themaninthesuitcase

Been following this on your Facebook. Can't wait to see how these come out.

EIB submitted with my clearance images. Suspect I'll get called up on the dressing issues but I've got the foam now to pad out the parts as needed.

Name = Chris Pearson 501st ID = 10911 FISD forum name = themaninthesuitcase Garrison = UK Garrison 501st Profile = http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=21319 Armor = Anovos Helmet = Anovos Blaster = Doopy Doo full resin Height = 176cm Weight = 81kg Boots = Imperial Boots Canvas belt = RWA Hand Plates = Anovos ABS Electronics = TKVoice and Aker Neck Seal = Anovos Holster = Anovos Armor Photos Full Body Front Full Body Back Full Right Full Left Right Side Detail Left Side Detail Armor Details Side Rivets Kidney Notch Shoulder Bridge Front Shoulder Bridge Back Shoulder Elastic Thigh Pack Attachment Sniper Knee Attachment Drop Box Back Crotch/Butt Detail Wrist return Helmet Detail Photos Front Side Back Hovi tip detail S Trim Lens color (Backlit if necessary) Neckseal Blaster left side Blaster right side Blaster D Ring Thermal detonator back Interior Strapping Abdomen Detail Action Shot

Off we go

Just been reading the EIB specs: Are the soft hand guards needed for EIB or just for centurion? Looking at the CRL isn't not super clear but the EIB visual checklist makes no mention of them, so I guess I could probably submit EIB?

On my build I have some 1.5mm brass rod to pin stuff with, including the rear sight. I pinned the back of the sight and the front is held down by a screw that goes through the scope rail, through the sight and then into the barrel. The sight is also superglued and the gaps filled with magic sculp. Seems pretty strong. I don't know how much more stress a real sight would add, so long as it can't really move to get any leverage it might be okay.

I've been cleared to troop by the UK Garrison. I've got my induction troop booked in for the MCM ComicCon in London at the end of the month. I've wanted a TK kit ever since I first saw members of the UKG at a work party back on 14th September 2005 (yes, I did look up the troop to get the date!). I looked into joining around 4-5 years ago but the great wall of secrecy was too much at that time. With the discovery of the Anovos kit last year I joined the UKG forums and started to gather info. Whilst I had the option of ordering from more well known manufacturers I opted for the Anovos* kit, ordered a Doopy doo and started the mountain of research. Now 10 months after ordering a long time dream has come true, onwards to EIB and Centurion. I'd like to thank members of this board and the UKG for their help and inspiration during this build. My E-11 especially wouldn't be as good as it is with out the massive amount of prior art by other members for me to copy and build upon. For those embarking on their quest: Ask questions, people won't mind helping and give you a better result. Join your local Garrisons forum. They all have their own unique things. For example in the UKG they require a blaster for basic, this has thrown a fair few people doing Anovos builds. RESEARCH! Find and download all the reference images from other build threads and reference them in your own to show your thinking. Have fun. I had bad days during the build. If it's not fun, stop. Come back another day with a clear head. Pay it forward. I was given a 10% voucher for my kit, I passed the one I got on. I've been helping other Anovos builders in the FB group where I can. I also have made available the 3D parts I did for my blaster, and released a free IOS app for voice changer effects. Toopers helping Troopers. TK-10911 * we really need a 2-3 character shortcode of this like other armours.

The strap looks too far down the arm to me. With out going to get an arm out of my bin I think it wants to be so that the edge of the elastic is level with the edge of the trim strip. This shortens the whole thing and stops the loop forming.

I've also just fitted a Trooper Wireless Systems mic into my bucket. Works great, not cheap but love it. It's just velcro'd in which isn't super secure but strong enough. My love hate relationship with Velcro continues. Doesn't work with my IPhone app yet but a new adapter is on order. Need to decide how I'll mount the aker or not yet. First troop is booked for the end of May.

I've ordered some 40x40x10mm 5V fans, if those aren't up to the job I'll by some better fans later. I also ordered some latching switches, they are pretty big for dexterity when in gloves/if someone else has to poke a hand in for me. For power I'll get a smaller USB battery pack but for building and testing I've got a few bigger ones. All thats left is to decide which USB cable to sacrifice for the glory of the empire.

TK-10911 of the UKG requesting access. http://www.501st.com/members/displaymemberdetails.php?userID=21319

TK-10911 reporting for duty.

I've started to look into fans. Seems I can either pay buttons for kit from China and wait or pay between 5-10x for some PC enthusiast grade ones and have them tomorrow. Does anyone know what the connector is on the fans? Wikipedia seems to suggest Molex KK but the small ones use 2pin which looks different. I could always swap to JST as the pig tails on those are cheap.

I got my clearance through at 15:57 on the way home. Guess that makes it official, just waiting for the Legion level stuff to go thorough for my ID. I've kind of started. I wrote an IOS app for the voice changing and have an Aker speaker for it. Waiting on a Wireless Trooping Systems mic to come which was dispatched today. I'll need to sort out some fans too as I was sweating plenty when I took the clearance pictures. I'll probably get some small 5v ones to run off of a USB battery pack.

I'm sure arrangements can be made, I already owe Ross a pint!

