kman

"Glued from the inside"? Not sure what you mean there. The shims are all glued only on the inside. Thanks for the confirmation on the notch. I've seen it both ways.

Considering how many thousands of suits were sold, that would be REALLY tough to determine, unless Anovos acknowledges an error in the process and sends out a mass correction notice.

Looking good! Glad to hear the shin "fix" seems to have done the trick. I guess I know what I'm doing tonight. And here I thought I was almost done with the gluing... *sigh* Wrist are probably about right. They're bigger (by necessity) so you can get your hand through. Don't forget to size them while wearing a thin glove, however. It may need a smidge more space to get through, or may help slide through making it easier.

Since the strapping work, I’ve done more, but it’s all slow, tedious, and boring. I’m almost done adding internal cover strips to each *$%# joint in the armor. The forearms and biceps are easy (side note: Working on the biceps is great. Between the short length and the cutout, you really don’t need to use magnets to clamp! I can easily fit 4 clamps in, for excellent clamping across nearly the whole length, along with tape.). Cutting interior cover strips is simple, btw. Lots of scrap left from the initial rough cut, so just find a piece that’s long enough, get out the ruler, and cut a strip that’s the same thickness as the front strips (or close to it... it’s fine if it’s a smidge thinner, since it’s on the inside and can’t be seen). The scrap is somewhat thinner material than the supplied cover strips were, but these aren’t the main structural bits anyway, so that’s irrelevant. In fact, it’s probably good to have them be a little thinner and more out of the way. Anyway, cut the strips with a ruler, chamfer just the like the outside strips, sand it REALLY smooth (remember, this is the part that touches you and it'll be a pain to get in there later), and glue them down, same as the first time. Very simple! Just tedious and time-consuming, waiting for glue to dry. (The one downside of E6000.) The other thing that I have worked on is filling in the gap in the front of my thigh pieces. When I first made them, I purposely spaced them out a bit, behind the cover strip, to give myself a little extra room inside. (I’m a big guy) It worked well, but it’s more noticeable than I first thought, as you can see in the “action” pic just above, in my previous update. That little gap really jumps out at you with a black background! So I decided to make inserts to fill the gap, and sandwich them in place with the inner cover strips. I basically hand cut a little filler piece, and bent the tip to match the return (it’ll get sanded more perfectly once glued in). After it’s all dried, I’ll use ABS paste and sand the fronts even more, to make a perfect finish. (These photos are all various pieces, since I had the same issue with one forearm, but they all illustrate the point) Here I’m adding the inner cover strip, and you can see the final result. (pre ABS paste, of course) (I'm not sure why I didn't use tape on this one to secure it, but it was fine)

