kman

Looking good! Belt is a little high, you'll probably get called to lower that. Tip: It's easier to drill 2 new holes in the ab plate than to re-do the whole belt! (leave the old holes there, or fill them with ABS paste, doesn't matter since they're 100% hidden behind the belt anyway) You should also move the drop boxes out to the very edge of the belt, aligned with the end and snug to the bottom, like this: The elastic can run between the end rivet and the ab snap. Those two fairly easy fixes, and you're looking at an easy pass!

Exactly. Some kits are numbered correctly, apparently, but many are numbered wrong. So telling someone the numbers is fairly useless, unless you know HOW their kits were numbered. The only reliable way to correctly identify the parts is to put them together and look. Until you know what to look for, best option is to post a photo so those who know how to tell the difference can make a recommendation.

Congrats, Chris! Well deserved.

Micro update: Thigh rigging works great! Shoulder straps and internal chest strapping on the list for this weekend...

Suuuuure they would have.

Safe to assume you had some scrap material from another project laying around that you used for those hooks? None of the scrap from my Anovos armor appears to be thick enough to make a good hook, unless I want to start sandwiching layers.

Most fans I've come across in this size range, including those from two different sources that I bought for this project, tend to use JST connectors. I have a box of them from my Arduino projects, so it wasn't a big deal, but other than eBay I've had a heck of a time finding a good reliable source for them. I built a little surface mount board with two JST female seats and an inline switch, for the controls on mine. Having the disconnects makes swapping out components extremely simple, should a fan or battery die on me.

I'd definitely remove the return edge on the thighs in the back. Round down peak at the back of the thighs a little, too, not a lot, start with 1/2" and see how it goes. As it is, it will be difficult to move around in. Belt is high, is that just strapped around loose, or is it mounted there?

Congrats! Looks fantastic! The ONLY recommendations I can make have to do with fit, no actual cutting or sanding needed: 1) Watch your sniper knee from getting caught under the thigh... some foam in front of the knee and behind the thigh should help with that. 2) Your thighs should be rotated a bit more forward so the cover strips are going down the front of your leg instead of both cocked slightly off to the side. It's most noticeable in the first shot, and you can see the ammo pack sneaking around the side on the second shot, too... it's partially fixed (on the left leg, but not the right) in the bucket off pic. What rigging are you using for your thighs? Might be a simple tweak to better control that, so you don't have to worry about it. 3) Your right shin is closed a little wonky, just something to keep an eye on in the future. Welcome to the 501st! What's your TK number pick?

Ok, day 2 of tweaks and upgrades: The thigh garters. I have been trying to find 2" and 1" webbing locally, and so far have failed. JoAnn's had rubbish for 1" last I looked, but I may swing back for another check at some point. I don't recall them having 2" webbing. I know the local Army Surplus shop has it for sure, but their hours and my office hours are unfortunately clashy. I may go by this weekend, if I can, but meanwhile, given how cheap the already assembled belt and buckle are, I'm good with this: I blew a massive $5 on a 2" webbing work belt at Home Depot. Frankly it's probably within a buck or two of what I could make myself: Previously, I had purchased 3" elastic. I believe I got it JoAnn's for a couple of dollars at the most. I got it out, and set up my sewing machine. Time for work! With this video as my guide, I prepped a couple of pieces of 3" elastic for the thigh loops: First I made loops that would fit nicely around the belt, including a folded-over bit at the end, to assist with any unraveling. Note: I flame-sealed all cut ends throughout this project, although I didn't photograph this. I made sure I could slip the relatively bulky buckle through the loop. It was a nice fit, so I tacked it in place with a pin, and sewed a line straight across, back and forth a couple of times for strength, and made the loop. Repeat for the other side. I tried on the thigh armor and pretty much guessed at the length, with an extra inch or so to make sure it was long enough. Next up is the gluing. I laid down a nice bead of E6000 on the elastic. I glued it in place with magnets. The belt loop I had sewn crested just barely above the peak part of the armor. (try it yourself and adjust to fit if you have cut yours down) Repeat for the other leg. I won't really know for sure until tomorrow evening whether I nailed the fit exactly or not, but if it needs to be adjusted, E6000 should allow me to peel it off and adjust as needed. I considered putting in snap plates for these to snap into, but decided to try this for ease of adjustment. Next round, I'll convert it all to attach with snaps, once I know for sure where everything should lay.

