themaninthesuitcase

Delivery from Hornby! For reference Hornby will charge you £5 for delivery then not actually bother to dispatch for a week... After fixing the shoulder bell I promptly broke it again the following morning testing the fix. So I did it again. Bit heavier on the outside this time. This will need to be sanded but as it's the under side I'm hoping it won't be too visible. I also embedded a small strip of offcuts scrap into some paste on the back to help reinforce the break as I will possibly need to heat bend the bell out a bit. The other night I glued the plate onto the TD thus completing the first whole part on this build. Huzzah. It still needs the white plastics polishing though. The evening I glued up the TD I started dissasembling the bucket to clean up the paint. I spent some time filing out some of the eyes to get them closer to a reference image: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v336/themaninthesuitcase/TK%20Reference/DaveM3_zpsww1ihblr.jpg I probably could go farther but the reference image has a small return edge there and I was worried about messing up. I also tested the M3.5 screws for size and they look pretty close to the same bucket I referenced before but from the side. If you look you also get to see the ear gaps on the Anovos buckets is nice and accurate as is the brow trim not running all the way to the corner. Also of note is where the bottom ear screw is. Far higher than any builds I've seen which have it as on the Anovos kit, hidden under the S trim. Most of this evening was spent stripping the sloppy Anovos paint job from the bucket. The frown was removed using the Humbrol enamel thinners. Required some elbow grease but worked nicely. Bit tricky to get into the corners but some cotton wool on a tooth pick did the job. The thinners also made short work of the transfers used for the tear and tube striped. These rubbed of pretty fast so I'll used the same stuff for the traps once I but some more. Top tip: the 28ml bottle is not going to be enough! For the vocoder I had a harder time. The thinners was barely touching it, small dark marks on the cotton wool but I'd need a bucket full to get far. The white spirit I used to clean some glue from the inside padding just made it shiny. Only when I used some IPA (Isopropyl alcohol, not the ale...) and saw it went black when I wiped over did I find a chemical that would shift it! This stuff is going to make a huge mess. You can see I've only made a start but this will need a few goings over to first remove the paint, then again to clean up the mess where the IPA has flowed whilst cleaning off the paint leaving specs of paint I stopped for the evening as at this point the wife was high as hell as she wasn't provided with appropriate PPE. I should fire the site manager. Once the paint is all off I'll give the bucket a polish before re-assembling with some auto polish to give it a nice shine, the paint removal has dulled it even further than it was before. After that it gets painted and put back together. With any luck I'll be able to get some more thinners a bit faster than waiting for Hornby.

Yea but sounds like yours was more pronounced than mine is.

Probably 1cm out of line (so the ends are 1cm out of level if if that makes sense). I might just leave it and let the closures hold them in place.

Pro tip: leave ABS paste longer than overnight to go off. Will be having to redo the shoulder bell crack again.

One of my shins is twisted. Might try the bath to fix it. I have to do the shoulders so will have to get some boiling water going anyway.

There are DIN specifications that do specify the head sizes, washer thickness and so on. My M3.5 are DIN963. Which you can look at here: http://www.fullermetric.com/technical/information/din_specifications/specification_din963.aspx M3.5 head size should be 6.5mm if they are DIN compliant.