Sorry for the delay in posting updates, it’s been really busy at work, which is where I usually take the time to write these updates. First, though, I took an unsuccessful crack at the belt. I need to pop off the cover discs so I can drill out the rivets, and move the plastic belt cover over to my shiny new Rob Kittle belt. I removed the holster easily, since it’s just held on with Chicago screw. Unfortunately, the three cover plates were stubborn, so now the old belt is now chilling in the freezer, pondering the error of it’s ways. I’ll try again soon with frozen glue, which should be more brittle. The shims are pretty much done. Enough, for now, that is! I still need to make a batch of ABS paste and get sanding to “disappear” that seam, but for basic cert, the one extra seam is permitted anyway (maybe even higher?). So I’ll do that later, once I’m 100% certain everything else is good and no changes need to be made. One shim is angled a little funky, but that won’t matter once it’s strapped around my waist. I made the decision to go with the Anovos strapping system, at least for now. Over time, I’ll upgrade to button plates, bit by bit, but this should get me up and running sooner, so I know everything fits. It’s tough to test-fit everything well, when it’s all falling off of you! I then spent an afternoon back on the belt sander, cleaning up trim edges closer to final. The shoulder bells were especially obnoxiously tight, scratching up the bicep pieces (or at least it might have, had I not kept the plastic wrap on, LOL!), so those in particular needing thinning. I did some general cleanup on most of the other pieces, too. That's probably it for the belt sander, though... future work will be with hand sanding and I'll finally bust out the Dremel. Next up is to start placing Velcro into the armor. (Soft side, cut from the provided roll) I cut a bunch of 3" strips, as per the instruction diagram, and put them into the shoulder bells (stupidly easy). Don’t forget to sand your surfaces first! Then I put the three into the butt plate. Easy-peasy. I put the two pieces in the bottom of the back plate, also simple. Right at the edge, just as pictured. But the kidney plate, which ties it all together, you need to be a little more careful with. One side of the strap can go wherever, but to get the correct tension, the placement of the Velcro pad can vary for the other side. Since I placed the pads for the top and bottom at the edge, the kidney plate is where the careful placement needs to happen. The butt plate should fit snug against the kidney plate, right on the bottom edge, while the top (back) plate can have a little more space, if needed, depending on height, so I tested it to make sure it all fit first. I placed the velcro to connect the top straps a little lower, so it hangs at the right height while I wear it. Note, btw, in case you missed it: The three straps that snug the butt plate to the kidney plate are noticeably shorter than the rest of the straps. This is on purpose, of course, since it’s supposed to be a short hop anyway, keeping them tight. Here you can see it all spaced out: And here you can see it with all put together of the connector pieces connected. You'll note I diverged slightly from the Anovos pattern, since I have side shims for the connection between front and back. I'll get to that later. Same process for the front two pieces. Followed the Anovos photo for the ab plate velcro (loop side), then test fit everything a couple of times to make sure the chest plate was correctly positioned, before I attached the top velcro pad. My Anovos belt was still in the freezer, but I decided to do a quick test fitting, using the TKittle belt to hold it on. Action pose necessitated by a thigh that kept wanting to fall down, LOL. The good news is the shoulder bells no longer have a death grip on my biceps, the bad news is I definitely need those shoulder straps to keep them up, now, LOL! (The photo showing them installed, just before this pic, was actually taken shortly after this one was, when it was clear the shoulder straps needed to be added, STAT!) Slowly coming together. I still need to attach the stupid ammo belt on the right thigh, but after looking at the test fitting photo, I decided to spend some more time cleaning things up first. I want to finish the interior cover strips on everything first (before that ammo belt is in the way), and I'm not happy with the little gabs at the ends of my thigh pieces. The extra space seemed like a good idea at the time, but now it needs cleanup. Note: Taking selfies alone is a PITA with gloves! Even with a 10 sec timer, there's no way to trigger the photo, get into position, helmet up, adjust it all, and get the glove on! I need my wife to help but I'm usually working on the armor in the wee hours while she sleeps.

I just used scrap strips from the initial rough cut. Plenty of material to cut cover strips. They don't have to be quite as thick on the inside. (in fact, I could argue that it's better if they're a little thinner)

Belt sanders RULE.

Ugh. Seriously? I used E6000 (thank goodness!) so technically I could swap the parts, but given how customized the cuts are for each piece, they may not line up correctly. It'd be a miracle if the spacing worked out, too.

Here's one method: (it's a long post, but keep scrolling, and you'll see) http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/35086-ukswraths-anovos-tk-build/page-10#entry461326

FWIW, I had the exact same issue, with one leg being heavily splayed out, and the other overlapping quite a bit. I've waited to do any sort of resolution, however, because I don't have shoes yet, so I don't know where it's going to need to end up. I'm hoping it will all work out once trimmed to size. The velcro should help, too. And if that's not good enough, the hot water method should help close (or open) up the gap a bit, too.

Vac formed, for sure. I'll leave the rest to others...

I'd trim the plate to match the lines of the spot it's going in, which definitely nowhere near square.

I don't believe there is anything wrong with the rank stripes on the ears. The Anovos helmets come with one stripe in the correct place for a new recruit.

Aren't you glad you used E6000 and not CA glue?

Even troopers with pretty large arms are generally good with the smaller cut line.

Good idea padding out the shoulder strips like that. I wish I had thought of it! If mine come off, I'll use that technique. (if they stay on, I guess it's not necessary!)

If you get impatient, these worked really well for me, and are super cheap at $16 for top AND bottoms! Men's Thermal Set, Lightweight Ultra Soft Fleece Shirt and Pants

True that. Multiple smaller pieces could be joined, and just connected with glue strips on the back. Some ABS paste and a fair amount of elbow work (sanding, sanding, and more sanding!) and it should look really good from the outside.

Thanks! I've seen it done both ways, so I'm not really sure what's acceptable at the higher levels, and what's not. On my "version" the notch is still present, back in it's usual place. In others, they have filled in the back notch, carried it forward, and cut a new notch into the shim. The good news is my shims are removable, so if I decide to change later, that shouldn't be an issue. Hopefully by that point, Anovos will have been able to provide some extra material for users that need it, so we again avoid the color match issue. I should have enough spare material for at least one other shim by flattening the cut portion from the ab plate (pictured in my post above). If Anovos falls through, hopefully I can scrounge some more pieces and cobble together another shim, or maybe extend my existing ones, actually. Someone on the FB thread observed that if we make friends with a skinny Anovos trooper, it should be easy to beg for their scrap pieces. I'm sure there are lots of Anovos people out there who have no need of them, after all. Meanwhile, though, if you cut the pieces off whole when trimming, like I did, you can use both of the pieces in that photo (ab and chest) to create your larger shims. Again, just figure out how to flatten that ab piece.

