QuartZ's Anovos ANH Stunt Build

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Looking GREAT, Dana!  Perfect positioning of the clips, and glad to see you also nailed the placement of the screws and used the pan-head type.  Well done!  If you keep up this sort of accuracy, I see a Centurion badge under you name soon... (hint hint). 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Wow Dana! What a clean and beautiful build.
That TD is as Joseph said, perfect.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mad Dog 20/20]

On 12/22/2019 at 11:49 AM, QuartZ said:

Thanks!

 

Ok, so here's the results from my experiment to find spray paint options to match Humbrol #5 for my TD. I wanted to test several options recommended by other users here as well as see if there was anything else I could find that looked promising at my local hardware store. I grabbed a bunch of little PVC couplings at the store, sanded them, primed them with Krylon primer, and then applied different finishes to each. Here's what I tried:

 

H = Humbrol #5

1 = Testors - 1923 Gunship Grey (FS 36118)

2 = General Paint & Manufacturing - Premium Decor - Slate Gray (PDS70)

3 = Krylon ColorMaxx - Gloss Smoke Grey (5539)

4 = Krylon ColorMaster - Gloss Acrylic Crystal Clear - (51301) sprayed directly over Krylon Primer

 

 

 

Almost immediately, I noticed that paint Option 2 had a very similar hue to the Humbrol. Interesting! Option 3 was too light and Option 4 was too dark. So, I put those aside and wanted to show a comparison of just the 2 front runners (Options 1 and 2). I'm ignoring the fact that one is glossier than the other and just talking about the "color" or "hue" of the grey:

 

 

I think that Option 1 is a bit more "cool" or blue/purple in hue than Option 2. Both are probably good choices for my application, but I'm leaning toward Option 2. But I've never heard of this paint and I don't know much about the quality it. So that has me a bit hesitant.

 

Here's what the can looks like for anyone interested (note the cap DOES look darker than the paint. I almost didn't buy it in the store because the cap looked too dark):

 

 

 

So just to recap, I think Option 2 is the most similar to Humbrol #5. I randomly found it at my local Ace Hardware Store (which used to be a True Value Hardware Store). I thought I would mention that detail because their product stock may vary from your local store due to the change in franchise. Here's the paint on Amazon if anyone else is interested:

 

General Paint & Manufacturing - Premium Decor - Slate Gray (PDS70)

https://www.amazon.com/General-Paint-Manufacturing-Decorative-360-Degree/dp/B000GPLXVE/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=slate+gray+spray+paint+premium+decor&qid=1577033531&sr=8-1

 

What do you guys think?

 

-Dana

So the TD tube is supposed to be painted and not the natural grey of the plaatic pipe I got with my kit?

[QuartZ]

12 hours ago, Mad Dog 20/20 said:

So the TD tube is supposed to be painted and not the natural grey of the plaatic pipe I got with my kit?

Painting the TD tube is not necessary for approval (as far as I know).

 

In my research here I found that people recommend it be a dark dark grey (not too dark and not too light) and that the thought is it may be matched to the Humbrol #5 color found on other areas of the armor/helmet. At least that's what I see too. So, I took it upon myself to run a little color experiment on mine in hopes of sharing some findings in case others are wondering what I was wondering.

 

And that is - What looks close to Humbrol #5 in a spray paint form?

 

-Dana

Edited December 29, 2019 by QuartZ

[QuartZ]

I've been sick for the past few days, but I've slowly been working on my strapping and adjusting the fit of the abdomen/kidney/posterior pieces. I finalized the nylon straps and installed the painted split rivets in the left side:

 

I fabricated the "Han-snap" elastic and popper and installed it using E6000. I've been iterating a lot on the fit of this area. As I was test fitting the assembly on me, I felt a bit uneasy about the right side seam and keeping everything aligned the way it should be. Wearing the belt certainly helps keep everything together, but the seam shifts a bit over time with movement. So, I've also added an extra optional nylon strap with Line 24 snaps that really keeps everything in place. It's  tough to snap, but it really did help in my opinion.

 

And I also installed the cod strap with the brass split rivet and washer:

 

I also trimmed some return edges back in key areas after wearing this around the house and walking for a few minutes. Minor trimming, but already things are feeling and looking better. 

 

-Dana

[QuartZ]

On 12/27/2019 at 3:55 AM, justjoseph63 said:

Looking GREAT, Dana!  Perfect positioning of the clips, and glad to see you also nailed the placement of the screws and used the pan-head type.  Well done!  If you keep up this sort of accuracy, I see a Centurion badge under you name soon... (hint hint). 

Thanks! I am aiming for Centurion  so I appreciate the feedback. As a matter of fact, since I see you call this out in a lot of build threads, care to take a look at my Ab Button Plates?

 

 

These are trimmed and just taped into place from behind with blue painters tape. I think they match the reference in your "Quick Reference Guide" PDF pretty well. I don't plan to attach them just yet, I wanted them well trimmed and in the proper place so that I could judge the placement of my belt which I plan to work on next. So if these are good, I'll shoot for the top of the belt overlapping/touching the bottom button on the central Ab Plate.