Looks like I might be the first cleared UKG Anovos trooper. There was a 2nd person given a pre-approval green light 4 mins after me. Just a case of who gets through the admin first!

All that was the same stuff the UKG armourer pointed out, that and I need to pull my arms down more. I've picked 4 with my preference being the date I got married and second choice is my birthday but I don't want to jinx it by writing them down here!

Pre-clearance went straight through. A few minor advisories I'll address but nothing major. Just put in for my 501st ID and UKG clearance.

Took my pre-approval images this evening, twice as I forgot to attach the holster... Front: Back: Left: Left, arm up: Right: Right, arm up: Bucket off: Action: Bonus arty image for FISD only:

Catasrophic failure that near your head is very very bad.

Yup. All UKG have a shoulder sticker on the left side. It's the garrison logo. Every time I pack it up.

My soft good came on Friday and they seem to be a decent fit so with any luck I'll have my blaster done this weekend and I'll be able to get a full set of images ready for approval during the week some time. Also today I stopped in at a troop in Watford to meet some future Garrison brethren. Once they found out I was going for approval, well this happened... I hope I wasn't too awkward, meeting people for the first time with buckets on was less than ideal when you're not overly good at new people in the first place. I would have liked to hang about and have a proper chat but I also know they weren't there to chat with me, those troopers had a job to do. I also spoke briefly to another person who I assume was there as a handler, who looked a lot like Mark Hamill with his current beard. Again sorry if I was a bit awkward but I didn't want to intrude on other peoples fun, there is a better time for introductions. I also noticed that the armour had a wet look shine to them. This didn't look like it was the gloss from the plastic alone so I assume this was from a glaze of some kind? Should I polish my armour now or wait and see how it goes? It's going to get dinged up over time anyway so I will have to polish at some point regardless.

It was for faster holster removal vs the screws. Also this is plenty strong, the load is pulling down and to remove the snap you need to lever. The snaps are very high quality and require a decent amount for force to un snap.

I did that one last rivet last night. This completes my armour!

Pretty much done now! How close you say? Why listen closely and I shall recount the tale. The new RWA wife industries belt came of Friday. This is a 4 layer canvas belt as per the originals. It's also beige, but this will be resolved later in our story. First job was to punch all the holes. I started by finding the centre of the belt and marking it on some 2" painters tape. I then aligned up the plastic and marked out the two end holes as well. The ab snaps are centred under the 1st "bump" on each end. This means the snap won't rub on the plastic. The holes where punched out with my multi punch thingy. Unlike the elastics the canvas punched super cleanly and easily. According to reference the belt should centre on the button plate not the actual centre. So with this in mind I taped the belt with the centre hole below the button plate and marked out the points for the snaps on some painters tape. This took a couple attempts as the tape didn't stick to the belt well at all. I also think I ended up a little too off centre but not so much that I am worried. Drill, snaps, boom. done. The ab snaps where a pain as my tools are designed to be in a holder. In the end I used a lump of wood for the under side and carefully held the round over tool and hammered that. At this point I addressed the boring boring beige. This was a simple case of 2 coats of shoe and canvas whitener. It's not pure snow white but I don't like the look of those belts on other troopers I've seen. This is a nice medium I feel. At this point I cracked out the rivet gun. 10mm Rivet > washer > belt > plastic > washer. This was a simple job and wasn't as scary as I'd expected. The drop boxes were next. For this I used a ruler! No eyeballing things this time. 3" for the belt, 1" to the hole and about 9mm for the plastic that extends past the belt. Double this add a bit and cut, then punch a hole at the measured distance. Before riveting I test fitted the elastic and found it wouldn't quite go over far enough. To remedy this I added a small notch to the elastic on the back to go round the rivet. I've not done the front as for some reason this didn't seem needed. I guess the gap for the snap is enough room for it to move into. I also started adding the rivets and snaps for the belt as shown but with a washer rather than a cup: Having done one I really like the method as it makes it really fast to attach or remove the belt vs chicago screws. I'm yet to do the 2nd as I wanted to double check a measurement. It's 5" for the hole centres on the Anovos holster but if I ever want to replace this with a less stiff one I want the measurements to work on that too. Caps where glued on that evening. I found the rivets were a bit too tall to fit under the caps to glue well. Looking at the rivets I could see the top was excess I could file off, which I did so. This let the caps glue on cleanly and with a small dab of E-6000 in the middle, not a mountain of pink epoxy.... The snaps on the holster where a bit more work. The leather they used is SUPER thick, about 4mm thick if I had to guess. This means the snaps wouldn't protrude through enough to crimp. To fix this I used a dremel. With a sanding drum (use a new one, the old one I was using took ages. Swapped to a new one took seconds) I thinned down the leather until I could get the needed clearance for the snap to crimp. The blue tape is a guide to stop be going too far down where you'd see it below the belt. Theres not a huge amount crimped but the load isn't working on it in that direction so I am happy it will hold okay. I also trimmed off the 2nd hole from the straps as they are for heros not stunts. Armour DONE (less 1 rivet....) I'll do a full suit up once the soft goods arrive this week. I've been using some cotton tights until now which do work fine (and may be nice for winter troops) but the cotton looks odd with the modern base layer top I've got.