SHIMS SHIMS SHIMS!!! I struck out at three different plastic shops today, trying to find ~1mm ABS sheets. I eventually ended up at Home Depot, buying a No Parking sign to salvage for inner cover strips, at least, and actually stumbled across a plastic door thing on the PVC Pipe aisle that had nearly the right color. Funny how this glaring white stormtrooper plastic actually seems closer to beige than white, when held up to a white sign! I got home, however, and based on a post I'd seen on the Anovos FB thread, thought "Hey, why not take a quite look through the trim scrap to make certain nothing will work?" First, I strapped on the kidney and ab plates and belted them in place again, to actually measure the size needed and be certain. I need just over 2" x 6.5" shims (2 of them). So ideally 4.5 x 7" piece. (longer to curl over a return edge) It turns out the big cutout section from the bottom of the chest plate is just big enough for that! The ab plate has a big piece, too, if I needed more, but it's fairly curved. I could possibly straighten it by removing the return edge, and carefully heating it up just enough to barely soften it, and slap a good heavy book on it, but I decided to try the chest piece trim first, which is already flat. Both pieces are really thick and strong, too... perfect for this! For those who need bigger shims, flattening the ab cutout piece might give enough for a second (larger) shim. As it is, I BARELY got the two shims I needed, with very careful measuring and cutting with a ruler. I really wanted that nice flat piece to work, though, so I didn't have to mess with flattening the other piece. Getting ready to cut the plate into two shims: I nearly destroyed a piece trying to bend it over for the return edge, using a heat gun, before I figured out a decent way to do it. I think it's ok, just a small bump that I'll probably smooth down later. Be careful with heat, people! It's no joke how tricky it is! Here they are, taped in place... this is going to work! The next tricky bit was deciding how to attach them. I want this alteration to be reversible, eventually, should I lose weight or trade up on the armor. I decided a good way would be to take some more scrap, bend a severe return edge that lines up with the kidney plate's return edge, and superglue the "adapter plate" onto the shim, in just the right position to align with the existing kidney plate return, and have the new shim align correctly. With the adapter plate is solidly in place, Then I glopped E6000 into the new joint and clamped the shim adapter lip to the kidney return lip. A picture is worth 1000 words: Here's how it all lines up on the outside (yes, fortunately I remembered to peel back the wrapper, so I could sand the glued area): Tomorrow, once the E6000 is set, I'll do the other side, then I can consider whether it's "good enough" or if I want to fill the seam with ABS paste and sand it down, to make it disappear completely. Either way, this should be a strong, perfect connection, that fits me nicely, and with an absolutely perfect color match, since it's literally from the same batch of plastic. And now that I finally have some resolution as to the shim problem, I decided to go ahead and prep the ab plate and the shim it will be attached to, for the split rivet connection. (Fortunately I started gluing the right shim first, so I had the left shim available to play with while the other is glued) I measured exactly per ukswrath's instructions, drilled the holes (10mm in, not the 20mm called for by the Anovos directions!) and test fit the rivets. That's one more task down! Last task of the evening, as long as I'm gluing and working with scrap, I decided it's time to start on the inner cover strips. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the 1mm ABS Anovos used for their cover strips, so I had to make do with noticeably thinner scrap pieces. I think that'll be fine, since there should be less pressure on the connection than the outer cover strips. (The no parking sign I picked up from Home Depot was the same thickness, so why cut it up? Maybe I won't need it and can return it.) I'll spare the details, since the process is hardly new by now, but I essentially eyeballed size and width of the strips (there aren't formal rules governing this anyway, as long as it looks good), and using a ruler for perfect cuts, I made two inside cover strips out of scrap, for one of the forearms, roughly the same width (and chamfer) as the outer strips. Since this is what will be rubbing against ME, I sanded it nicely for smoothness, and then went ahead and glued and clamped it for the overnight cure. (using clamps and magnets, as usual) That went quickly, fortunately. Having to do all of these inner cover strips is definitely going to take a chunk of time, given the 24 hour time to cure each piece. *sigh* It really does clean up the appearance inside the armor, though! Not to mention make everything that much stronger. Once all that is taken care of, I can start attaching the various bits to string all the pieces together. Oh, I also spent some time trying to get those stupid caps off the Anovos belt without destroying it, so I can migrate the plastic bits over to my TKittle belt. No luck so far, but I'll play with it more when I can. Meanwhile, it's in the freezer, which hopefully makes the glue more brittle? Tomorrow will be busy, but if I have time, I think it's time to bust out the belt sander and Dremel, and start cleaning up the final edges of everything for the detailed finish.