 

-Dana

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Perfect, Dana!   Smart move not gluing them on yet, as they are MUCH easier to paint when not attached to the ab plate.  When painting them I suggest using either a template or a Filbert style brush (rounded tip) which will give you more control.  

      

[QuartZ]

Thanks for the confirmation @justjoseph63 and I'll keep those hints in mind when I go to paint the buttons.

 

This morning (before I pulled into house projects) I spent some time prepping my chest and back pieces for the strapping install at the shoulders. It bugged me that the alignment of the shoulders tabs didn't match from front to back, nor left to right. I know the screen used suits also don't match very well, but I wanted to bring these a bit closer together as far as the angle goes. I also used the opportunity to correct the harsh curvature of the Anovos back shoulder tabs which hook almost at a 90 degree angle.

 

Before:

 

After:

 

I used the hot water bath method and did it in several passes which meant boiling the water and shaping several times to keep checking the front to back. I would alternate so that I didn't over do it. All in all it isn't a perfect match, but I'm happy that it is symmetrical and will put less stress on the shoulder covers from twisting.

 

I had also hot water bath shaped my posterior armor to get a better fit and match the kidney contours better. Again, not a dead on match, but closer to the screen used suits. In doing so, I developed some small kinks/buckling in the upper return edge:. Here's an example:

 

So, I got out my ABS paste (I had made this several days ago)...

 

And I started to backfill the inside of the return edge with the ABS paste. My thought is that I'll fill those kink valleys from the inside and then sand down the exterior kink bumps ultimately maintaining the original plastic thickness. Here's an example of the slop I troweled on (not fully dry yet):

 

Plugging away...

 

-Dana

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

Great idea reinforcing those areas, Dana.  If I could recommend one more area to reinforce it would be the neck of the chest plate.  Anovos is famous for cracking there (my Hero is Anovos and a crack developed after 3 troops).  One solid strip of scrap ABS about 1/4 (even 3/8) inch wide glued behind that return edge will help prevent this.  The arm openings on the chest (especially the front) are prone to this as well.  An ounce of prevention, they say...

 

[QuartZ]

I am planning to reinforce the neck and arm openings on the chest piece per your suggestion. I've seen you recommend it in other build threads... at least you know someone is paying attention .

 

-Dana

[QuartZ]

I'm about to work on my shoulder elastics now that I've figured out the strapping dimensions needed to get everything to sit right on me. Before I do that, I wanted to get these glued up and drying. I designed and 3D printed some Shoulder Bridge filler pieces in white ABS. This gave me the ability to bevel them so they filled the inside of the bumps even better than scrap ABS sheet.

 

I did this for one reason, I just wanted to be able to have more surface area flush with the Chest shoulder tabs for a better bond. So I'm only filling the large bump and 4 small bumps I plan to glue to the chest. Here are the parts before gluing (some spares were printed):

 

 

And after glue:

 

 

-Dana

[QuartZ]

Last night I got the strapping for the shoulders fabricated. I made a single snap plate (nylon based) for the right chest tab. The fact that this connection carries 50% of the armor that is "downstream" I just can't trust the screen accurate S popper. Myabe I'm paranoid, but so far those things don't compare to the Fasnap Line 24s. Glued it up and got magnets on it:

 

Shoulder elastic with Dritz snaps glued to the back:

 

And one more view of the right shoulder elastic showing the fold over bit, sewn down, and corresponding Line 24 snap installed:

 

All that was done yesterday so I should be removing clamps/magnets later today and gluing the left shoulder elastic to the chest to wrap it up. Once that sets up, I'll glue my Shoulder Bridges (covers) to the chest. Then I should be able to dial in the Shoulder Bell straps to ensure they're tight up against the should bridges

 

-Dana

Edited January 4, 2020 by QuartZ
typo

[wook1138[TK]]

Looking great, Dana.  Good to see you back at it. 

[QuartZ]

Thanks! I’m glad to be back. I missed this place and all of its great members.

 

-Dana

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I find double snapping especially on high strain areas can be handy, if you loose a snap you still have a backup and can still troop  

[QuartZ]

Agreed, I’ve double snapped every other major torso connection. Fingers crossed this one is enough.

[QuartZ]

More glue, magnets, and clamps this afternoon. Got the other half of that left shoulder elastic attached to the Chest armor:

 

Looking forward to being able to try it on again once this all dries! I'm going to try and get back to the belt next... I know I said that before

 

-Dana

[justjoseph63[Staff]]

OK Dana, it's late and I am kinda confused here... (wouldn't be the first time, lol).  In one image you show a male snap set in black nylon being attached to the tab of your chest plate (photo 1), but in another there is a shot of the white elastic apparently being glued directly on to the same tab with an ABS covers (photo 2), but the snap is missing.  Did I miss something?

 

If I may make a small suggestion, remember that the snap on the elastic that you connect your shoulder bells to gets quite the workout from being attached an removed every time you suit up and carries the weight of both the bells and biceps.  But, being elastic, it can eventually wear out/stretch from use, and if it is glued directly to your armor it will be a pain to replace.

