QuartZ's Anovos ANH Stunt Build

[QuartZ]

Today was my BBB Day and I'm really excited!

 

However, it wasn't a traditional BBB Day because the kit I ordered directly from Anovos last December (2016) has been delayed twice. While I continue to wait for it, I was lucky enough to grab a "new in box" kit from a 501st member who had purchased two and didn't need the second one. So we struck a deal, and we met up this morning to make the hand off. So here it is:

 

 

I rifled through the box already and took a really quick look at the contents. I'll do a proper inventory next. I have to say, while the wait and delays have left me very frustrated at Anovos as a company, the kit looks really nice so far. I'm going for Centurion out of the box and will be referencing all the fantastic builds here at the FISD. I have been preparing for this moment. I've read a lot here, watched build videos on youtube, and I've bought supplies/materials to complete the kit. Looking forward to trimming.

 

-Dana

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Congrats!

 

Finishing up my Anovos kit now.

[TheSwede[TK]]

Congratz on BBB-day it`s an awesome feeling and...in the of chance you haven`t already found it here`s a very detailed Anovos build https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35086-ukswraths-anovos-tk-build/

Good luck with your build and great to hear you aim for Centurion - be all you can be trooper - 

[QuartZ]

Thanks for the encouraging words. I've certainly been through ukswrath's thread several times. And I'm going back to it! So I broke everything out of the box and took stock of the parts. I think this is everything, or at least I don't think anything is missing:

 

 

I thought I should also list some of the parts I have that aren't pictured. I have Imperial Boots, a Darman neck seal, a 2-piece undersuit, both rubber gloves and cloth flight gloves, misc. building supplies (snaps, elastic, nylon, etc.) I'm sure I'll need to get a few things along the way...but I think I'm in good shape to start building. And so with that, I plan to get started on the arms. I'll update when I accomplish something

 

-Dana

[TheSwede[TK]]

"Armorbuilding with TK1336" on YouTube is also a great source, one of the builds are anovos for centurion...in case you haven't seen it

[Harbinger[IPM]]

Looks like you (like me!) had the old Anovos belt. Just a FYI that you'll need to replace the cloth portion for Centurion.

 

Also... buy more clamps and magnets than you think are needed. Way more.

[QuartZ]

On 11/20/2017 at 11:35 PM, TheSwede said:

"Armorbuilding with TK1336" on YouTube is also a great source, one of the builds are anovos for centurion...in case you haven't seen it

I've watched his videos several times while waiting for my kit. I feel like I absorbed a decent amount of information watching them and other videos like Trooperbay's tutorials and Pandaprops' build. Thanks!

On 11/21/2017 at 11:01 AM, Harbinger said:

Looks like you (like me!) had the old Anovos belt. Just a FYI that you'll need to replace the cloth portion for Centurion.

 

Also... buy more clamps and magnets than you think are needed. Way more.

Yes, this is a "V1" Anovos kit with the preassembled, sad, floppy belt. I plan on replacing the belt with a Kittle as you did. Oh, and thanks for the details on your tea staining process. I will refer back to that when I get my belt and try a little bit of a lighter pass on mine as you suggested. Your build looks like it's coming along nicely! I'll keep popping in to see if I can avoid any mistakes through your experience (since you're almost done).

 

-Dana

[QuartZ]

After a few days of Thanksgiving festivties, I got started on the kit. I got all of the arm pieces rough trimmed to the marked lines and removed the return edges on the wrist side of all the forearm pieces. As suggested in other build threads, I plan on doing several fitment passes and taping everything together before I final cut/glue parts together. I also need some more magnets (I have plenty of clamps) so that will buy me some time until they arrive. So here's what the parts look like:

 

 

I used lexan scissors (straight and curved) for most of the cutting (it was really easy with these) and only had to use the x-acto for a few areas like removing the wrist return edges. I removed the protective film from all the scraps and saved them in a paper bag for ABS paste or in case I need them later.

 

I didn't bother doing any cleanup/sanding since I'm sure more trimming is in store to fit me. I'm 5' 10" and 160 lbs. I've noticed that the biceps and forearms on many of the ANH stormtroopers in the beginning of the film look slim (on the Tantive IV). The kit pieces look pretty bulky in these areas leading me to believe I'll cut more off as I fit them to me. Anyone have a recommendation on how much return edge I should leave on the rest of the arm/shoulder pieces? I've heard 1/8" from some builders.