TK build update: all the images edition. I'll start with some images from the other day. As I said I found a crack under the S trim on the bucket. I used a pin vice to hand drill a small hole at the end of a crack, around 1.5mm, I didn't check the size just picked one. The point of this is to stop the crack running. They use this on drum cymbals when they crack to save them. If you look the crack is right at the end of a thick layer of superglue that was used to hold the trim. This created a stress point which then cracked. Not shown was the rough as badgers cut job of the bucket. I used a file and some 180 to smooth this off, again to try and reduce the risk of further cracks. I picked up 2 50ml bottles of acetone at a (support your) local pharmacy. I've chopped up some scrap and added about 30ml of the acetone in a baby food jar. Cleaned first obviously. This has sat for 2 days now and is pretty nicely brewed. Tomorrow I'll sand off as much of the super glue as I dare and then I'll apply some paste to the crack. I also took the clamps of the 2nd thigh. Again the big *rude word* clamp did the job and the strip bent again when the clamp was removed. I was testing the flex on a shoulder bell to see if I needed to trim more return and discovered the answer: yes, because it can't flex properly so cracked. Again I will need to fix this with some ABS paste. For this one I'll probably use a square or triangular file to add a V profile along the crack and then fill this with paste to give a strong bond with minimal need to sand back. Once that's done I'll reduce the return a small amount. I also added a 2nd coat of Humbrol #85 satin black to the M4 pan heads I am using on the TD. The result is pretty decent. I also picked up some organisation for all the screws and such needed for the build. This has my split rivets, M4 screws, nuts and washers and the M3.5 for the helmet. I also now have some bobbins for the sewing machine for the white and black threads as well as some more M4 washers to use with my split rivets. Yesterday I sat a sewing machine for a couple of hours and made lots and lots of elastics. I've not done all of them but most of them and made a few spares for some. I still need to finish the shoulder 2" white, make a crotch strap and probably re-do the elastic for the side with the solo snap. No images, because sewing was too hard for my fragile brain. Now on to todays work. I got a top tip to make a snap tool with a sawn off flat head screw driver, hence forth special tool #1. After a lot of practice, and several dead rivets and snaps I more or less got the technique down and braved the armour. I did all 7 rivets needed, the 6 on the ab/kidney and the front crotch. I am probably 100% happy with about 3 of them and 1 of them will have to do as I couldn't get it out. I got better as I went but I figured out a few things 2 of which are important. 1: be picky about the rivet, they aren't all cut the same make sure you pick one that's cut all the way down, some aren't cut that low and I think these are the ones I had issues with. 2: You need to "sway" the special tool #1 as you hammer to apply even pressure to both legs. I'll do a tutorial on this later if people want it. The result is a nice set of snaps: That means I can completely remove the elastics. And will still pass centurion once I paint them. I also started to build up the TD. I used 4 of the painted M4 screws so the head was against the aluminium bracket, a washer against the tube and then a nyloc nut. I chose nyloc as I don't want to have to pull the caps because of a loose screw. These are also stainless steel as that's all I could get the screws in rather than being extra fancy. To fit the end caps I got a pan and pre heated it with some hot water from the tap while I boiled a kettle. This was so the boiling water stayed hot rather than heated the pan. 1 at a time I removed the cover plastic and dropped the cap into the boiling water for 30s. I used the spoon to hold them in the water and also to remove them after the time was up. I did my best to drain the water then dropped them on the glass on top of my oven. This was chosen as it's heat resistant and smooth so not to add texture in the next step. Finally I pressed the tube into the cap. Now these were nice and warm the tube went in easily where before just starting to fit them was a nightmare. The chamfer added earlier made lining this up and starting nice and easy. Once fitted the plastic was set by putting it under a cold tap. The caps look nice, have butted up against the clips nicely and only a small ripple on one side where the plastic stretched.

Glad I made some abs paste. Cracked a shoulder bell return flexing it earlier.

B&Q, Homebase and a few others. But like I say it's more it's a controlled substance and you have to have a good reason to have it. I asked in the shop I got some in and they said they couldn't get the bigger ones as its used for bomb making. I have a link to a place that sells stuff like fibre glass supplies who sell it but if I can get it on the high street I save on expensive shipping.

I can get it in 0.5l cans but it means an order to a specialist supplier who will probably be required to keep a record of the sale. Loads of stuff you can get in the US is a controlled substance here.

You Americans have it so easy. Went to buy some acetone and you can't get it in bottles larger than 50ml and I was asked what I wanted it for. Fortuately, despite some confused looks, I managed to get 2 bottles. I am probably now on a government list though, as the reason you can't buy it in large amounts (easily) is it's used in bomb making.

I did all of my cover strips one side at a time. This meant I could ensure everyone was lined up nicely before the glue set.