 

I realize that that you want to be as screen accurate as possible (which is GREAT), but as you will notice in photo 3 the elastic just didn't survive well.  Snaps are easily replaced.  Glued elastic does not.  Just trying to give you a heads-up. 

 

 

 

    

 

[QuartZ]

1 hour ago, justjoseph63 said:

OK Dana, it's late and I am kinda confused here... (wouldn't be the first time, lol).  In one image you show a male snap set in black nylon being attached to the tab of your chest plate (photo 1), but in another there is a shot of the white elastic apparently being glued directly on to the same tab with an ABS covers (photo 2), but the snap is missing.  Did I miss something?

It's ok, it's late, I'm tired too. But , I want you to be able to sleep tonight...lol. I think because you don't see all of the connections in 1 photo you got your "tabs" mixed up in my photos. I took a quick photo for you looking into the armor as if you were going to put your head through the neck hole (back plate is at the top of the photo, chest plate is on the bottom of the photo):

 

1 hour ago, justjoseph63 said:

If I may make a small suggestion, remember that the snap on the elastic that you connect your shoulder bells to gets quite the workout from being attached an removed every time you suit up and carries the weight of both the bells and biceps.  But, being elastic, it can eventually wear out/stretch from use, and if it is glued directly to your armor it will be a pain to replace.

 

I realize that that you want to be as screen accurate as possible (which is GREAT), but as you will notice in photo 3 the elastic just didn't survive well.  Snaps are easily replaced.  Glued elastic does not.  Just trying to give you a heads-up. 

 

Well then I blame @ukswrath for suggesting this method in his Anovos build tutorial!  Just Kidding!!! I do appreciate the heads up on wear and tear and this being a potential failure point. If it starts to get sketchy, I'm confident I can make more double snap plates and swap these shoulder elastics out for an easily replaceable component in the future. I totally believe you, but I gotta get this armor done and get that Centurion! Onward!

 

-Dana

[TheSwede[TK]]

No worries, if the elastic wears out you can just rip it out and glue on another, screen accurate is the way - I have spoken

[QuartZ]

14 hours ago, TheSwede said:

No worries, if the elastic wears out you can just rip it out and glue on another, screen accurate is the way - I have spoken

Roger that. This is the way

 

-Dana

[QuartZ]

Quick update, I'm gluing the Shoulder Bridges to the Chest. Here's a wide shot (again clamp overkill):

 

And a closeup of that E6000 ooze! Awww yeah. I really love this stuff and don't mind scraping off the edges when it overflows like this. :

 

Cross that off the list.

 

-Dana

[QuartZ]

Whew!!! Working on the belt this evening was tricky. I had already taken apart the Anovos belt and started by getting my @TKittell belt situated on the Abdomen male snaps per @ukswrath's tutorial. I did something a bit different though.

• With the belt in place on the abdomen (Ab button plates still taped in place) I pushed the canvas belt into the male snaps really hard and then took the belt off. I could see indentations clearly in the canvas and used a pencil just to mark the center of these indentations.
• Then I followed the instructions and put pencil lead on the male snaps and the put the belt back in place. This confirmed my initial marks and I felt confident I had my hole locations dialed in.

The rest was straight forward following the tutorial. I was aiming to have the Centurion-like slight overlap of the bottom button so here's the ABS belt riveted to the Kittell canvas belt snapped onto the Abdomen:

 

 

I'm a happy camper. The rivet covers and drop boxes shouldn't be a big deal. I hope to get those done tonight.

 

-Dana

[QuartZ]

The shoulder covers have been glued and the E6000 had more than enough time to dry so this morning I removed all of the clamps and magnets. I then cleaned up all of the ooze and had enough time to fabricate the elastic retainers that keep them from floating too high off the back plate:

 

 

I worked on the belt several nights in a row. Drop boxes were reinstalled with new elastic, and rivets/washers. I managed to get everything completed last night when I removed the Anovos glue from the back of the rivet cover caps and reinstalled them with E6000. You can see the final assembly just resting this morning with clamps and tape still in place.

 

 

Here's a closeup showing the minimal gap between a drop box and the bottom edge of the ABS belt, as well as the alignment of the drop box to the edge of the ABS belt. I think everything meets Centurion here.

 

Cross those off the list

 

-Dana

[QuartZ]

I had a few minutes this morning, so I took advantage of them to get something simple done.

 

With the Chest and Back armor connected and the Shoulder Bridges glued and positioned to my liking, I was able to take my Shoulder Bells and figure out where the elastics and snaps needed to be glued in order to have them nearly touch the Shoulder Bridges (I left a little tiny space for reduced rubbing). I tested the positions by using the same magnets I do when gluing to hold the elastic to the Shoulder bells and try everything on before committing to gluing. Here's one Bell glued up (showing the inside and scrap ABS to spread the magnet force):

 

 

And the other from the outside:

 

I will probably try to post a shot of the assembled Chest-Back-Shoulder Bell combo tomorrow. I was really happy with how everything lined up. Just didn't have time to snap a photo until I was done gluing.

 

-Dana