While I respect your point, "catastrophic" failures are hardly commonplace. I've had many a white box battery pack for phones over the years, and never had a "catastrophic" problem. The "catastrophic" failure I alluded to was more that one of the cheap batteries simply decided not to work. I'm comfortable using these as they are. Over 100s of 4-5 star reviews on Amazon, for this particular battery pack, would tend to agree with my stance.

Depending the particulars, yup.

That's a train of thought that would make my wife VERY unhappy.

Other than people on a genuine time crunch, I can't imagine why anyone would ever want to use anything other than E6000 (or similar) on armor. Change happens! Gain weight, lose weight, add muscle, lose muscle, sell your suit to someone built differently... there are so many situations where change is required and CA glue would DRASTICALLY complicate it! Outside of a SERIOUS time crunch, where everything MUST be complete on a very short timeline, by a professional builder, it's just a bad idea to go with something that makes nearly permanent changes.

Aaaand, I'm back. Vacation finished, unpacking done, fires are out at work, and my wife's birthday is behind me. Time to get back to the armor! First, a few fixes I needed to take care of. 1) My belt was mounted a little too high. If you look aaaaaaall the way back to my submission photos in post 123 (on page 7), you can see my belt is about 1/2" too high. It's half covering the bottom button: So first order of business is the lower that. While at it, this was the perfect time to center it a wee bit better so that middle button cover is directly under the ribbed part of the button plate, the way it's supposed to be. I considered just moving the belt snaps, but decided I didn't want to. More permanent holes in the belt will weaken it a bit, and they're already nicely centered on the belt. Plus ABS paste will easily patch some small holes in armor (especially when they're hidden behind the belt anyway), and the new holes will be far enough away from the old holes that they shouldn't weaken the ab armor itself in any meaningful way. That decided, first thing needed is to remove the existing snaps. First you need a good working surface. I set up my usual work area, with a piece of 2x4 under the armor, so I'd have something to drill into, and eyed my victim: The first snap to drill out: I chose a 1/4" drill bit (larger than the splayed inner post, so it can cut all the material holding the snap in place away, and small enough to fit inside the snap's center comfortably). Hold the snap top firmly with pliers, to stop it from spinning, and slowly start drilling. I probably took nearly 5 minutes per snap, keeping temperatures nice and low so there was no risk of over heating the plastic and melting or warping anything. Going slowly, but putting firm pressure on the drill, to make sure the bit cuts the metal, and pausing every 5 seconds or so, eventually the rolled metal was cut away and the top of the snap came cleanly off: I used a small screwdriver from the back to pop the back off, which was hardly hanging on there at this point. (sorry, no pics) Snap #2 came off the same way. At this point, it was just a matter of placing the snaps in the new position that was better centered, lower, and installing them, the same way I did the first time around. Here are the new snaps installed (you can see the holes from the old snap location): And here is the belt snapped into place, now at the perfect height, and centered at least a little better: Yes! One mod down. Next up, I'll deal with making a new garter system to hang my thigh armor off, using 3" black elastic. That way they'll reliably hang at the right height, every time. After that, it's time to deal with the shoulder caps, and make some more snap strips to hold the chest down better. At some point, looking at these photos, I want to touch up the paint on the button covers, too! After these few things are dealt with, I'll do a new photoshoot and submit some pics for EIB. Perhaps later this week, if things go well!

Jason Dibble is on FISD somewhere, I believe, or you can definitely find him on the Anovos Stormtrooper Kit Building Group on FaceBook. He has posted photos of his mods in the FB group for sure.

