ANOVOS (DENUO NOVO) FOTK Armor Delivery Possibility

[themaninthesuitcase[Admin]]

I’m assuming they are still going with the shoulder hinge design as seen on the Tested videos. So yeah it’s going to need bridging, then filling and painting for clearance. I’m expecting a few grumpy new people when they find out that.

[Ensi[TK]]

4 hours ago, themaninthesuitcase said:

I’m assuming they are still going with the shoulder hinge design as seen on the Tested videos. So yeah it’s going to need bridging, then filling and painting for clearance. I’m expecting a few grumpy new people when they find out that.

 

Why though? Is it vacuumforming limits? How were the alpha/beta suits made?

[Peregrinus]

They also had the split front and back. Yeah, vacu-forming can only handle so much undercut before the formed piece binds to the buck. Check out Tony's build thread. It's the gold standard for early-gen ANOVOS FOTK kit assessment. This is looking to have much, much less that needs to be done to get things to line up and cooperate. I love the clear cut lines (not that many will need to be used, as they're doing all the trimming on the pre-order batch before shipping). But since no one makes these out of the proprietary rubbery material used in the films, they can't cast the entire yoke as one piece. I'm not disappointed, as I was expecting this. I figure some of the behind-the-scenes stuff ANOVOS was dealing with was trying to find someway to eliminate that join. It'll always be a weak point, regardless of how well it's reinforced and blended. I've got a set of Tony's shoulder braces, and plan to reinforce the return edge to minimize flexing specifically within that one square inch.

 

And even then I'm grateful I'm doing a Cardinal, as I'll have the cape to hide any inevitable wear and stress in that location.

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Pre-trimmed does mean less scraps for making paste unfortunately.

[Peregrinus]

Personally, I'm not too concerned about that. To make sure materials match, I'm going to use the bits I cut out for my more-accurate-than-the-film-version cutouts on the belt boxes, forearms, chest, etc. It shouldn't take much. But even should that not pan out, I have scrap styrene, HIPS, HDPE, ABS, PVC, various acrylics and polycarbonates... Plus there is usually a plastics supplier or signmaker near most people who have plenty of scrap if one wants to help them get rid of some of their trash. *heh* And I can only speak for me, but if someone on here found themselves short of scrap plastic to use for this, I'd gladly send them some that I would otherwise eventually throw out. *shrug*

[mikidymac[TK]]

Well, it appears that they can't even update their delivery schedule at this point. It still says Spring/Summer 2018 which ended on September 21. No news is Anovos news.......

 

Edited September 27, 2018 by mikidymac

[Harbinger[IPM]]

They sent out an email about a week ago, if you didn't get it read further up the thread. TLDR is that it'll start shipping out by April of next year.

[bear0902[501st]]

They sent out an email about a week ago, if you didn't get it read further up the thread. TLDR is that it'll start shipping out by April of next year.

April ?!?! Next year ?!?! Really wow I did not see that I thought they said one month lol I misunderstood completely then


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[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

On ‎9‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 9:51 PM, Ensi said:

 

Why though? Is it vacuumforming limits? How were the alpha/beta suits made?

The Alpha Beta kits join on the top edge of the back plate, there is a strengthening piece under neath with glued to both. Because of the join it must then be filled and painted, something I asked Anovos about multiple times when they said the new kits wouldn’t need painting, could never get a straight answer on how they achieved that and what they changed the only reply was “they won’t need paint”. If it is indeed the hinge system on the shoulders then it would need gluing and filling so paint would need applying.

 

You can only vacform on pieces that have an outwards tapper, you can’t pull down and onwards or you will never get the pulled piece off the mold. Hence they came up with the join hinge (if in fact it is a hinge).

 

You would think with ex 501st members involved in their business that they would know about the CRL’s and how costumes need to replicate those on screen.

 

You would also think with all the issues will late delivery on the beta kits that they would of learned but no, their customer service is even worse.

 

im not sure why they won’t come clean and inform everyone exactly what the hold up is and when they will actually be delivered. You can’t keep stringing people along, they will only take so much.

