kman

Fingers crossed... report back as to how it comes out!

Hey, can I see a picture of those Chicago screws? I'm hopefully heading to a leather shop after work today, to pick some up. I was sort of hoping to re-use the unneeded Chicago screws from the holster, but they're way too deep to work for this.

Yes. But depending on how good a job you do, white painted boots just end up being white boots. Except for the ongoing maintenance issues. White boots, slightly scuffed seems a lot more reasonable, and I doubt you could tell the difference in the photo. IIRC, White-painted boots are allowed, as long as they meet the rest of the requirements, at the highest levels, if that's what you really want, though.

Anovos split rivets are a-ok for Centurion, per ukswrath.

Eventually, yes. I may or may not bother for my initial basic 501st application, since it's not required there. (only in the interests of time... it's definitely on my to-do list)

Ok, busy night... and yet, in some ways, we went backwards. At least it was a purposeful, conscious decision! First I laid out the straps that I'll need to use to close the rest of this armor up, trying to decide what work on first. I decided to first do the crotch strap. I measured per ukswrath's instructions, and drilled the hole to install the split rivet in the cod piece, for the crotch strap. Test fit of the rivet seems to work fine. I used the hot nail technique to pierce the elastic band that will go onto this rivet. (I need to pick up a sacrificial soldering iron for this sort of stuff, because I use mine too much for actual soldering to want to coat them in nasty melty plastic) I'll do the other two snaps, in the butt plate, another night, so now, onto the next task. Staring at the shims where I would be mounting the velcro or rivets, I came to a decision, though. As I mentioned in a prior post, above, I haven't been entirely happy with my side shims. I suspect they'd have passed basic acceptance, but I want better. And more importantly, stronger. The smallish lip holding it together did not inspire confidence for me, especially for a part that's going be pulled on to close the whole thing up.. So I decided to go for it tonight, and just replace the shims. I'll hang onto them for possible future use, but meanwhile, I tore 'em off and made new ones. These new shims were a little bit taller, too. Not quite as perfectly flat this time, but flat enough, and more importantly, long enough that I could bend a return edge along the bottom edge as well. The prior ones were a smidge too short to do a bottom return in addition to the top. So I tore off the old shims, cleared off the glue, and cut off the return edge on each side. Then I cut some new shims from some more scrap. It was slightly wonky stock, as I mentioned, but I was able to flatten it tolerably well by "ironing" it with a pan of boiling water. I figure it's the right temp to soften the plastic for bending, so it should be good to this, too, right? I set the plastic on a magazine on the kitchen counter, and put a piece of foil over it for protection from the pot, and just set the pot right on top. It didn't have a huge effect, but it seemed to help some. And the pieces didn't need much anyway. Then I did true hot water softening of the ends, and used some welder's pliers (sheet metal bending pliers) to tweak the edge right over and make a nice return edge at the top and bottom. Then I cut still more scrap into joining plates. These plates will nestle inside the full length of the shims, and give a MUCH larger glue area to bond the two together. The downside is two full days of gluing. Right now, the E6000 is curing, with the inner plates clamped into place. Tomorrow I'll glue the new shims onto those strips, then I'll be back where I was when I woke up this morning (*sigh*), but MUCH stronger. I'll get to re-drill those 3 rivet holes into the new left shim, too. Yay. That accomplished, I messed around with some small stuff. I measured my thermal detonator. 7.5" Exactly what the CRL calls for. BUT, I want to take 1/4" off to better match the screen-used TD: (borrowed pic from ukswrath of screen-used Thermal Detonator with measurements) ... especially looking at how the clips overlap (or not) with the control panel. I'll do that another day, though. But say, that reminds me: Does anyone know offhand what size nuts and bolts I should use for this? My kit did not seem to come with the screws, but I know there are more accurate options than the Anovos screws anyways, so I'll just buy the right ones. I want to use nuts and bolts, as well, not the sharp screws that were to have been provided. Next I wanted to work on the belt, but turns out I can't find my rivet gun (argh!), and the Chicago screws I had been thinking of using (stolen from the holster) are a bit too long for this job. I'll see if I can make it to the leather shop this weekend and see what else they have to offer in that regard, else I'll either borrow a friend's rivet gun or buy a cheapie from Harbor Freight. So instead, next up: The right side male snap. Another simple and quick one. I measured 20mm x 20mm in from the corner, drilled the hole, and installed the snap. Easy. Note that I tested the fit in the included strap first, since Anovos apparently included two different size snaps that are NOT compatible. So test first! No problems with fit, though, I chose correctly. That's it for tonight. Once the shims are in tomorrow, and the holes are redrilled the day after, I can finally install the rest of the side straps (split rivets on the left, more velcro pads on the right) and close up this armor properly for the first time. That should be interesting! Tomorrow, other than gluing shims, I think I'll work on the TD (miter saw to cut off 1/4", then I can chamfer the corners with a dremel, clean up the control panel, and start assembling it). Then I have two big tasks on hand: Straighten out the back plate shoulder straps a bit with hot water, and work on getting the shins closed up. I may need hot water for that, too, but first I need to spend some time getting the fitting right to make sure I don't need to trim any off first. Then I can finally mount the back strip and attach the velcro. And then there's the sanding. So much sanding I want to do. General smoothing of all the interior bits, because we're getting close now, despite the to-do list that somehow keeps getting longer the closer I get to the finish line... Off to dream of rebels and star destroyers.

