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At the encouragement of @ukswrath, here is a post I originally made a year and a half ago on the Anovos FB build group, which is handy for all makes of armor, not just Anovos. ABS Paste?!?! WTF is THAT? I've seen variations of this question over and over. So perhaps this will be helpful. ABS paste is homemade glue for your ABS plastic. It literally melts and reforms the plastic into a solid piece, so it's more like welding than gluing. But as the warning phrase "it literally melts..." foreshadows, you should be careful. Making couldn't be easier. Get a GLASS jar. Don't be that person who makes it in a plastic cup. You know... the one that puts plastic melting stuff into a plastic cup. You've met that guy. Don't be that guy. All you need is a jar, some ABS scrap, and some construction grade acetone. Nail polish remover is NOT strong enough, even though it has "some" acetone in it. Pick up a bottle at Home Depot or the like. (For people in other countries, like the UK, where Acetone is not readily available... you have my sympathies) For containers, I feel a glass baby food jar is ideal. It's just the perfect size (unless you doing something epic!), stupid cheap (if you don't already have one somewhere), and easy to work with. I'm going to assume baby food jar, so if you choose a 2 quart mason jar, scale as needed. In general, ABS paste is practically free, other than the price of a tiny bit of Acetone and maybe a buck for a jar of baby food, if you don't have a suitable container already, since your source material is scrap from your own build. (never toss that armor scrap!) A NOTE ABOUT FUMES: Pure Acetone is nasty stuff. You really don't want to be breathing Acetone fumes. A whiff here and there likely won't cause lasting harm, unless you have existing pulmonary issues, but still, do your best to avoid breathing a lot of the stuff. At a minimum, you can end up with a NASTY headache. At worse, you can actually cause damage to your lungs. Use your own level of protection that feels best for you... some want to wear a full respirator (with a volatile organic cartridge), others, like myself, are content to work outdoors and minimize breathing it. (Once the jar is capped, it should be fine to bring indoors.) FILL the jar with the tiniest scraps if ABS you can get. I literally used the curly-que and powdered scrap from under my belt sander, after all my rough cuts, in addition to cutting up a few pieces of scrap into 1/4" square pieces, with scissors. And now the magic. Add approx 1 teaspoon of Acetone (and remember, I'm assuming a baby-food size jar... scale accordingly if you're trying to go big and make enough for your entire squad to build with!). Cap the jar, wait 15-20 min (or more, no worries) and then check on it. Poke it with a stir stick. (You can literally use a stick. Although IMO, a wooden coffee stir stick (free at Starbucks!) is ideal, and Popsicle sticks have their proponents, too, as does the toothpick crew, for detail work.) If you literally do not have a stick, a strong piece of scrap you don't care about will do, just be careful where you set it afterwards. But poke at it. Get an idea where it's going. Then add about 1 tsp more Acetone. Re-cap it again, wait 15-20 min, then check again, and this time, stir it a little more seriously. Note the consistency. You'll probably want to add some more, perhaps 1 more tsp, perhaps less? You may be starting to get a feel for it by now. Let sit for a good 1/2 hr, then check and stir AGAIN. We're going slow. Slow is good. Watch some TV or read a book. You have better things to do than watch ABS melt in super slow motion. At this point, you SHOULD be close to ready to go. If not, I recommend letting it sit overnight before checking it again. (in fact, that's not a bad idea in general, but it's not strictly necessary) Only add more Acetone if you still really think it's too thick and clumpy in the morning, after stirring it some more. Repeat until you reach that magic mayonnaise moment. Correct consistency is *roughly* mayo-like. I'd say somewhere between Elmer's glue (a little too runny?) and Toothpaste (perhaps a little too thick). Too runny = bad. Remember the "melting plastic" part? You don't want that running down your armor. Too thick and you may get air pockets. Shoot for the Goldilocks zone. ) When you're ready, apply with a stick. Let it dry (duration depends on thickness... maybe 20 min, maybe overnight?) and sand it down. Repeat until pretty. Relatively small amounts (read: the small patches that ABS paste is generally best for) should be relatively safe to use indoors, just be aware of the fumes. Larger projects (or sensitive spouses... not that it smells too different from the nail salon, in my mind) are probably best to work on outdoors. The beauty of using the same plastic your armor is made from, to make paste, is you get a dead-on 100% perfect color match. No painting needed! (note: The level of polish/sheen will not be the same, but the color itself will be a match. ABS paste isn't really good for large area applications... and trying to do that will likely end up causing warping from too much acetone anyway) (2nd note: ABS paste is not as strong as the original plastic. It's not actually a glue, even if it looks like one. For connections needing a very strong join, use CA glue, as usual.) (pre-sanding... but note that color match to the Anovos armor!) The paste doesn't really go bad, but eventually it'll harden and you'll need to add more Acetone. Keep it capped, and it'll last longer, of course... you can dry it out quite fast if you leave the cap off for more than a few hours. Future batches you can probably go faster (read: add more acetone, sooner), but I recommend the slow approach when you're starting out, until you have a good feel for it. Good luck!

