Timberwoof's Anovos ANH TK Build Thread

[ukswrath[Staff]]

6 hours ago, Timberwoof said:

That's venting the work room into the downstairs which contains the laundry and the garage. If I open the back door and raise the garage door a foot or so, I get a lovely clean Pacific breeze rushing through there. When we were three hockey players, we'd do that to air out the gear after games. 

lol that will definitely help.

[Timberwoof[TK]]

Chin Strap for TK Helmet

I was tired of my wobbly helmet, even after replacing the cheesy Anovos hard-hat harness thing with gray foam helmet liner pads. So I bought a chin strap of the type meant for football helmets. UnderArmour makes them; this one's from Shock Doctor (who also make sport cups; what a name!) and a few bucks cheaper. 

They come in different colors; the obvious choices are black or white. It turns out the snaps are the same size as ever TK builder has more than enough of. The pad in the chin cup is held in with Velcro. It could be removed and washed if necessary. I thought about replacing the inelastic straps with elastic, but these work well enough. 

 

I wanted to figure good places to put the snaps, so I did some clever-clever work with a photo editing app. 

When you cut the straps for length, remember that it's very important to get the Shok Doctor words and logo right side up. 

 

The snap clips are designed to connect to snaps on the outside of the football helmet. I thought that would look awful on the TK helmet, so to have the snaps work on the inside, I bent the snap clips to fit the inside curve of the TK helmet.

 

The straps are way long, so cut them down and made four 2" lengths to use as anchors to glue inside the helmet:

When you do this, put the saps in the other way so they curl up instead of down. That will match the inside curve of the helmet better. 

 

 

 

These locations work for the snaps but are a bit tricky to clamp even with magnets. (I have ones vaguely quarter-shaped; I should have got ones half the diameter but twice the thickness.) 

 

The straps don't have to go super tight; just enough to get the helmet reasonably snug and not all floppy. 

 

Edited June 17, 2018 by Timberwoof
speling err

[Daetrin[Admin]]

19 hours ago, Timberwoof said:

Chin Strap for TK Helmet

I was tired of my wobbly helmet, even after replacing the cheesy Anovos hard-hat harness thing with gray foam helmet liner pads. So I bought a chin strap of the type meant for football helmets. UnderArmour makes them; this one's from Shock Doctor (who also make sport cups; what a name!) and a few bucks cheaper. 

They come in different colors; the obvious choices are black or white. It turns out the snaps are the same size as ever TK builder has more than enough of. The pad in the chin cup is held in with Velcro. It could be removed and washed if necessary. I thought about replacing the inelastic straps with elastic, but these work well enough. 

 

I wanted to figure good places to put the snaps, so I did some clever-clever work with a photo editing app. 

When you cut the straps for length, remember that it's very important to get the Shok Doctor words and logo right side up. 

 

The snap clips are designed to connect to snaps on the outside of the football helmet. I thought that would look awful on the TK helmet, so to have the snaps work on the inside, I bent the snap clips to fit the inside curve of the TK helmet.

 

The straps are way long, so cut them down and made four 2" lengths to use as anchors to glue inside the helmet:

When you do this, put the saps in the other way so they curl up instead of down. That will match the inside curve of the helmet better. 

 

 

 

These locations work for the snaps but are a bit tricky to clamp even with magnets. (I have ones vaguely quarter-shaped; I should have got ones half the diameter but twice the thickness.) 

 

The straps don't have to go super tight; just enough to get the helmet reasonably snug and not all floppy. 

 

Would you mind if we put this in a HOWTO or TIP? It's amazing and should be memorialized.

[Harbinger[IPM]]

I still get a bit of helmet wobble, may have to try this.

[Timberwoof[TK]]

10 hours ago, Daetrin said:

Would you mind if we put this in a HOWTO or TIP? It's amazing and should be memorialized.

Wow.  Please feel free!

 

Addendum: Now that the glue has thoroughly set, I tried the helmet on again. The chin strap isn't super tight; it's "just right". Best of all and unexpected, I can put the helmet on and take it off without unsnapping the snaps.   Your mileage may vary. (A "real" Trooper would cinch that thing down so it would not come off in combat. Ever.) 

Edited June 19, 2018 by Timberwoof

[Timberwoof[TK]]

My first "troop" in a while was at WorldCon 76 (the World Science Fiction Convention) in San Jose. The Acys (Stacy and Tracy) and I did a panel on the 501st Legion; after Stacy's spiel, Tracy helped me into my TK armor as a demo on how the armor is on the inside and what it takes to get into it. People were very interested and appreciated seeing the armor close up. I'm going to try to round up some photos I know were taken. 

 

Afterward, I went "Trooping" in the Dealers Hall. I'd stop in at various booths, usually if someone called out "Trooper!" or whatever. I'd ask people if they had their vendor permits in order. They'd always say yes, so I'd say, "Keep up the good work." And of course the usual requests for photos. I felt perfectly safe trooping without a minder at a Sci Fi convention: No jerks to try weird stuff, no kids to accidentally run over, and everyone enthusiastic. 

 

At the "Cospitality" area they had set up fun backdrops and lights, and I got this cool photo taken:

(Credit: David Price)

 

I discussed TK armor and stuff with Tracy and he mentioned that some ANH TKs have the backs of the knees trimmed, mostly so they can climb over dead cohorts. I found some photos; these were done more and less subtly; some of the trims were downright ugly. So I'm going to try this in stages, with what I hope are in-canon subtle trims. This is my proposed Phase 1 trim: 

 

 

The marks are in whiteboard marker, which comes off remarkably well. (Don't use Sharpie!) The leg parts here are angular, and making non-ugly subtly curved cuts is tricky but probably worthwhile. I'm going to do these trims first, then evaluate whether I get enough added knee bendage. Next step will be the same sorts of gentle curves on the corresponding faces, while attempting to avoid the fugly chop jobs I've seen in screen shots. 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Trim away!

[Timberwoof[TK]]

This has already made a huge difference in comfort. 

Next: the tops of the shins, on either side, get those return edges similarly curved. At the back of the shins, the top edges will get trimmed even left/right. AT the back of the thighs I'm going to fill in those ugly gaps, and I may do a similar thing with the haps in the tops of the shins, if I decide not  to trim them down any. 

[Timberwoof[TK]]

Go all the way! Thoughtful lines with gentle arcs: 

 

Then Dremulate with the cutting wheel and a grinding cylinder, follow up with a file to get the fiddly bits, and sand with a 3M sanding block. 

 

These trims are not ugly and they make a huge difference in mobility. I've also started on trimming the return edges on the points of the thighs. 

More gentle curves on the return edges to the points. I like the idiosyncratic shapes of those points, so I don't want to round them over. Just smooth out the inside edges where they rub. The right thigh in back is going to get a little more taken off. (Yes, those labels do say TK-60361. I only label the parts I want to get back in case I lose them.)

[Timberwoof[TK]]

Bin. 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Huston, we have a problem with this TV screen.

 

Nice box though 

[Timberwoof[TK]]

The problem? That starship captain ("Federation", I think) appears to be worried about the crate. 

[Harbinger[IPM]]

On 8/24/2018 at 7:09 PM, Timberwoof said:

This has already made a huge difference in comfort. 

Next: the tops of the shins, on either side, get those return edges similarly curved. At the back of the shins, the top edges will get trimmed even left/right. AT the back of the thighs I'm going to fill in those ugly gaps, and I may do a similar thing with the haps in the tops of the shins, if I decide not  to trim them down any. 

This is how I did mine too. Helps a lot.

 

Nice tote.