Ha! Good response. I definitely wouldn't bother with removing any edges on the torso just yet, until you can put it together a little more. Tape it all on... it's all part of the fun!

He's using E6000 throughout the build, unless otherwise specified.

You will likely find the graphics in this thread helpful, too. http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/24487-diagram-of-snap-placement/

Yup, although shipping can add quite a lot to base price, so don't get TOO excited.

Tagged to see how this goes.

At 6' 175#, you seem pretty normal sized, so you can probably start just by working on the front-facing bits with the cover strips. Each part really only has one side with a really distinctive cover edge. Use ukswrath's thread to start trimming the return edges. (for instance, on the the forearms you'll want to trim to a straight line 7.5mm from the start of the return edge's ridge, on each half, then it will fit the 15mm cover strip perfectly when they're aligned under it to glue) The other side is where the fitting part comes in, unless you're a POUS. (person of unusual size)

Agreed. That's going to spread. The piece flexes when you're putting it on your shoulder, so it's going to be under constant stress and motion. A little scrap glued behind it should reinforce it easily, though. That's one place I might actually use CA glue instead of E6000.

Yes, exactly!

I worry a bit that the crack there could spread, particularly since that's an area that flexes as you spread the cap over your shoulder. You might want to cut a little piece of scrap and glue it really well to the backside of the section, to help reinforce it. Nice job on the padding and painting! You might want to extend the frown into two points on either side, basically paint a little triangle on each side, so it tapers away instead of just ending at the last tooth there. See the paint job done by troopermaster in his rebuild thread: http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35356-anovos-helmet-rebuild/page-3

In case you haven't progressed yet: Yes, unless you have massive arms, trim it down to 7.5mm on each side, so you end up with 15mm across when the two halves join, which just so happens to be the width of the cover strip for that part.

Good job on the helmet! How's the build coming?

IMO, start with the hand plates. They're small, and they're the cheapest and easiest to replace if you REALLY screw up, and but they're still straight line cuts that can give you a good feel for score and snap. And frankly, you're more than likely going to end up cutting off more than the Anovos cut lines provide for, so there's plenty of room for error.

Unwanted, yet hopefully invaluable learning experience. As long as it all works out in the end, I'm a happy trooper!

Not sure I follow?