 

i can see Anovos having a sale on these kits once they finally become available, by the sounds of all the cancellations they’ll be stuck with a lot of them. 

 

 

[mikidymac[TK]]

I spoke with a supervisor and he stated there have actually been only a very few cancellations. Remember it’s not just us in the 501st buying them.


As far as shipping they estimated to complete all shipping by April 2019, not beginning in April was my understanding.

[Reno_Geek]

I canceled a month ago and am still waiting for the check.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

2 hours ago, mikidymac said:

I spoke with a supervisor and he stated there have actually been only a very few cancellations. Remember it’s not just us in the 501st buying them.

Yer and what did you expect them to say  I know A LOT of people who have pulled out.

 

How many cancelled runs of helmets and armor have they done now, anyone remember the Death Trooper, they don't make anything unless there is money in the bank and looks like that money is quickly running away.

[mikidymac[TK]]

13 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Yer and what did you expect them to say  I know A LOT of people who have pulled out.

 

How many cancelled runs of helmets and armor have they done now, anyone remember the Death Trooper, they don't make anything unless there is money in the bank and looks like that money is quickly running away.

I am willing to wait and see. If they have a blowout sale because of too much stock at some point that is fine with me too and I'll grab a couple for spare parts.

 

The way I see it is I'm not in a big hurry and Anovos has always delivered at some point and if they cancel I will get my money back at some point too. So, yes I am out the money until they deliver or cancel but if $700 was a big issue in my income I would have never bought it in the first place.

 

In the meantime I am enjoying my ANH TK.

Edited September 28, 2018 by mikidymac

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

6 hours ago, mikidymac said:

I am willing to wait and see. If they have a blowout sale because of too much stock at some point that is fine with me too and I'll grab a couple for spare parts.

 

The way I see it is I'm not in a big hurry and Anovos has always delivered at some point and if they cancel I will get my money back at some point too. So, yes I am out the money until they deliver or cancel but if $700 was a big issue in my income I would have never bought it in the first place.

 

In the meantime I am enjoying my ANH TK.

Many still are happy to wait and nobody is suggesting everyone pulls out, it would just be nice if for once Anovos could get their act together and actually tell the truth on when they will deliver this long awaited product, many have already missed trooping at one movie and don't want to miss the last one in this trilogy 

[ImperialMarine778]

Hmm I still haven't seen any official announcements besides the email they sent.  So from what it sounds like, they will begin shipping the first wave on November?  Also, by "fine-tune" in their statement, that is towards the metal molds?  I thought that their samples are already posted, so all they need to do now is begin fulfilling the orders?  Hopefully an expert armorer and/or anybody can clarify to me what they mean by "fine-tune".  Please let me know what "fine tune" means and how long that itself would actually take outside of their statement.  For an armorer, after the molds are done, are there any other steps that could possibly delay the process further?

 

P.S. I know that the standard kit does not come with the neck seal, gloves, and boots, and gluing material to assemble it.  But does it come with the belt pouches, belt, and greebles?  Does the standard kit provide the ribbed connectors between the armor or how are those parts used?  How about fasteners, buckles, etc needed to put the armor together? Does  belt suspensions and undersuit belt to suspend the thigh pieces, or anything to connect the pieces when donning on the armor, or anything else come with the kit? I never got a straight forward answer from the website chat regarding what the standard kit actually comes with, except that it doesn't come with boots, gloves, undersuit and neck seal.........

 

Much thanks

Edited October 2, 2018 by ImperialMarine778

[Peregrinus]

Fine-tuning in this case means methods of use with the steel bucks, and with how the pieces are prepped. That forearm piece had a minor tear in the plastic -- don't know if that came from pulling it off when it was still too warm, or at the wrong angle, or if it got overstressed in trimming, or what. But something went wrong, there. I'd rather they get that sort of thing straightened out before committing.