I got my helmet pads in the post today so started a basic disassembly of the bucket. The hard hat liner came out easily and basic testing of the pads looks like the will work well. I also removed the S trim to allow me to repaint the vocoder as the standard paint job was less than great. Under the s trim I found 1 small crack. I've drilled a small hole at the end of it to stress relieve and stop it running. I will make some abs paste and fill from the back to reinforce it. They also where a bit heavy handed with the CA glue when building these. I've got some CA remover but it melts the ABS. I've added a layer of CA to my test sheet and will see if I can use a cotton bud to at least thin down the glue a bit in the worst areas. I will redo the frown as well as the paint wasn't great but unless there's any pressing need will leave the tube stripes and traps for later. I will eventually do them again but for now they seem okay.

Not long ago I started a to do list using Trello. For those interested it's publicly viewable here: https://trello.com/b/6Iy1Plmi/anovos The items with blue are needed for EIB and the red for Centurion. No colour means JFDI. I think I'm starting to get close to finishing the armour. Then all I need to do is finish the E-11....

Looking good chap.

Righty then, more progress. The first (right I think) do over on the rear thigh cover strip worked nicely. As you can see I was heavy handed with the glue, lots of squeeze out. Once I released the clamps the cover strip actually bent a little to the shape of the curve so pretty happy with the glue bond this time. Did the left last night and will be leaving it until tomorrow to allow the glue to truly set. Next I made a start on the drilling. I needed 2 sizes, one for the snaps and one for the rivets. I found a piece of 1mm scrap and after I measured the parts found the nearest (but small) drills and made some test holes. I used some imperial HSS drills I have as I have them in 1/64th increments. I used 5/32 for the rivets and 11/64 for the snaps. After using a 1mm ish drill in a pin vice to create a pilot hole I drilled out all the marked holes. Kidney, 10mm in NOT 20 like Anovos instructions... Ab, also 10mm in. Nice solid material here. The hole for the single snap on the ab plate. About 20mm in and down to give the appearance of the correct space. The snap set. The material is a bit thin for the tool so the snap was a bit rattly despite being set well. To prevent too much movement and so wear I super glued the inner part of the snap. I did this for all the snaps in the plastic. Butt plate snaps, again super glued. Can't tell you the exact measurements but where based on ukswrzaths build one FISD adjusted for the different snaps. I've not done any of the split rivets yet as I forgot to pick up my small cold chisels when I was back at my dads at the weekend. I won't be back again for a while so I'll just order some new (better) ones. I also made some progress on the TD. First I offered up, marked, then drilled for the brackets. They should be right up against the end caps once I add them, if not they should be pretty close. The letters are so I know which bracket goes on which side. I also drilled another 4mm hole under where the control plate will be. The purpose of this is to allow the air to escape when fitting the end caps hopefully making this easier. I'll be using M4 pan head machine screws for the brackets. These will be secured by a washer and a nyloc nut on the inside. To better match the originals I've applied a layer of satin black Humrol (#85) to 5 screws, 1 spare. I need to do a 2nd coat looking at it now it's dry so I'll do that soon. I also did the ab buttons with the #14 French Blue. I of course managed to drop the plate after the photo so had to touch it up. Looking at it today theres a few marks I'm not massively happy with so may use a light smear of white spirit to smooth and then re-do the top coat again. I have a test piece I'll try this on before the buttons to see how will it works. If it goes bad I'll leave it as is, you'd have to be inches away to notice. I did have HUGE issue with the #5 grey though. It was clearly very old and had completely separated. After 10 minutes of mixing it was far too light looking. I did a test on my scrap and even once dry it was way too light. I got my Humbrol from a small local hobby store and the tin was obviously old. From the 5 tins I got I had 3 different tin print styles. The grey was clearly the oldest as was the Mediterranean blue for the bucket stripes. My black had also settled a lot, after a good stir it was okay for the screw heads but no good for the bucket, far too thin. I will be replacing the #5 grey, #85 satin black and #48 Mediterranean blue with new tins. The #22 white was new a looking design and the #14 was fine with a quick stir. For what the paint costs I feel this is just easier. Normally I like to support local shops where I can but Humbrol has become a pain to find* so I'll be ordering it direct after I finish this post. I'll also get some gloss varnish so to use to seal the masking template and prevent the blue from bleeding. * when I was a kid I could have gone to 3-4 places in town, now maybe I have to go to Hobby Craft in an out of town place.