Hi all, I've been working on the trigger mod today. I'm struggling though. It seems that the trigger guard is in the way when the trigger sits at a resting position. This means that the trigger cannot move back and forth. Spring not left this long - cut to about 8-10mm This is how the trigger hangs. This shows the maximum "pull" of the trigger. This raises two questions. 1: how far should the trigger travel? 2: how do I stop the trigger from springing back too far? I.e., how do I set a maximum return? In other news, did some more work on the stock today. (Made a slight mistake with the hole nearest to the rest at the muzzle end) Cheers. Dan :-) Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is a fantastic build. I've just started researching FOTK builds of Jim's kit as I'm about to pull the trigger on buying one. Anovos obviously did their usual and started with their first of probably many delays of the FOTK kit. This is going to be a goldmine of information for me. Thanks for putting together such a great thread. And congratulations on taking your first build into the legion. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Inspirational job! Can't wait for my spare parts to arrive so that I can start my Executioner conversion.

Hi all, I wasn't originally going to do a build thread, but since WTF is still a relatively new maker, I noticed there aren't many WTF build threads. Also, I'm only 5' 3" so thought it wouldn't hurt to start another thread about fitting armor to small troopers, although this is not going to come close to Cricket's, Diana's, and Fragarock's threads. Also, unlike other build threads, I'm actually already finished with my kit (submitted photos last night), and I didn't take nearly as many photos as other people do so I probably won't go into a ton of detail about some aspects of the build, but hopefully there will be enough information that people find it useful. I had been thinking about joining the 501st for a while, but what finally made me pull the trigger was having a son with severe medical issues due to a congenital brain cyst, and spending 6 months out of his first year essentially living in the PICU with him. Knowing that I could bring smiles to the faces of kids like him and the other families we met while we were there was really powerful motivation. (He is 3 now and doing great.) Index Biceps and Forearms Torso Fit Torso Strapping Thighs and Shins Sniper Knee, Ammo Pack, and Calf Closures Thermal Detonator Belt and Drop Boxes Shoulder Bells and Shoulder Bridges Thigh Strapping and First Suit Up Helmet Helmet Interior Armor Bin 501st Submission and EIB Submission Basics After doing some research, I decided to order from Walt's Trooper Factory for a few reasons. 1) I would be able to get my kit fairly quickly 2) The price was about middle of the road (not as low as Anovos, not as high as RS) 3) I'd heard that it was a good kit for smaller people. I knew that he made a kid's TK so I asked him if that'd be an option for me and he said the kids kit would be so small, but that he offered shortened thigh pieces for the adult TK. So I made my order with him at the end of April. Walt was a bit backed up after Celebration this year, so he told me up front the wait was going to be around 6-8 weeks. Hereare the supplies I used in no particular order: Neck seal first from Darman, then SoulArt because my Darman I gave a too-small measurement 8 oz Holster by Darman Belt from Rob Kittell Boots from TK Boots Hyperfirm B-Grade E11 (I also have a Doopydoo's kit + Bulldog scope that has been on hold) Undersuit top from Eastbay Sports, bottom from no-name Amazon brand Tandy Line 24 snaps and snap setter Dritz #10 nickel sew-in snaps 1" black elastic for strapping 3" black elastic for thigh strapping 3/4" white elastic for drop boxes 2" white elastic for shoulder straps 1/8" white elastic for holding down shoulder bridges 1" black nylon webbing for snap plates & belt Plastic quick release buckles for thigh garter belt E6000 Utility knife (box cutter) Xacto knife Lexan scissors (curved + straight) Metal ruler 1/2" x 1/8" rare earth magnets Soldering iron for making holes for snap plates Hobby iron for rebuilding return edges Testors paint + paint brushes Helmet stencils from Trooperbay 1/8" pop rivets + washers to fit rivet gun Split rivets from justjoseph (I actually ended up buying a decent amount of supplies I never used: tin snips, 2" elastic, 2" webbing, zap-a-gap, china pencil, and probably more stuff I'm forgetting.) Around 7 weeks after ordering, a massive cardboard box appeared on my doorstep! Unfortunately I didn't take pics of everything laid out, but WTF's kits come with all the white plastic, white PVC tube for the thermal detonator, brow trim and S-shaped neck seal, green plastic for the lenses, tube strip decals, mesh for the hovi tips, hovi tips cast in black resin, and helmet hardware (screws, pop rivets; I didn't end up using either). Of the plastic, in addition to everything needed for a regular stunt TK, it includes the diamond knee plate and the 3-button ab button plate for a sandy, and TONS of cover strip and shim plastic. Finally, most of the time Walt's kits ship with 2 sets of ears, but I only received one. Edit: also forgot to add that Walt's kits come with a one-piece kidney/butt so you'll have to split them. When I began trimming, I tried both the Lexan scissors and score & snap and much preferred the score & snap method, even for curved cuts. The Lexan scissors I found unwieldy to use; perhaps it would have been easier on a kit that had thinner plastic. I probably did about 90% of my trimming using score & snap. My one pieces of advice for score and snap is to score many times with very light presses rather than trying to get a good score in only one or two passes. All of my screw ups (knife wandering off the line, knife slipping, etc) were from me pressing too hard and trying to move too fast.