 

And yeah, the kit comes with shoulder, elbow, and knee gaskets, belt, and pouches. How good they all are we'll have to wait and see. But as far as I know,  no strapping or buckles or other such stuff.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I contacted Anovos support as GML for some of our garrison members and asked exactly when these kits will be shipped, I didn't get an exact answer I just got a generic mail out which appears others had already received, incidentally they didn't attach any images. Looks like some will still be waiting until just before Celebration 2019:

 

"Sorry if you did not get this update.  this is only the words and dose nto inculded the cool photos

 

Dear Valued Customer,
As Summer draws to a close, we wanted to send you an informative update chock full of pictures of what we’ve done to bring you the ultimate replica set of armor. In the past, our updates have just grazed the surface of the amount of effort that’s gone into designing and coming to final creation of this armor. This update provides a broader picture of our manufacturing process and allows us to finally bring you into the last steps of our journey together.

With that said, we would be remiss if we didn’t continually thank you and be 100% appreciative of the support you’ve given us over our time together. There are no words that can possibly match how we feel as a company towards you and we only hope that our final product not only matches but surpasses your expectations, as it has ours. We can say with confidence that our final product surpasses any prototype we’ve ever displayed publicly.
 

The Summer Update
We have wonderful news! The five-month process of “cutting steel” is finally over, which is typically the longest point of a manufacturing process of this nature.

You may be asking yourself two things: What does that mean? Why steel?
Some backstory here to give some reference: Before we made the decision to cut steel, ANOVOS manufacturing had a process of using conventional vacuum-form moulds consisted of fiberglass with steel elements. While this process takes about three months to create, the results were less than stellar when we received the first samples. Though many of the pieces were passable, it was a process that led to significant degradation over time and something we didn’t feel comfortable with due to inconsistencies throughout the run.

The use of our conventional vacuum-form moulds would mean that Trooper #1 could potentially get a different product than Trooper #10,001. The biggest culprit for this was the uneven transfer of heat across complex surface curvatures particular to this armor, despite the metal elements to help conduct the heat throughout.

Therefore, after careful deliberation — and much hesitation for yet another massive delay — we opted to cut moulds out of full metal and eliminate the fiberglass elements completely. That means that all the hard armor parts across the whole body. By doing so, we would get the best heat conductivity possible, thereby creating a smooth consistent surface from Trooper #1 to #10,001. The end results have been amazing and large surface warpage (particularly for larger pieces, such as the chest and abdomen) have all been eliminated. Additionally, we engineered all of the pieces of this armor to minimize final assembly time.

The trade-off is, of course, the five-month delay (which is done) and another month to fine tune (where we are now). Once this fine-tuning is approved, the armor will begin manufacturing.

We are delighted to share with you the pictures of our first set of ‘raw’ pulls from the molds. We are now dialing in the final critiques with the aim of even sharper armor than what you see here.

As promised, we are still intending on saving you massive amounts of time by pre-trimming the excess plastic and, for those of you worried about sizing, you will still be able to appropriately size the armor to you within most standard body types. The cutting will be performed by a five-axis machine, which will ensure a clean, precision cut.  (This is a feature that will be no charge to be only included in this run of the armor, as one of our many tokens of appreciation for your patience and understanding.)
In addition to that, you will now have the ability to use the provided armor to tailor your build to either The Last Jedi or The Force Awakens style armor.

Lastly, with this final adjustment in manufacturing, it means we will be pushing the first wave of delivery out one more season to get these final pieces out to you. We will then send out successive waves with aimed completion before Celebration 2019.

We hope that by providing you with these pictures, and this more specific and detailed update, we can mitigate any concerns you have about the completion of this project. Very few of you have left this project and we cannot possibly be more indebted to you, who’ve stayed for your kindness and understanding. We hope the initial savings you had at the beginning (the final prices will be multifold higher) coupled with the time savings from the precision trim will begin to makeup for the time it took to perfect this product, and ultimately restore your excitement to when you finally receive these.
Sincerest Regards,

Joe Beaudoin Jr.
Product Development Manager"

[Harbinger[IPM]]

My only ‘concern’ (as it would only effect us accuracy junkies) is this is ostensibly a TFA kit but that looks like a Last Jedi cod, which may cause issues with L3 out of the box.

