Brittany's Anovos ANH Stunt Build

[kittyvangogh]

Hi Everyone!

My name is Brittany and this will be my first 501st build (but not my first experience with costuming).  I first saw Star Wars 20 years ago, and always thought the bad guys are armor were the best (forget Barbie, twelve-year-old me wanted Boba Fett instead).  After reading all about the 501st community and the wonderful work they do, I immediately began researching options for Stormtrooper armor and placed my order for the Anovos kit in August 2016.  I knew the wait would be long, but that it would give me a chance to get all the tools and other little things I would need to build the kit to Centurion specifications right from the start.

While waiting on the kit to arrive, I ordered a pair of TK Boots and began breaking them in.  I tried out a few undersuits and finally settled on the EastBay Evapor line.  I got my neck seal from Darman's Props, ordered the E-11 and DLT-19 from Hyperfirm, and picked up some latex hand guards from TrooperBay.   I also spent countless hours reading the Anovos Builders FB page, the FISD forums, and UKSWRATH's Anovos build.  

 

After nine months of waiting, the BBB finally arrived this week.

 

 

So much plastic (and so much trimming that will have to be done to get this to fit m 5' 7" frame).  Happy to see Anovos left the belt unassembled for this run--mounting everything on a better canvas belt will be soooo much easier than I anticipated after reading other build threads.

 

 

No over-spray on the frown (this one seems to have the opposite problem).  No hard-hat liner, instead they lined the inside with velcro (seriously, the inside is 90% cheap velcro) and included a set of helmet pads.  It looks like they used a different mesh on the hovi tips  (not nearly as fine as I had seen included on the kits from last year's Anovos shipments).   

 

 

Now to find the time this week to actually start building

[Shanester[TK]]

Wow, you are not messing around.  Good luck.  I look forward to seeing your progress.  I will be in Austin this November, so I may need some recommendations.

[swibowoj[TK]]

Hello and Welcome to FISD

Good luck with your build, I believe ANOVOS kit after approved for Level 1, with some tweaks and adjustment you can reach level 2 (EI) and level 3 (Centurion)

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/113-advanced-tactics/

[68Brick[TK]]

Happy BBB Day Brittany!

[daryldoak[TK]]

Nice to see Anovos has made some improvements since the original kits.

[tydirium1[TK]]

Happy BBB day. I can't wait for mine to get here. I'm assuming they send them out in order that they were placed. So, I probably won't get mine until fall. Exciting to see that others are getting theirs and started on their builds. Good luck on your build.

[kittyvangogh]

I was determined to get started on something this week, so I opted to begin cleaning up the inside of the helmet.  The velcro, foam, and felt-covered-mesh on the frown all need to go (I will eventually be replacing the visor, ear screws, and adding plasti-dip to the interior).

 

 

The velcro came out with little effort (just peeled each piece off slowly).  

 

 

The foam pieces on the visor are covering the ear and mounting screws, and looked like this underneath

 

It looked like the foam pieces had their own adhesive, but just to be safe Anovos added the entire contents of a hot glue gun on each one    Working slowly, I was able to peel most of the glue out.  It seems to have reacted badly with the helmet material in one spot (too hot when applied), but since I'll be lightly sanding anyway before adding the Plasti-Dip, I'm not too concerned.

 

Here's the final result after removing the screen on the frown, and the felt covering it.  Lots of little fuzzy bits left behind, along with more adhesive. 

 

 

End result after all the peeling and cleaning.  I was able to remove most of the fuzzy trooper 'stache with a paper towel and warm water.

 

 

Hoping I'll have time this weekend to starting cutting out the armor pieces. 

[rwbowri[TK]]

looking good on the helmet. there, good choice on the TK boots, I have them and love them. 

[kittyvangogh]

It was a rainy weekend here in Texas, so I spent all of Saturday doing the first round of trimming on the armor pieces.

 

 

 

Started by marking the cut lines on each piece with a China Marker.  

 

 

 

Setting up my work area:  cutting mat, Husky utility knife, lexan scissors, and safety glasses

 

 

 

Scoring, snapping, and cutting

 

 

 

It took all day, but the first round of trimming is done.

Edited June 25, 2017 by kittyvangogh

[kittyvangogh]

It's been a busy week, but I found some time to work on the armor.

 

Here's a test fit of the Ab, Chest, Back, Kidney, and Butt 

 

 

Everything is held together with velcro for the test fitting (I will be replacing the velcro with snap plates once I'm confident that the fit is correct).   Happy that the back/kidney/butt all line up correctly, and I won't have to shorten any of the pieces.   The return edges are trimmed to 1/8" on all pieces, except for the top of the Ab plate, where I had to remove the return edge completely.  The ANOVOS belt is huge on me, but I have a replacement on the way from Imperial Issue.

 

Other than the sagging butt plate (my velcro placement wasn't quite right), does anyone see any fit issues?  I'm hoping to get these pieces correctly fitted before working on the arms and legs, since I'll have to trim the length on most of the pieces to get them to fit.  

 

Thanks in advance for any advice/tips!

 

 

[TheSwede[TK]]

Looking good, keep it up

[rwbowri[TK]]

looking good there continue having fun.

[kittyvangogh]

I've been alternating working on the helmet and armor the past few weeks.

 

I started with cleaning up the teeth.  Anovos left a lot of extra material between the teeth, so I used small file set to reshape everything and open up the spaces between the teeth.

