Daryl's Anovos ANH Stunt TK Build

[daryldoak]

Hello everyone.  I've really enjoyed my time with CCG, spotting at events.  Now it's time to actually join!

I was excited to finally get my kit yesterday 1/27.  My goal is to have it completed so I can troop at Starlight.

Overall I'm very happy with the Anovos kit.  One issue I have is that the left hand plate was missing, but I was planning to replace them anyway.  Also, I do plan to repaint/fix the frown, replace the helmet strap with helmet padding.

I don't plan to use the Anovos instructions and will instead be following ukswrath's TK build on FISD (and others):

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35086-ukswraths-anovos-tk-build/

My goal is Centurion level build.

Here is my list of items I have:
E11 - Doopy Doos w/ T-Jay kit and Gazmosis Magazine
Icomm & Aker 1506 amp
Boots -  Imperial Boots
storage - Husky
Internal Strapping Brackets - FISD Mrnostripes
other strapping - various elastics/straps and stuff from Jo-Anns
Split rivets - Trooperbay
snaps - Tandy Line 24
Thigh Garter belt - FISD Pencap510
Humbrol paint #5 Dark Admiral Grey, #14 French Blue - Hornby Hobby
Belt - FISD Tkittell (bought this just in case)
Gloves/Hand guard - Trooperbay

Tools:
Blue painter tape
Sewing tape measure
lexan scissors
utility knives
cut-proof gloves
e6000
magnets
spring clamps
drill
Pliers
150 & 220 sandpaper
Heat gun

Time to get started.

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

[daryldoak]

I forgot to mention I'm also using TK-1636's YouTube series:

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/34051-tk-1636-youtube-channel/

[carpe mindiem]

Awesome!

[daryldoak]

So last night and this morning I trimmed all of my pieces.  I used a utility knife to score and snap, as well as lexan scissors.

Forearms, biceps, shoulder bells, etc:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

Shins, thighs:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

Back, kidney, butt:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

Chest, ab:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

I'm planning to use the original bracket system, so I left extra return edge on the back, kidney, butt, chest, and ab:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

I did this based upon a recommendation from ukswrath in his build thread.  I'll trim this down further after I actually put the brackets on.

I've never worked with any other armor or ABS before so I don't know how this compares, but I found the Anovos armor to be very flexible.  Score and snap method was a little difficult and at times I felt like I might tear something.  I found that using lexan scissors worked well in the curved areas.

I did have a couple of minor mishaps with scoring, here is an example:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

Not really sure how deep that is, considering there is clear plastic covering the ABS.  I've heard Novus plastic polish is the fix.  Gonna have to figure out later.

Next step, sanding.

[vader55th]

Good luck with the build. Have you thought of using a dremel? Use it at a low speed and it really helps clean uneven cuts, etc..... Looks good by the way...

[daryldoak]

I'm curious if people have had any issues with the plastic covering while sanding? 

Last night I did some initial cleanup sanding work on the edges using a dremel and I'm finding that the plastic covering gets all chewed up so you really can't tell how your doing.  Is this just me?  I'm thinking that covering is gonna have to come off in order complete the sanding process.

Also, I'd love some tips on a proper sanding process to use.  What grits of sandpaper (I'm seeing 150 recommended), etc.

Thanks in advance.

[Capt Needle]

The thin plastic is there to protect the plastic for shipping.
It placed on the sheets before they are vaccuformed.
Your supposed to remove it.
I would suggest just removing only where you need to for now to protect the shiny surfaces.
Remove the rest when finished.

Don't try to keep it on, it's gonna bubble and come off anyway!

[daryldoak]

I was going to try and keep it on as long as I could during my build.

I like the idea of just removing it from the edges while building.  Then remove the rest later.

Thanks.

[daryldoak]

Made a little more progress tonight.

Started with removing the return edge from the forearms.  I used a pencil to make a line around the inside of the wrist area, then cut with my knife.

Before:
Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

After:
Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

Next I decided to do some sanding.  I bought some 150 and 220 sandpaper.  I started sanding with the 150 and quickly found that the protective plastic was in the way, so I peeled it back on all of the edges where I intended to sand.  I found that peeling back that film can be a pain and is quite time consuming.

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

I was also able to sand off a couple of accidental scrape-cuts that I made with my knife on a couple of pieces.

I also found that on the outer shin pieces (24 & 27) there is still a return edge even after cutting on the Anovos guide.  So I marked it and removed it also.

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

At this point I didn't bother to sand any of the edges that might need additional trimming during fitting. 

Overall I am happy with the results of the sanding, but I'll probably still use the 220 to finish it off nicely.

Then I put it away for the night. 

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

[Lidocaine]

Dude, great build so far! Love all the pictures so far.

[daryldoak]

When I got home from the Reaching for the Stars @ Evergreen Museum troop I had a package on my porch:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

I'm planning to cut the Anovos canvas belt off of the plastic belt at the rivets, then attach the new belt to the back of the plastic belt using snaps.  But I'm not in a hurry and I'd like to see other ideas here or on FISD.

[daryldoak]

My wife wanted to go to Ikea tonight, so I didn't get much time to work on my kit.

Worked on trimming the front edges of the forearms.  Tried to get them to about 7.5mm each side, so the 15mm coverstrip will fit nicely.

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

The left inner forearm #19 had to have a lot cutoff.  It's a very different shape than the right inner forearm.

Still need to trim the back edges in order to fit my skinny arms.   A lot of room on the wrist side:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

The elbow side fits pretty good because of the return edge.  I need to figure out how much return edge to leave on the elbow side.

[daryldoak]

Worked on additional trimming/fitting for forearms. 

I noticed that the return edges on the outer forearms were not the same at the elbows on each arm:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

So I trimmed one side to match:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

Then I trimmed the connecting edges on both arms in order to fit my arms, but still be able to fit my hands thru.  When I taped the right forearm piece (17&19) together I noticed that after trimming they no longer met at the wrist:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

This is caused by the fact that the left arm (16) has 11 indents and the right arm (17) has 12, and it about 1/2" longer.  So I trimmed the right firearm pieces at the wrist so they matched:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

I was happy with the fit for now, I'll fine tune later:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

Then I used the same process on the biceps, trim until they fit nicely, but I could still fit my hands/elbow thru:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

I'm happy with how the arms turned out:

Untitled by daryl doak, on Flickr

[CJ49er]

looking good Daryl.  No issues with length yet? My forearms almost seem like they need to be shortened. (I ordered the Large, when maybe I should have went with medium)

[Spurgco]

Nice work, and great pics! I am putting my forearms together also. The trooperbay videos make it seem to exclude a lot of return on the forearms (top amd bottom). As a result, i dont have a lot of return on my top.
In contrast to yours, which seem to have more, is is still acceptable to have a build with less return?