 

Thanks,

-Dana

 

Edited November 27, 2017 by QuartZ
url swap for photo

[TheSwede[TK]]

1 hour ago, QuartZ said:

Anyone have a recommendation on how much return edge I should leave on the rest of the arm/shoulder pieces? I've heard 1/8" from some builders.

 

It´s all about peronal reference really, except for L3 (Centurion) where there can`t be any on the wrist end of forearms but you already trimed those so good to go If you plan to use the brackets then you don`t want to shave of to much on the torso parts and it`s a good thing to make reinforcement pieces because Anovos plastic is very brittle in those areas...at least they were on my Anovos TX and they broke during fitmentanyways.....I like to keep as much as possible to maintain the illusion of thickness...and it`s always easier to take more if it restricts movment to much or pinch you....for example I took more of inside of thighs and inside "swoop" of forearms than outer after som "walking around". So to conclude it`s really up to you and what you think looks and feels the best,  personally I would start bigger, around 6-7mm and go from there, atleast that`s what i did on my builds

[QuartZ]

On 11/26/2017 at 1:25 PM, TheSwede said:

So to conclude it`s really up to you and what you think looks and feels the best,  personally I would start bigger, around 6-7mm and go from there, atleast that`s what i did on my builds

That all makes sense to me. I'll be taking a look at the screen used pieces to see where they went thinner, and of course fitting it to myself to see where adjustments make sense. I've followed the cut lines on the kit for all rough trims, and I'm checking ukswrath's thread for hints on all pieces before I begin. So far so good!

[QuartZ]

It's my birthday today, and I've got the day off work. Guess what I've decided to do... More armor trimming!!!

 

I'm continuing to go through the parts and trim them with my lexan scissors. These things are great. I decided to focus on the torso pieces today. Here's a look at how the chest and ab came out:

 

And below I've got the back, kidney, and posterior rough trimmed as well:

 

I plan to hit all the edges with sand paper and in a few areas a Dremel to get in some corners and remove some material. Once you get into a groove cutting these parts, it really goes quickly. I'm sure the finishing work will take more time, but I feel good that I'm making more progress. I'm off to do more trimming!

 

-Dana

Edited December 14, 2017 by QuartZ
fixed typo (lexan)

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

Happy Birthday Dana!

 

I know what you mean about getting into a groove. Daniel has given some good advise re: return edges. You may find you won't want any in some places. I discovered I needed to remove some altogether while assembling and then discovered after I put the fully assembled suit on for the first time that I needed to remove more. Mostly for comfort. Some places because it was biting me. Ultimately it's up to the individual. What you want, how it looks and how it feels.

[QuartZ]

1 hour ago, Sean said:

Ultimately it's up to the individual. What you want, how it looks and how it feels.

Roger that. Sounds like outside of the Centurion requirements, there's a bit of wiggle room. Thanks Sean.

 

I trimmed the chest to back bridge pieces (these really need to be sanded to get straight edges. I left a bit of material for that pass):

 

I'm currently trimming the shin/calf pieces. I've got the right set done and I'm moving on to the left ones now. Man, these were a pain to cut. I think they have been the most challenging so far of all the pieces (at least in my opinion). Back to trimming...

 

-Dana

[QuartZ]

Ok, shin/calves are rough trimmed. I think that's the last parts I'll do today. Here's how they turned out:

 

I have a bit more return edge to remove from the ankle sides, but I'll do that later. That might be it for today. Thanks for the feedback so far. This is great!

 

-Dana

[TheSwede[TK]]

Happy birthday! and great way of spending it, nice progress

[QuartZ]

9 hours ago, TheSwede said:

Happy birthday! and great way of spending it, nice progress

Thanks! I'm trying my best.

 

I actually got one more piece done last night. I just saw it sitting there as I was putting everything away and I said to myself "I can do one more":

 

-Dana

[TheSwede[TK]]

just make sure to remove all of the lower lip/return edge

[Timberwoof[TK]]

Hippo Birdie, Two Ewes. 
I second the notion of more clamps and magnets. I have about eight clamps and twenty magnets. I wish I had had double the number because that's enough for one cover strip on an open edge and one cover strip when joining two halves. 

[QuartZ]

4 hours ago, Timberwoof said:

Hippo Birdie, Two Ewes. 
I second the notion of more clamps and magnets. I have about eight clamps and twenty magnets. I wish I had had double the number because that's enough for one cover strip on an open edge and one cover strip when joining two halves. 

Wow, I had to look up the "Hippo Birdie" thing...hehe I thought you were speaking in some clever-internet-meme-speak...turns out it was a "Happy Birthday"! hehe, thanks! As for clamps and magnets, I ordered more and now I have 22 clamps and 75 magnets. I hope this will be enough.

