Alan's Denuo Novo FOTK Build

[liquorbetter]

Greetings!

 

I've been here waiting ever since I ordered the Anovos FOTK back in 2018.  It finally arrived a few months ago.  I recently went to an Armor party held by the FL Garrison Everglades squad, met a lot of great people and went to town on my kit!  While I work on this kit, I'll do what I can as a Handler.

 

This will be my first kit going for 501st approval.  

 

The List..

 

Hard Parts

Armor - DN FOTK

Helmet - DN Standard ABS. Replacement padding - TBD. Electronics - TBD

Blaster - 3d printed TFA f11d from 5th horseman files.. printed 2018.  Electronics - TBD

 

Soft Parts

Gaskets - Currently inside out DN, will be modified for correct exterior surface and tailoring

Belt - DN

Neck Seal - TBD

Undersuit - Black one piece dive skin, may get shiny shorts or the extreme racing stormtrooper suit

Boots - Planning on IB 

Gloves - Planning on Endor Finders

Pouches - Small DN and Custom large sized properly

 

Other items considered are shoulder brackets, while I like the metal ones I've seen, I am considering something that has some flex to it.

I don't plan on changing the holster unless I see a need for the se44 blaster.  I also plan on purchasing the black chest fabric and gaffers tape for the chest box and other cutouts. 

 

Thanks,

Alan

 

 

 

[liquorbetter]

Let the fun begin.... Armor Party aftermath.....

Dry fit after sanding the torso in prep for bonding.

 

 

[TKSpartan[Staff]]

Welcome to FISD Alan and congratulations for your DN Armor kit.  

 

Good luck and looking forward for your advances.  Post tons of photos, ask all your questions and remember "measure twice, cut and glue once" 

 

 

 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Hello and welcome aboard, looking forward to seeing the progress

[liquorbetter]

And here comes the first "fix"...  I forgot about the proper cut on the forearms for TLJ, I did the Finn cut... Time to test out the ABS paste....

Good practice!

 

[liquorbetter]

Painted the resin greeblies and boxes with Behr Gloss White.. 3 coats.

I did wash them the day before painting even though they did come primed/painted.

 

[Fumanchewie[TK]]

You're off to an excellent start! Keep up the great work. 

[Doggydoc[Staff]]

Hi Alan. 
Welcome to the FISD. Looking forward to following this build. You are already making great progress.

 

[Sly11[Admin]]

Welcome aboard Alan, fantastic that you are making headway on this build, looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[DocDan[TK]]

Nice! This is build I started with as well for my first armor in the 501st. I learned a lot. I'm sure I will build another one of these down the road. 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

On 3/22/2023 at 6:49 AM, liquorbetter said:

And here comes the first "fix"...  I forgot about the proper cut on the forearms for TLJ, I did the Finn cut... Time to test out the ABS paste....

Good practice!

 

 

Nice work, looking forward to seeing you tackle the ABS paste filling, especially the ab and yoke. A good tip is thin coats and several of them, not as many air bubbles then which appear when the thinners is drying.

[liquorbetter]

 
Nice work, looking forward to seeing you tackle the ABS paste filling, especially the ab and yoke. A good tip is thin coats and several of them, not as many air bubbles then which appear when the thinners is drying.

Aye, it’s going to be a process. Thanks for the tips! The ab section presents its own challenge. I’ll post some more pics shortly. It seems there is quite a bit of a ledge left after initial seam fill. It seems quite noticeable to me, and probably will be more noticeable when it is all polished and shined. My question will be, how far out I feather the paste to level it out or if that is even necessary?


Thanks,
Alan


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[FN1313[TK]]

So happy to see you working on adjusting the forearms. I’ve always worried about the DN kit because of some of the incorrect design elements. It’s good to see troopers working to take note of those and adjust in the build.


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[liquorbetter]

Here is the result of some sanding for the chest details.  It was pretty thin and didn't take too long.

A little more cleanup and they will look nice.

 

[liquorbetter]

Here is the Ab section glued together.  I used devcon.  It was still pretty flexible when cured.

Next up some initial abs pasting.

 

[liquorbetter]

Here is the abs pasting of the Ab section after a couple of layers.

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

5 hours ago, FN1313 said:

So happy to see you working on adjusting the forearms. I’ve always worried about the DN kit because of some of the incorrect design elements. It’s good to see troopers working to take note of those and adjust in the build.
 

Very true, we did try to advise people early on what may need adjusting for legion approval, shame DN and their "Specialist Builders" couldn't address these areas prior to manufacturing, would have made so much easier for a lot of people

[liquorbetter]

Here is the seam ridge dilemma.  It looks noticeable to me.  I have no issue adding more paste to even it out or is the goal to simply hide the seam?

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Also when it comes to sanding down the ABS paste I found using different grades of wet and dry sandpaper helped, I do this with water and a few drops of dish washing liquid, this helps the paper glide a little more and not get as clogged as fast when dry sanding. Compound polish to bring the shine back up once sanding is finished

[liquorbetter]

5 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Very true, we did try to advise people early on what may need adjusting for legion approval, shame DN and their "Specialist Builders" couldn't address these areas prior to manufacturing, would have made so much easier for a lot of people

On top of that, the abs pull was very very thin where that "cut" is.  It was definitely good to cut it out and ad a few layers to toughen it up.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

2 minutes ago, liquorbetter said:

Here is the seam ridge dilemma.  It looks noticeable to me.  I have no issue adding more paste to even it out or is the goal to simply hide the seam?

 

Ultimately this will be judged by your GML. I would think if no seam is visible (no recess areas) then it should be ok, although it would still not be completely flush.

• The abdomen section must wrap around the wearer's body without a visible seam.

 

[FN1313[TK]]

Ultimately this will be judged by your GML. I would think if no seam is visible (no recess areas) then it should be ok, although it would still not be completely flush.

• The abdomen section must wrap around the wearer's body without a visible seam.

 

This is true. If I was looking as a gml I wouldn’t see the slight ridge where a seam was as a problem personally. So long as it looked filled and smooth. But yeah that would be to each GML to decide.


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[liquorbetter]

Also when it comes to sanding down the ABS paste I found using different grades of wet and dry sandpaper helped, I do this with water and a few drops of dish washing liquid, this helps the paper glide a little more and not get as clogged as fast when dry sanding. Compound polish to bring the shine back up once sanding is finished

Excellent… I wouldn’t have thought about adding the dish soap. I have grit going up to 2000. Thanks!


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[liquorbetter]

This is true. If I was looking as a gml I wouldn’t see the slight ridge where a seam was as a problem personally. So long as it looked filled and smooth. But yeah that would be to each GML to decide.


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Sounds good, I will go that route. If need be I can always build up later. For now, it will be time for filling the recesses and evening it out. Thanks!


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[liquorbetter]

Here is the forearm fix and build up.  I added a thicker backplate and bonded it to the forearm with abs paste.  I added a thinner exterior piec of armor scrap of abs to the top.  this thinner piece still had the protective plastic.  I them seam welded with more abs paste.  The added benefit of leaving the exterior plastic was quick cleanup and less paste left over to sand.  The paste doesn't bond to the protective sheet.  While this wasn't initially planned, I really liked how this accident turned out!

 

It is definitely beefier and should hold up much better for extended durability.