You can see the before (left) and after (right) in the photo below.  

 

 

The eyes also got a quick sanding to smooth out a few places.  After sanding, I disassembled the helmet to prepare it for plasti-dip and replacing the brow trim, lenses, and ear screws.  The Anovos brow trim was about 1.5" too short, so it will be replaced with one from Trooper Bay (you can see in the top photo the difference in length).  The Anovos ear screws are close, but I'm still going to replace them with #6 machine screws.

 

 

I've also been working on the leg armor.  I started with the thighs and after test fitting them with the body armor, decided to only trim the backs.  I ended up taking at least 2" off the top of the back pieces.  Here's a comparison of the cut vs. uncut pieces (and the final cuts are even deeper than shown here, I just didn't get an updated comparison pic).

 

 

After getting the thighs trimmed, I added the shin pieces and tried everything on.  

 

I'm very happy with the fit and even happier that I started with the body armor first.  When I was first cutting out the pieces, I was certain I would need to trim the width and length of the leg pieces, but it turned out that trimming was only necessary on the backs of the thighs.  The shins will need some padding to keep them from sliding around, but everything looks proportional.  I kept a 1/8" return edge on all of the leg pieces, except for the bottom of the shins (removed completely).

[TKFilms7770[501st]]

Looks REALLY good. Keep it up!

 

I'm still on the fence about plasti-dipping the helmet. What factors helped you decide that's what you wanted to do?

[kittyvangogh]

1 hour ago, TKFilms7770 said:

Looks REALLY good. Keep it up!

 

I'm still on the fence about plasti-dipping the helmet. What factors helped you decide that's what you wanted to do?

Thanks!  

 

I kept seeing the Plasti-Dip mentioned over and over, and the benefits seem to be worth the $5 in materials and extra hour of work.  The helmet is thin and lets in a lot of light, and this sounds like a good way to cut down on that and dampen some of the echo.  Personally, I also love the way it looks--it's what I would expect inside of a stormtrooper's helmet to look like, especially with the electronics added. 

[TKFilms7770[501st]]

Yeah. That was what I was leaning towards as well - great reasons. I think I can hear the Emperor's approval now:

 

 

[rwbowri[TK]]

I used plastic dip on my helmet and it did cut down on the light and it does look more awesome when you look at the inside now. 

[kittyvangogh]

Spent the weekend finishing up the thighs.  Sanded everything smooth and purchased a plastic "no parking" sign from Home Depot to make inner cover strips (I probably had enough scrap ABS to make inner strips, but this was much quicker).

 

 

Tape the thigh pieces together, add glue to the cover strip, and clamp.  Allow 24 hours to dry.

 

 

Once the inner strips were dry, I removed the painters tape and attached the front cover strips.  After another 24 hours, thighs are assembled.

  

 

[TheSwede[TK]]

Looking good! and very organized 

[Shanester[TK]]

You're getting there.  Those thighs look a lot like mine.  I trimmed a lot of the back top area.

[kittyvangogh]

Worked on the Biceps this weekend.  They were huge on my arms, so I ended up trimming around 1" from the overall length, and 1/2" from the circumference.  Here's a comparison pic of the trimmed piece vs. the original.

 

 

Glued inner cover strips, allowed to dry, then glued outer cover strips. 

 

 

 

[Addertime[TK]]

Being tidy and organized makes the whole job move smoothly. You're doing excellent work!

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

Great work so far. 

Edited July 26, 2017 by Novak Dimon

[68Brick[TK]]

Nice Work on those biceps!

[kittyvangogh]

Finished up the Biceps by adding hooks for the shoulder elastic.  I cut some scrap ABS into rectangles, taped to a wooden paint stirrer, heated with a hair dryer, and bent to shape.  

 

 

 

Attached the ammo pack to the right thigh.  Used the split rivets supplied by Anovos.

 

 

 

I've been waiting for a break in the humidity so that I could plasti-dip the helmet, and finally got one this past weekend.  I started by disassembling the helmet and taping around the edges, eyes, and teeth.

 

I used a 1" foam brush to apply the first layer of plasti-dip (no photos, it was hot and I was trying to spend as little time as possible outside).  For the second and third layers, I just poured the plasti-dip directly into the helmet and tilted it to get a more even coating (and used the brush in the raised areas).  I removed the painter's tape 20 minutes after the last coat was applied (left image), and let it sit outside all day to help with the odor.  After 24 hours, I went over the teeth and eyes with an X-acto knife and mineral spirits to clean up any overflow (right image).  

  

 

Helmet is mostly reassembled (still need to put in the new lens and frown mesh), new brow trim installed, and teeth have been repainted.

 

 

Shins have been fitted and sanded--I'm just waiting on the cover strips to dry (apply inner, wait 24 hours, apply outer, wait 24 hours).  

 

I missed taking pictures of the forearm trimming and fitting--I had to remove 1" from the circumference (top and bottom) and was too focused on not messing anything up.  They are also at the assembly stage (apply inner strips, wait 24 hours, apply outer strips, wait 24 hours).   

 

Some version of this has been going on for the last two weeks.

 

 

I'm hoping that I'll be ready for at least basic approval by the end of this month.  I just finished up my corporate job and I'm back to being self-employed, so I will actually have free time again.

 

 

Thank you to everyone for the kind words and encouragement!

Edited October 1, 2017 by kittyvangogh