FWIW there is another 6'4" trooper who is wearing Anovos armor with relatively minor modifications. It's definitely possible. I'm 6'3" and it's working for me, too, just needed side shims because of my girth. If your trunk is longer, you can just do what the other guy did and add split the ab plate to add a small shim behind the belt, then you're good to go.

For the holster, I've read that some people put in a water bottle that was a little bigger than the gun and left it in there for like a week. Probably could put it out in the sun, too, to warm it up and help it loosen and mold the new shape.

Take a look at Centurion applications for the right belt height. I'd describe it as just touching the lip of the flat rim of the button plate (left after the little return edge was removed), but not covering any of the raised detail. The Velcro is probably worth a shot. I'm not sure if it'll work out long term, but it's a non-destructive method so if it doesn't get the job done well enough, you can always pull it off and try something else.

Further to what Jeff was saying, about the belt: I don't know if you have installed the snaps into the ab plate or not yet (for the belt to connect to), but if you have, DON'T copy the Anovos belt snap positions, because the Kittell belt curves differently due to it's thickness and rigidity. One set of snaps MUST move (slightly) from the Anovos positions: Either the belt snaps, or the ab plate snaps. (1) If you haven't done the ab plate snaps yet, then go ahead as planned: Copy the Anovos belt for the snap positions. But when it comes time to install the ab plate snaps, ignore the Anovos instructions (and don't use ukswrath's measurements, either, since he used the Anovos belt for that part!), and use the belt itself to see where the snaps need to fall. (2) If you've already installed the ab plate snaps per ukswrath OR Anovos' instructions, then DON'T install the snaps in the exact same place. Instead, again, place the belt on the ab piece to see exactly where the snaps will need to fall. Either way, bear in mind the height and placement. The ammo belt is taller than the belt itself. The whole thing should just kiss the bottom of the button plate (which you probably have not glued on yet). You don't want it too high or too low.

Very close! Drop boxes should exactly align with the very end of the belt, snug to the bottom.

Velcro was a no-brainer for me, and works extremely well. Much nicer (and easier!) than the hooks, IMO. Biggest potential issues with Velcro are: (1) making sure it's well-adhered (surface prep goes a long way!) and (2) recognizing that all Velcro wears out eventually (but so does elastic, so the hooks are hardly immune to wearing out, also they probably have longer life than Velcro... and velcro won't risk breaking off chunks of shin, as I've seen the hook holes do, at times). Fortunately Velcro is almost as easy to replace as it is to put on in the first place, so that's not a big concern.

Yeah, that was interesting. I don't recall having to do that with mine, but to be fair, it's literally been years (possibly about 10) since I used my riveting gun. I can't find the dang thing! I was debating buying another one but decided I really don't need it anyway. I attached my Anovos ammo belt to the new belt with Chicago screws instead of rivets, so it's removable and I never have to go through the hell of removing those things again.

Yes, agreed. With your fans, I agree that it seems likely that it won't work with 1a. With any other fan, however, who knows? That's my point. The only parts that matter are the fans and the battery. Different brand of fan with different specs, and the higher power needs of the fans sold from your link may (or may not) apply, even if everything else (wiring, switches, etc) is exactly the same.

Pop rivets look a bit like a nail with an aluminum cap on the top, that's wider than the "nail" part. The head of the nail is like a little ball that is at the top of the aluminum cap. First you drill a hole in whatever you're riveting that will fit the larger part (the hat), up to the flange/rim. Insert that top part into the hole you prepared (top "ball" end first), then you put the "nail" part into the opening on the tool. Next you squeeze the handles, which makes the mechanism grip the nail part and PULL the ball part (the head of the "nail") into the softer aluminum sleeve. This forces that aluminum cap to spread out, and become wider than the original hole (that's how a rivet works). Release the tool handles to reset the ratchet, then continuing squeezing the handles, repeatedly, which will ratchet the head further as the tool continues to pull it into the cap, all the way to the base. At the end, the tool will automatically cut the "nail" end off, flush with the flange, leaving a relatively smooth bottom, and you're done. This video seems pretty straightforward to me: