Harbinger's first build - ANH Stunt (ANOVOS) [Centurion Approved!]

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Hello fellow troopers, I picked up an (mostly) unassembled Anovos TK kit a few days ago (it'd been sitting in a box for over a year), and am now in the process of trying to put it together for TLJ premier (or Battlefront II if I can get it finished early!).

 

I am planning on building to Centurion standards "out of the box" to make subsequent EIB/Centurion approvals easier, so please chime in where appropriate if it seems like I'm doing something that'll cause trouble down the road.

 

 

Also picked up quite a few tools/items for the build:

- Flexible hand guards, rivets, and screws from Joseph

- White elastic in two sizes for shoulder assembly

- Tandy line 24 snaps (to replace el cheapo ones in kit)

- Punches and rivet tools

- Neodymium magnets

- Foam tap for shimming/padding/fitment (if needed)

- E6000

- (not pictured) a bunch o' Harbor Freight clamps

- (not pictured) sandpaper in various grit sizes, NOVUS polish

 

Also have some mic tip mesh on order, and will be ordering boots and a blaster sometime soon...

 

Let the build begin!

Edited February 9, 2018 by Harbinger

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looks like you have been doing some research, that's good to see. Good luck with the build, looking forward to the progress

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Playing some catch up, worked on disassembling the Anovos belt a couple days back:

 

First I put down some painter's tape to help keep the plastic from getting too messed up:

 

Then off came the rivets:

 

And finally I removed the rivet caps... sadly (and I was too busy bleeding to take pictures!) I destroyed two of the three covers during removal, as well as quite a bit of damage to the belt and my thumb. This is a photo after the first round of ABS paste was applied:

 

Afterwards I made some reinforcement strips from a for sale sign and glued/clamped them:

 

That's it for now. Still need to sand/polish the front side, punch holes in the TKittell belt and re-assemble (thankfully I was able to source some replacement rivet covers from ATA).

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Today's focus was on cleaning up/upgrading the helmet.

 

First I cleaned up the corners of the teeth, removed the overspray and repainted them.

 

 

Meanwhile, I spray-painted Joseph's replacement ear screws (with a rather expensive screw-mounting apparatus!), then installed them. I also removed some of the excessive return edge of the eyes and painted the rims of the mic tips white. I'll replace the mesh with the screen-accurate one once that arrives:

 

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Got the rest of the 'core' pieces trimmed and did a test fit - not perfect since I just used tape to hold it all together... feedback on fitment would be appreciated:

 

Also was able to finish up repairing the front of the belt - here it is after cleaning up the glue, a final round of sanding and polish, and punching new holes for the rivets:

 

Much progress was made on the thermal detonator, as well (picture heavy, so will be separate post).

Edited October 30, 2017 by Harbinger
Larger photos!

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Thermal detonator progress!

 

First up, I had to cut a little over 1/4" off the supplied Anovos tube, as it made the assembled TD too long.

 

Afterwards, I sanded/tapered one end of the tube so I can easily removed the end cap (for storage, electronics, etc... haven't really figured it out yet!):

 

Then I measured and marked the placement for the control panel and masked off and sanded where it was going to go for better glue adhesion:

 

Then I glued the control panel to the tube with E6000 and lots of magnets, clamps and rubber bands (pro tip, rubber bands from produce like broccoli are great for this):

 

Meanwhile, I painted the stock ear screws that were removed (and replaced) from the helmet black for use on the TD:

 

I also used some Apoxie sculpt to tighten up the holes in the clamps which were a tad too large:

 

After waiting a couple hours for the Apoxie sculpt to harden I drilled out some holes and painted them silver to blend in if any of it shows from the screw heads:

 

Tomorrow I'll drill the holes in the pipe and put the whole thing together.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Harbinger

[BDWC[TK]]

Looking good!
I just have two comments, 1) although not required, it looks like there is still a bit of flash in the eyes, but may be camera angle, 2) I did not know the hovi tip rings needed to be painted white, so I learned something new


Sent from my Imperial TK communicator

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Yeah, I noticed that on other buckets. I might give it another round of clean-up when I redo the lenses, pretty much all the velcro in the helmet is falling off anyway. I'll probably use the ear screws as mounting points.

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Thermal detonator is finished:

 

Cut down the screws so I can use it as storage (or whatever):

 

Also cut down the ab plate a tad (I'm a little short for a stormtrooper):

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Not much time to work on armor today.

 

Replacement mic tip mesh and belt rivet caps arrived yesterday. Also ordered some boots and Ty's garter system (this one) which will both hopefully be here before the 14th... still hoping to get this done (well, "done") for the Battlefront II release.