[ImperialMarine778]

Ok thanks so much.  Also I noticed how the message says "aimed completion before Celebration 2019." I really do not mean to be skeptical, but every time new delay gets sent, it is always with "aimed", or "anticipated", or any other combination of guestimate words that wouldn't require them to obligate to what they say.  I chatted with them through their website multiple times and those words are nothing new to me.  Also, it alarms me that they talked about doing the steel molds with us on one of the delay updates way before they did this one.  And besides pictures to prove that these pieces are actually being made to some unknown capacity, I'm having difficulty finding the difference between this update and the one they posted a long time ago.  What I am saying is, has Anovos actually been working on manufacturing this kit, or is this just a more detailed version of the same update we got before?  

 

I understand the complexity in making these kits with the steel molds, but that doesn't justify the allowance of infinite time.  No such business exists and is allowed to fulfill their orders "whenever they get to it", except this one apparently.  Since 2016, a solid deadline has never been set nor stated, and a worst-case scenario has never been projected or expressed.  All orders of anything on this planet have a solid deadline, not as many delays at their discretion.  And when delays like that happen in real life, then customers always get compensated (by $$).  For this particular order, neither of those are happening either.  

 

Even with all the various armorers and vendors I've looked up and heard stories from, the latest fulfillment time I ever heard was 6 months, and nothing like this.  For this Anovos vendor, I'm really sorry but I truly feel something is not right, at least with this specific order.  Sure all other orders got fulfilled by Anovos for other products before.  But whoever is in charge of this particular order, something doesn't seem right.  And I haven't got any real reason from them for the delay on updating the shipping calendar.   

 

Also, for some unknown reason, their shipping calendar on their website still hasn't been updated to reflect this announcement that they sent to all of us.  Literally nothing has been updated since June officially, and even this doesn't usually happen on Anovos.  

 

Can some expert on this matter please investigate into this situation further?  I am very concerned with the particular situation for this order from them.  And I think for this particular order, someone needs to have a special look into it.  

 

Thanks so much!

 

 

 

P.S. If possible, can anyone theorize what possible scenario out there would allow these items, especially the standard kit, to get shipped before the end of this year?  

 

Edited October 12, 2018 by ImperialMarine778

[themaninthesuitcase[Admin]]

2 hours ago, ImperialMarine778 said:

P.S. If possible, can anyone theorize what possible scenario out there would allow these items, especially the standard kit, to get shipped before the end of this year?

No, if they were going to start shipping to customers in the next two months they would know by now as they'd already be loading up the containers to ship from china to the US.  Shipping that many big boxes is going to take time.

[Artshot]

I've been reading the posts and continuing fiasco that is Anovos and there false promises and delivery dates for what feels like years now, and one question keeps popping up in my head.

 

"why is Disney not doing/looking into this?"

 

After granting Anovos the license, surely this has got to be an embarrassment to them on how there treating dedicated fans of there property, or is it such a small blip, it's not even on there radar.

 

I should say, I don't own, have anything on order, or plan to order anything from Anovos, but that was initially down to there unrealistic shipping prices.

[themaninthesuitcase[Admin]]

1 hour ago, Artshot said:

"why is Disney not doing/looking into this?"

I counter with, why do you assume they aren't?  For all we know Disney is giving Anovos a massive amount of grief behind the scenes.  They already pulled the sales from the parks.

[bear0902[501st]]

I counter with, why do you assume they aren't?  For all we know Disney is giving Anovos a massive amount of grief behind the scenes.  They already pulled the sales from the parks.

I was wondering about that lol I work here and was wondering if they pulled it yet haven’t been to launch bay in a bit so didn’t know they pulled it


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[Daetrin[Admin]]

It can be unclear how much can be said, but I can say for certain that ANOVOS is getting grief from Disney.  There are a lot of rumors floating around as to what that explicitly means, but for certain the mouse is not happy.

[Artshot]

26 minutes ago, themaninthesuitcase said:

I counter with, why do you assume they aren't?  For all we know Disney is giving Anovos a massive amount of grief behind the scenes.  They already pulled the sales from the parks.

Good Point.

It is unlikely they would want there dirty laundry aired in public.