Anovos ANH Stunt Build

[Zeks]

For the past couple of weeks, I have been working on an Anovos Stunt Build TK.



Here is the bucket



I have all the pieces trimmed and working on assembling. ukwrath's build thread on FISD has been invaluable. Along with khros 19 hour stream, I have gotten a lot of useful techniques in assembling the kit.

So far only the biceps and forearms are assembled. Here are the biceps. I know the strips are long. This was done intentionally in order to trim them as close to the piece as possible. I do not have the most steady hands in the world and straight lines forever elude me. Let's hope I never have to take a field sobriety test. The left one is a little tight, so I will be trimming back the return edge a little more as I get closer to final fitting with the soft parts.







Here are the forearms. I was able to trim the strips pretty close, but I will get them closer as I do the final fit.







After 2 days of initial fitting, I finally got the shins assembled and drying as we speak. It did not help that Anovos initially labeled the shins wrong. Once I got the right parts together, they came together a little better than before. The right shin still has some gap in the back, but the strip covers it rather nicely. The left shin is good enough for government work.

Here is the left shin



Here is the right shin



As always, I am open to any advice or hints on assembling the kit. I still have a long way to go, but I am in no hurry. I want to make sure I get it right. As I get more of it assembled, I will post updates.

v/r

Geoff

[sentry71]

Great work, Geoff. Glad to see you are making progress. I have an AP kit that is about the same point in the process.

The thread from ukswrath is a great source of information - I'm glad you are following that as well.

Looking forward to your continued progress!

[Dwootan]

Looks good. Was wondering how those kits were.

[IcyTrooper]

Looking good thus far! I'm excited to get my kit, I've been studying those threads you mentioned.

Did everything come in the box intact and undamaged? I've heard of some people getting their stuff from Anovos all warped and whatnot.

[Zeks]

I have not noticed any damage parts. With that said, there was very little protecting the individual pieces. They simply came in a plastic bag. So depending on handling during shipping, some parts get damaged. Most are scratches which can easily be fixed with ABS paste. Some have reported missing parts with the strap system. As with any kit, do a complete inventory of the items and contact Anovos with any missing parts. However, since you are getting the shadow trooper set, any scratches will not be very visible.

[Zeks]

This weekend's progress.

Shins left and right front strip glued and the sniper plate attached. I have not started on the backs yet. I am debating between velcro or elastic straps like ukwrath's.



I also just glued the thighs together. This is my second attempt at assembling the thighs.



The reason behind the one clamp in the middle is because I am trying to get the piece up against the strip. The magnets where not doing a good job. I get the feeling I may be doing these for a third time. We will see.

Probably the biggest accomplishment was the upgrade from the Anovos belt to TKittle's belt. The biggest problem was getting the plastic off the Anovos belt. The connectors attaching the plastic to the belt is glued where the three buttons are. Try as I might, I could not find a way to get them separated without damaging the plastic.

I ended up just cutting the connectors off the fabric of the belt.

After that, I took my Dremmel with a diamond wheel and cut the connectors off. The diamond wheel is thin enough and strong enough to cut through it. As you can tell, there was some marks left on the plastic, but none of it transferred to the front of plastic which was important.

After that, I simply used the E6000 and glued three female snap connectors to where the original connectors were. There wasn't away to hold them in place, so I simply made sure there was enough of a connection and let it sit for longer than 24 hours to ensure it cured.




My only concern was there might be a gap between the plastic and the belt itself. However....



It came out better than I thought.



As you can tell, there isn't any damage to the front of the plastic. I was able to reassemble it with no problem.



It also helps in keeping the floating ammo in place once it is attached to the ab piece.

So while I might be disappointed with the thighs thus far. The belt more than makes up for it.

More to follow.

[Zeks]

Well, just realized the shins have the wrong strips on them. So, after taking the strip and sniper knee off, I am back to square one on them. At least the belt is ready to go, so not a wasted weekend.

[IcyTrooper]

Thanks for the reply, kind of strange that they didn't protect them more, but not a huge deal as you mentioned. Since it'll have the black finish I'm thinking the scratches are going to be a lot more visible but nothing some polish can't get rid of. I think there is a protective film on it from the first unboxing I watched on the shadow kits...hopefully they didn't dump that.

That belt looked like a pain in the ass! Did you just use the wrong strip for the shins? I'm 6' 2" and long and lean so this may prove to be interesting for me. I already know that I'm going to have to tailor the suit since I lean more towards the ectomorph build...

[Zeks]

Yes, I simply used the wrong strip. The strips are numbered but the instructions had them alphabeized. So, unless you are paying attention, it is easy to get them mixed up. The strips I used on the front of the shins need to be on the back. The good news is I get to fine tune the sniper knee now which is something I wanted to do because I was not very happy with it.

The belt was a pain, but I was actually surprised the solution I came up with worked.

[WiederK]

looking good.

[IcyTrooper]

Yeah I had read that the instructions were kind of wonky, but I think that was limited to the regular stormtrooper builds...in my non-expert research. Mine will probably be the same since this is the first build for me lol

But I do like the belt that you have done! What did you do with the sniper knee?

[Zeks]

If you look at the picture, the left side (or part that would be on the inside of the leg) was lower than the right, so it did not look straight. Now, I get to fix it to look better.

No pictures, but a quick update. I got the strips glued to the shins and now waiting for them to dry. While waiting, I worked on the back of the thighs. Since I finally got the soft parts, I wanted to get the sizing final.

At first, there was a huge gap which would require some shims. However, after looking at the CRL and adding the ab piece for reference, I noticed I had my thighs way too high on my leg. I was able to lower it and reduce the gap to a point where the strip will cover with enough meat to glue it.

I will try and get pictures tonight

[Zeks]

So my progress for this weekend is as follows:

The biggest thing was I got the cover strips off the front of the shins and started moving them to the back. I was also able to get the cover strips on the back of the thighs as well.



As an added bonus to having to replace the strips, I also got to fix the sniper knee which I am very happy with now.



I also did a test fit of the chest, ab, kidney, back, and posterior pieces.





All that is left is the ammo belt on the right thigh, the back cover strip of the left shin, getting either velcro or elastic strips on the back of the shins, and figuring out the shoulder covers that connect the chest to the back.

I decided to focus on getting basic approval first before getting EIB and Centurion. Therefore, I am focusing on just basic approval now.

All in all, not a bad weekend.

[IcyTrooper]

Looking pretty solid!

[Zeks]

Another weekend down. A little bit closer to being finished. Since I had to work all weekend, I did not get much done, so I decided to focus on something that takes time to cure. Lucky for me, my plasti dip arrived earlier in the week, so I was able to work on the bucket.

Along with cheese cloth, I was able to plasti-dip the inside of the bucket.



I also added three pads which got it pretty snug on my head. In addition, I pushed the lens as close to the eye openings as possible in order to give my nose a break. Still looks good.



Since the shins were FINALLY done. I decided to add the velcro on the back and do a test fit with my TKboots.





I know it looks like the sniper knee is digging into my knee, but I think it is because I was trying to get the picture, so my leg was bent back further than normal. I will see if it will be an issue when I put the thighs on.

Speaking of thighs. I was unhappy with how the front cover strips came out. There were some gaps between the cover strip and the plastic. I was able to close them down on one thigh, but the other one was proving a tad bit more stubborn. So, I removed the cover strip and did some trimming and re-glued.



Hopefully it will come back better this time around.

I also started to prep for strapping. I main got the posterior and cod piece split rivets and snaps together.





So, I am getting closer and closer. Lucky for me I have a 3 day weekend, so plenty of time to work on the straps and get everything test fitted.

More to follow....