 

-Dana

[QuartZ]

I just finished rough trimming the last of the main pieces...whew!

 

I have a few last bits to do tonight (Ab plates) and then I'm going to move on to fitting the torso. I know a lot of people start with the arms, but for some reason I think the torso is where I want to begin. I think having that fit to me first will help me when working through limb lengths, etc. Any thoughts? Sound like a bad idea to anyone?

 

-Dana

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

I went with torso too, really doesn't matter what you start with, it all needs doing  

[QuartZ]

 Ok, here's an update covering some work I did a few days ago as well as what I'm working on today. I did start with the torso. I went over all of the parts and did some more trimming, sanding and fitting until I felt that it fit together well, didn't have any biting edges when I held the parts to my body, and I looked at suit reference from screenshots and the Gallery here to see what they had done to various return edges on the torso for the films.

 

Here's a couple of photos showing the chest piece return edge tweaks as well as my abdomen/kidney taped together. It seems to fit me pretty well with no adjustments. I'm 5'10" and 160 lbs. so there's some room in the mid section there (particularly at the sides) but it fits snug against my stomach and back.

 

Next up I made the decision to drill all of the holes in the pieces that are needed for the original bracket system that the film suits had. I'm still not sure if I'm going to use my Mr.Nostripes kit to actually rig my suit, but I wanted the look of the originals with the exposed screw heads so I'm going to do the work required to mount at least the screws and nuts. I'm leaning towards snaps plates right now, but this would give me the option to go either way if I change my mind.

 

Following ukswrath's tutorial, I measured and marked all of the hole locations. And then I quadruple checked all of the brackets would fit and align with other pieces before drilling:

 

And then I went to town drilling all of the marked locations starting with the back:

 

I then test fit the hardware to ensure everything was as planned:

 

Then I went ad repeated the process for the remaining torso parts:

 

Everything went well. I have a few more things to do before I call this step done. Here's what I'm planning:

1. Lightly countersink all holes from the outside to get the screw heads to recess a bit closer to flush

2. Install bracket pads to help reinforce the locations that I drilled just to give the armor a bit more thickness (I'm 3D printing some pads in ABS)

3. Reinstall screws and nuts without the wire brackets for now (this will also help hold the bracket pads in place while glue dries)

 

After that, I plan to start drilling holes for all of the torso rivets/snaps/poppers.

 

-Dana

[QuartZ]

I drilled some more holes in the Ab/Kidney pieces for the clamshell strapping as described in ukswrath's tutorial. Here's what the split rivets look like test fit in the locations:

 

You'll also notice that I made nylon straps for these as mentioned in the tutorial. At first I was surprised that they weren't elastic-based like most of the other strapping. But I figure it must be to try and keep this side tightly aligned so that only the other side needs to be managed when suiting up. Thoughts?

 

These straps also seem a bit short to me. I tried to hold them in place inside the armor to check the fit, but I think the kidney return edge that I left created additional distance that these straps (20mm between holes) don't account for. I can make new straps (which I'll try first) or shave off some armor return edge.

 

-Dana

[TheSwede[TK]]

2 hours ago, QuartZ said:

keep this side tightly aligned so that only the other side needs to be managed when suiting up. Thoughts?

Correct, I use elastic like the movie suit though.

[Steaditrooper[TK]]

20 hours ago, QuartZ said:

I drilled some more holes in the Ab/Kidney pieces for the clamshell strapping as described in ukswrath's tutorial. Here's what the split rivets look like test fit in the locations:

 

You'll also notice that I made nylon straps for these as mentioned in the tutorial. At first I was surprised that they weren't elastic-based like most of the other strapping. But I figure it must be to try and keep this side tightly aligned so that only the other side needs to be managed when suiting up. Thoughts?

 

These straps also seem a bit short to me. I tried to hold them in place inside the armor to check the fit, but I think the kidney return edge that I left created additional distance that these straps (20mm between holes) don't account for. I can make new straps (which I'll try first) or shave off some armor return edge.

 

-Dana

Hi Dana. The straps seem short but they do stretch a little too. I've noticed this with my armour after one troop and I'm thinking about replacing them with new shorter ones before I apply for Centurion. I have about a 3-4mm gap where there was none before. It would be way worse with elastic. I like that you've used lock nuts for your brackets and are countersinking your screws. I'm replacing all my nuts with lock nuts I ordered from Amazon. When they're in I will countersink my screws too. Without the countersink there is a little bit too much of a gap between armour parts for my liking. 

 

Your armour is looking great!