Ok, a late night update, and I go collapse. Tonight was mostly about the belt, now that the plate has been freed from the Anovos belt prison. First I copied over the main snaps, which was simple enough. Find the centerpoint of the belt and mark it. Here's the TKittell belt along the Anovos belt: Measure the distance between the Anovos snaps, and make the same measurement on the TKittell belt. I used a leather punch to punch to holes that seemed to be dead on for the size of the center post of my Tandy Line 24 snaps. I tested on a piece of scrap ABS first, to make sure the hole was nice and snug, and it was. Punch the holes, and set the snaps. Very simple, and no issues. At this point, my wife was about to turn in, so I enlisted her help taking test fit photos. I finally have my shoes AND my soft goods, my shin armor is all built, and all inner cover strips are glued in, so I'm truly ready to start wrapping up the build. Here's some shots showing where I am: As you can see, the main strapping that I have yet to do is everything on the side: There is none. The main clamshell in these shots is held together by the belt, so things aren't quite aligned in these shots, and there is unevenness that velcro positioning and tweaking will fix, especially once the side straps are in place to hold things together and force them to align. Things like the left/right side spacing and the back plate to kidney plate connections, but adjustments like that won't stop me from completing the rest of the strapping. The Anovos thigh strapping is working for now, but I suspect moving over to movie-accurate thigh loop system is in my future. And obviously, the shins can finally be closed in back, now that I have shoes! One major adjustment needed is tightening the chest plate to the ab plate further, and I need to bend the back plate's top "arms" up a bit, to better follow the contours of my back, since they currently curve in at practically a 90 degree angle (which seems terrible for anyone!). And then there's my helmet, which still needs work. I'm probably going to take it apart and paint the inside with black plasti-dip. I need to clean up the flashing around the eyes, some, and the lens positioning. I'll probably repaint the frown to give it the proper corners. And last, I need to tear out the Anovos rigging and install my USGI helmet pads. And then I need FANS, because wow is that thing hot! But it's extremely exciting to see a real trooper coming together! Test fitting accomplished, back to the belt. I again marked the centerpoint on the belt front, between the two new buttons, on the side facing away from the body. My spacing, despite being copied from my Anovos belt, seems to have come in a little tighter than ukswrath: His measured 13 1/4", while mine was 13" exactly. [EDIT: Note, this measurement proved to be incorrect. I should have gone with Ukswrath's measurement, because the belt was just a bit too tight, trying to stretch across the middle to those two buttons. I ended up punching two more holes and moving the snaps out about 1/8" each. It should be ok since there's so little strain in that direction, but I wish I'd taken better account for the belt's curve when doing this the first time!] The next step is getting the belt snaps attached to the armor itself, in front. I copied ukswrath's placement measurements, and brought them in 1/4" to account for the different button spacing (1/8" on each side). I carefully marked the hole positions, centerpunched where I would drill, and drilled the hole. Terrifying! A 1/8" drill bit was perfect, btw. It's too tight initially, but a flashing removal tool removed the flashing, and made the whole just a smidge bigger, which gave a perfect tight fit for the post. After I test fitted the belt itself on just the protruding posts, though, the swearing started. It was tight. Really tight. And this is just on the snap posts, which only connect on the outer edges of the installed snaps instead of the actual centers. I decided it needed to move in about 1/8", so I drilled another hole (sigh) right next to the first one, along the same line (just one side). I decided I probably don't need to worry about the strength of the plastic in this situation, because all of the stress is pulling towards the middle, away from the other hole. (sorry for the sideways pic, forgot to rotate it!) Fortunately, the snap body itself completely hides the unused hole. Phew! I installed both snaps into the ab plate. Now, a test fitting the belt shows that it's tight, but they do snap on fine, and frankly it should loosen a bit with use over time, as the belt breaks in, so this should be good. I set the button plate on the ab plate, as well, to also test how that looks, and it seems fine. I think it's centered well enough with the button plate. It's a tad to the left of ideal (edge of the tape with the arrow shows the centerline), per the screenshots ukswrath posted, but I can probably tweak that slightly when I install it, because we're talking maybe 1/2" at best. Tomorrow I need to do some research to find out how to connect the plastic belt ammo pack, or whatever that front plate is. I think just regular pop rivets? That'll be simple, if so. Although I'm considering whether Chicago screws might be a good idea, too, so the plate is removable if I want? I'd still need to set the other side in glue, under the button covers (which I'll surely have someday, eek!), but if I use E6000 on those it'll still be removable if I really want to, without needing to resort to a drill. Before I can finish the side strapping, though, I need to resolve my quandry over the side shims. While my attachment method definitely worked out, as I look at more shim builds, I'm starting to want to simplify and strengthen it: Take off the kidney plate edge return entirely, and use a nice strip of scrap as a full-length connecting plate, to really make that connection SOLID. None of the spacing will change, just the way the shim connects to the rest of the kidney plate. Opinions?

Congrats, DesertMonkey! Our first Anovos EIB! I hope to follow in your footsteps soon!

I think the concern about heat is re melting the button cover, not so much the easily hidden belt back.

Nice build! Fingers crossed for you...

TK Boots and Imperial Boots. Best out-of-box boot you'll find, approved to Centurion. Solid shoes, both. You can paint your own for less, but unless you get a killer deal on the boots (Jodhpur or Chelsea boots) by the time you add paint you won't save much, and it'll have to be continually maintained as the paint scrapes off. (also many are lower and pop out of the armor easier) But it's possible to save, the DIY route. Funtamsa makes a "trooper boot" that cheaper, and will pass basic approval, but the seams on the front make it no-go for any higher levels. And the cheap vinyl construction is not exactly built to last.