[NINJAM0VE[TK]]

Nice! Looking forward to your progress photos! Cheers!

[Harbinger[IPM]]

I started today off taking inventory of the Anovos-supplied strapping (instructions stink for this, BTW):

I'm going with the Velcro for now for some of the connections, such as back/kidney/posterior. I'm going to use the industrial strength stuff (already have some on hand as you can see) - not the Anovos supplied as the glue just doesn't seem to stick to anything. I'll give it a few troops and if I'm not happy I can always remove it and go to snaps all the way.

 

Cut down some split rivets to make snap rivets (my term) as I've seen others do:

 

Then gave them a light scuffing and some paint (I've been using a Rustoleum enamel lacquer spray paint, seems pretty durable):

 

Afterwards I marked out the holes for the ab/kidney where they're going to go, and then added some reinforcement shimming (assume this spot will get the most stress on it, and especially after cutting down my ab plate, better safe than sorry):

 

(forgot to grab a picture of the kidney side, also shimmed, before it got dark)

 

Then it was time to trim up the ab button plates:

 

And finally, sizing/trimming of the forearms!:

(Not quite done, but I'm tired and it's dark out)

 

Hoping to wrap up the torso and forearms this weekend and then get started on the biceps/shoulders... then legs, strapping, and (hopefully) trooping!

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Got shins fitted yesterday - would love feedback on fit/finish:

(Yes, I know the boots are wrong. Needed something until my IB order arrives!)

Edited November 6, 2017 by Harbinger

[TheSwede[TK]]

Fit looks good, nice taper around the ankels Got a picture showing the back? and...I would recommend not doing final fitment untill the shoes arrive, just to be sure nothing changes with the fit

[Harbinger[IPM]]

I'll have to grab a photo. Good suggestion, unfortunately with lead times I won't have boots to troop in if I wait, so just going to have to cross my fingers that they're close enough.

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Now for some updates, lots of progress the past couple of days.

 

I wasn't a fan of the bright white against the noticeably off-white Anovos plastic, so I used a tea bath to stain the belt - came out a bit darker than I'd hoped but still an improvement, I think(?):

 

Painted up the ab buttons:

 

Glued up the left forearm (need more clamps/magnets!):

 

Made up snaps, snap plates, and nylon connectors for the ab/kidney. Snap plates were heated up and bent to match the contours of the armor for better adhesion:

 

 

 

Installed the split-rivets-in-snaps - helpful hint, take the thickness of the plastic into account BEFORE cutting them down - thankfully I had enough to finish the ab/kidney (will need another for the cod), as well as the snap plates:

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2017 by Harbinger

[TheSwede[TK]]

Great progress

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Ab buttons installed:

 

PS: Forgot to post this, but here's some pictures of when I was installing the velcro - using the industrial strength variety:

 

 

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Made up the last of the torso/chest/back strapping:

(Started thinking I'd go with dual snaps and changed my mind, hence extra holes)

 

Strapping (nearly) complete! (Still need to glue down the chest/back after some final fitment tweaks.)

 

Got the front of the shin/calves glued up:

 

Put some reinforcement on the back of the shoulder covers since I've seen quite a few in our garrison snap them in half:

 

 

A question for those more experienced... should the posterior be this low?

If not, do I need to cut it down? Hoping it's just that the cod/posterior strap hasn't been installed yet (waiting on a split rivet!).

Edited November 10, 2017 by Harbinger

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Nice work Brien 

[Timberwoof[TK]]

Thanks for documenting progress. Now that my own Anovos BBB has arrived and I've started in on it, I'm reading this thread again. I understand better what's going on now. ("When learning any new subject, study it thoroughly before you begin.") For example, the neodynium magnets are used as clamps! They're tools, not building materials! And I see that you're not tearing off all the protective film right away. That makes sense to me. 
Did you find that the right bicep parts didn't match up right? On the inner edge of mine, the top is about 4mm longer than the bottom. 

[Harbinger[IPM]]

They won't - yay ‘70’s - but you can trim them to line up. Check out Tony/ukswrath’s thread (the definitive guide for Anovos suits IMO). He mentions it and has tips on where/how to do so. Some people leave them as-is which is more screen accurate.

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Blaster and thigh garter arrived Thursday and Friday respectively:

 

Biceps complete:

 

Sniper knee plate installed (lots of clamps!!!):

 

Thigh fronts glued (will do the backs tomorrow):

Edited November 12, 2017 by Harbinger

[CableGuy[TK]]

Good progress. :-)


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[ukswrath[Staff]]

Nice work Brien you're well on your way