We could always use more in the Advanced Tactics section!

[Kacrut[501st]]

Good luck with your build,..... I just remember a movie "cone head" LOL!.

[TanRu[TK]]

Not a ton to report since rough trimming. Mostly I've been reading build threads over and over to psych myself up, but last night I decided I had to just get going. I started fitting the forearms and trimming the butt connections for the cover strips. 

 

Man, these old eyes are having a hard time marking 7.5 mm with a ruler! I didn't think of my calipers until I'd shut down for the night, oh well. I'll use them when I do the biceps and the rest.

 

I'm also working on a blaster conversion and a TK Talkie, and I plan to do ukswrath's mic tips as well. 

Edited December 2, 2016 by TanRu

[TanRu[TK]]

I just had a brainstorm: I'm going to 3d print a shape that's 7.5mm on one side, 10mm on another, and 12.5mm on another, and use it for measuring half-widths of cover strips. Or maybe make it 15 x 20 x 25 with a notch at the halfway point. Hmmm...

[allan1313[TK]]

That would make it pretty easy.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[TanRu[TK]]

Here it is. Just a block with 3 different length sides and a notch in the center of each. I think this is going to help a lot.

 

[TanRu[TK]]

Started working on the forearms. Put on my gloves and undersuit for a test fit. I trimmed some off, but I have super skinny arms - if I made it really fit I think all that would be left is the raised rectangles haha. If it looks like I am swimming I can always pad it.

 

Put the first 2 cover strips on, being super conservative until I have a better feel for working with E6000 and juggling the pieces. I did half on each arm at a time. 

 

I came across kman's build thread, and his pictures made a lightbulb go on for me. There's a few where he's got magnets on the inside and washers on the outside. I never thought of doing that, but it makes a lot of sense. I had problems with magnets flipping on me when I was putting my TIE chestbox together, and this would have resolved that. I've also started marking the poles of my magnets, so that should help too.

 

As of last night, left forearm is done, right forearm the second cover strip is curing in place.  2 seconds after I took this picture, I said to myself "Wait, did I take the plastic off the cover strip?!" Pulled everything off, and... yes, I did take the plastic off. Duh. Wiped off all the E6000, and redid it.

 

I am not doing the interior cover strips some have done. When I did the second cover strip on each forearm, I taped it up from the inside and was glued both sides to the cover strip at once. Worked fine and the tape came right off. I'll try the same thing when I move on to the initial biceps cover strips and see if I can save myself 24 hours of waiting.

 

[TanRu[TK]]

OK, here's my first screwup. I guess the cover strip slid around while I was clamping and magneting, and wound up way off center. So the outer forearm is fine, but the inner had very little to grab onto. When I took of the clamps and magnets, the inner just let go.

 

I'm thinking my options at this point are:

- try again as-is

- pry off cover strip, sand and pick off E6000, start over

- put some kind of reinforcement on the inner side to hold it to the outer, basically an inner cover strip I guess

- trim off some of the outer side to expose more of the cover strip and try again. would still involve getting the E6000 off somehow

- other?

 

Any ideas, I'm all ears.

 

[Daetrin[Admin]]

Try again and use an interior strip for reinforcement *could* work, but removing, sanding, and re-doing is probably ab better long term solution.

 

FWIW, my suggestion is to always Velcro the interior side of the limbs until you have trooped a few times. Biceps are usually fine, but the forearms and thighs in particular are very easy to screw up. You can also use tape instead internally, but as a GML the forearms & thighs are the 2 areas most in need of adjustment that people only discover after everything is glued. Then the moaning begins.

 

My $.02 - fitting you well during tests fittings does not work the same as actually going out and trooping a few times.

[TanRu[TK]]

No exciting pictures, but I wanted to post this anyhow to keep track of my progress. Last week, a member of my garrison hosted another armor party. I showed him what I'd done so far and what my problems were. I decided to keep my armor sized the way it was and pad the arms, since a TK with little toothpick arms would look silly.

 

He trimmed my shins and thighs and I spent most of the day doing internal cover strips. Leaving them out on the forearms was a bad idea - I added one to the problem forearm, and will go back and reinforce the other forearm seams. Using PVC cement, I was able to get the biceps 3/4 done, and shins and thighs 1/2 done, all in one day.

 

Another member banged out a ton of snaps for me, so I'm ready to start putting those down. We also got the snaps for the taint strap set.

 

The last bicep seams are setting now, and then I'll be able to move on to the legs.

 

[TanRu[TK]]

Lots of progress this weekend, thanks to my garrison mates.

 

It turns out that the shins were mislabeled and misassembled. We took them apart (there was some blood shed), and I think we've got it figured out now after trying all the different combinations!

 

We got the butt and kidney connected, kidney and back connected. Shoulder straps and torso done. Arms are done and bicep hooks are in. Thighs are closed up, and shins just need cover strips and velcro. We took the top 2 screws out of the belt and patched the holes.

 

Question about ab to kidney connection: if I'm not going for EIB/Centurion, I don't need the rivets, right? If that's the case, what's the best way to connect with snaps? Should I do individual snaps and elastic, or should I do a solid strip of elastic down the seams with snaps on both sides?

 

Any tips (and diagrams and photos) appreciated!

 

There's still a lot of little stuff to do, but I'm starting to see the finish line.