Congrats! Can't wait to see you get it all together! Woo!

Nice work so far on the stock [emoji2][emoji106] - find this part of the blaster quite time consuming. Steady as it goes as you work out more detail. You're farther than me on the trigger group, sure you'll hear from others soon

You know that moment when you feel really really excited and happy? well...I´m having that moment now....my Big Brown Box has arrived! with great anticipation I opened it and wow..just wow, it was so well packaged that even if a tank rolled over it the only thing crushing would be the brown box Just look and you`ll se what I mean and when unrapping it I discovered this! instructions on how to cut and assemble and all the strapping was individually labeled! and extra set of ears! Just amazing and here it is, resting securely in the bin awating assemly - truly amazing armor and I´m over the moon happy to call this set of armor mine! and...just love the Hero-helmet..perhaps going for the really low-brow look? To Troopermaster: a BIG thank you Sir!

Those bench dogs and that worktable were the perfect thing for drilling the stock! You're doing an awesome job on this project.

It’s looking good mate. I’ll be hitting you up for tips soon enough. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks! I wanted this build thread to be as if I were to build an FOTK myself for the first time And shame about Anovos.. I think Jim is going to get a few more orders right about now haha.

Definitely adding this to my "Followed content" to use as a reference for those who need it. Great job, Kalani!

Looks like you have done your research, looking good so far, keep up the great work

Ha! NERDS!!!! I'm currently waiting on the BBB (Rt-Mod for a TD build) but in the meantime I've got a Galac-Tac wip that I think is gonna be epic. I'm dedicating it to our men & women in the Armed Forces. Desert Spec-Ops theme....

In the future, I have to get one of Roberts magazines too, as I am needing to store the electrical components of my build - genius idea to put in slides, I will borrow this idea!

Hey guys just updating you. I haven't posted in a while because we had to evacuate Miami and go north due to Hurricane Irma. I'm sure many of you had to do the same. Fortunately my home wasn't flooded (and even if it was, my TK build and supplies were stored securely up high!), but my thoughts and prayers are with all those that have been effected. My prayers are also over the fire and rescue and law enforcement teams. Please stay safe out there guys.

A short video (no pun intended) from a children's hospital troop from a few weeks ago to show you other things that short troopers can do... we still can't hit anything with any degree of accuracy, just like the bigger troopers! But we can bounce Death Star-like balls, so at least we've got that going for us, which is nice. (click on the image to get to the video)

There are a LOT of build threads that have used the snap system. It is what the majority of us use, and some even go with a "double snap" method. If you look through the Centurion submission threads in this section https://www.whitearmor.net/forum/forum/72-request-centurion-status/ you will see some great examples. I myself prefer it as I find it very easy to get suited up, and I like that the various pieces of armor all come apart. My buddy Jeff (Wingnut65) has a great diagram here if you need it: (This the "double snap" system)