Pretty sure it's Gazmosis who did the rebuild.

Is there a minimum size for the TD. I know the rough length is correct as ships but the proportions look off once built. I've seen one where they've trimmed about 1cm from the length and it *looks* spot on proportionally but would now be closer to 7" long.

whats 197 in real money (Yes this is a joke. Also what crazy altitude are you at if water boils at 91C?)

Seeing those mangled snaps makes me so glad I bought the pliers! I've got to bend the shoulders too to reclaim about 2". Any pro tips?

I have a source for M3.5 but only 30mm long. There's shorter ones on evilBay but I think they will be too short.

that sounds like the butt plate measurements.

The on going adventure continues. Last couple of evenings have been busy. I started last night by re-doing one of the shoulder snaps. The snaps don't aways set as well as I'd like and I didn't realise how bad this one was until after I'd glued it. I pulled of the old one and reglued a new one. I've also glued most the the snaps to the body parts only needing to do the chest and OII plate. The side is still outstanding also until I get the snaps/rivets in place. I've also yet to add snaps to the arms, though still toying with the idea of glued in 2" for the elbow vs snaps, at least on 1 side. I then re-trimmed both the rear thighs to get them to line up better and then re-glued the cover strips back on as before. The new gap is far cleaner. I have also marked out for the various holes that are needed, though I've not done the butt plate yet. I couldn't find any measurements for the crotch strap, A is 20mm and looks a bit close maybe? B is about 25ish. The solo side snap was suggested at 12mm (A). Looking at other builds this seems a touch close to the seam. 20mm is what another Anovos builder is using and looks a bit better (C, follow the arrow its basically in the cross of the B ). Measured out for the side rivets as per reference (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v336/themaninthesuitcase/TK%20Reference/RoughMeasurementSideRivets01_zps6fiotrbz.jpg). Then repeated this on to the Ab. I've yet to drill these, I'm waiting for my bag of brass split rivets which should arrive early next week. I also started glueing one thigh again. I've used a big beefy locking ratchet clamp to hold at the smaller end where the most stress is. This seems to be doing the job and I'll leave it for 48 hours to fully set. Finally I need to re-form the back plate as is common with the Anovos kit. I have about a 2" gap which I should be able to close up if I heat form the shoulder arc which is very square. To reduce the stress on the bend when doing this I'm going to trim some return down to the following lines. The neck side doesn't need to be done as the return angle doesn't make it necessary. Once the trims done I'll have to use some boiling water to warm the plastic to allow for the bend and then cold to set the bend. Once I'm happy I'll add the snaps and be able make the shoulder elastics.

Spent the evening gluing snaps on and also cover strips back onto the rear of the thighs. I lined up the butt plate with the kidney to made sure everything lines up. I have added more to various parts until I ran out of clamps again. To get the thighs to line up I added a slight trim to both which seems to have helped a lot. Guess we'll see when the glue sets after the final join. I've also started marking up for the holes I need to drill. I took some photos but I'll post those another day as it takes me a long time to sort through things. Once the snap glue dries on the kidney I'll mark up there too.

I was thinking of doing test, but the tape was faster than 24 hours for E-6000 to dry and me be happy that it wouldn't react. Having a night off today, last night was too frustrating. Normal service will resume tomorrow and I'll figure out whats going on with that thigh gap. I picked up some 2" masking tape so will be really pulling on that to hold it down. Will lightly sand the armour side see if that helps, and maybe even wedge it in between something solid too. I should have plenty of clamps left after that so will glue on some snaps too.