Oh, hey, while I think about it: While waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for the Anovos soft goods to ship, I looked around to see if I can find something else. Barricade posted a really cool one with Imperial Cog that I love, but unfortunately it's sold out, and he has not yet popped up to say whether he'll do another run. FS: Imperial Cog under-suit (shirt/pants) So meanwhile, I decided to take an inexpensive gamble on a cheap undersuit from Amazon. (I paid $16 with Prime shipping) I'm wearing it in the photo in the prior post, and it seems to be great for this! So if you're tired of waiting, or just want an expensive second pair, you can give these a shot: Men's Thermal Set, Lightweight Ultra Soft Fleece Shirt and Pants Size XL fit me well. Someone smaller than me will definitely want a smaller size!

The interior lines are not as clean as the exterior so I don't think that would work. You could mold them to recast them to make your own mold but I think they'd be a bit larger than you'd want. (ignoring any moral issues with recasting, since personal use only)

Ripper: Those undersuits are awesome (I want some, too!), but unfortunately, sold out. The OP has not indicated if he will do another run or not. Lots of people have expressed interest! (myself included) Barricade posted the same sale is posted here on FISD as well, so no need to register elsewhere: FS: Imperial Cog under-suit (shirt/pants) For what it's worth, I took a gamble on these, from Amazon, and I'm pleased to report they should do nicely. And super cheap! Men's Thermal Set, Lightweight Ultra Soft Fleece Shirt and Pants

Thanks! Umm... but huh? What'd I do?

Busy night entertaining company last night, so I didn’t get a lot done. I of course tried on the suit just for kicks, since the thighs were finally glued. Obviously there are no thigh straps holding them up yet, the thigh ammo pack is not yet attached, and the clamshell is literally belted in place around me, with the Anovos belt. But getting there! We’re getting down the nitty gritty, now. I’m going to have to start making some real decisions and putting off a decision about connection methods. I’m still trying to decide between putting the suit together NOW, using the Anovos strapping, or holding off until I have the time and materials I need to make snap plates and snap connectors, instead. Or forgetting all that and buying a MrNoStripes movie-accurate hanger kit (which isn’t actually shipping at the moment, so who knows how long that would take). ARGH. Decisions, decisions! I think I’m leaning towards trying the Anovos straps. Using E6000, they can always be peeled off, one by one, over time, and upgraded to snaps as I make them, right? (Can anyone confirm this line of thinking?) (Of course, I can’t do everything final until I have the new plastic sheet to use to make side shims for the kidney plate. I still need to do inside cover strips for all of the limb pieces, too, actually... which also needs the new plastic sheet.) So anyway, after trying it on, I pulled off the all the clamps, tape and magnets, and laid out the suit for an overview. I brought out the bag of Anovos straps to make sure all is in order. I appear to have of the straps I am supposed to, plus a couple of spares. I think I could do this. It was already late at this point, so just to start off in the easiest possible way, I went ahead and cut the 2" piece of velcro (loop side) for the hand plate. It’s probably silly to waste a photo series on this, but just in case it helps someone: First up, lightly sand inside of the hand plate, so the adhesive sticks better, and clean it all out. I believe the return edge on this will be trimmed a good bit more, but the overall position won’t really change, so I can do that later. Then I put on a flight glove and the elastic hand loop with the hook side velcro nicely centered on the back of the hand: ... then lightly placed the self-adhesive velcro onto it, for positioning, and peeled off the backing: Place the hand plate on the back of the hand in the correct position: The just slip the hand loop off carefully, leaving the whole thing inside the glove: Carefully remove the hand loop part, and firmly press the sticky loop part onto the plate. This is what you’re left with: Easy! I put a small bag of snaps and such inside the hand plate, just so it could conform to the velcro tab and apply even pressure, and set something relatively heavy on top of it to push it on hard, overnight. Repeat for the other hand plate. The Anovos velcro and elastic seems relatively decent, to my untrained eye. Unless someone wants to talk me out of it, I may just use this set, for now, so I can finish up and get basic approval. I’ll convert over the snap strips at a later date, before trying to take it farther. Next up, I need to make sure I have all of the tools I’ll need to start setting snaps (the included ones) into the ab plate, and moving the belt gear over to the TKittle belt upgrade. Oh, and I need to rivet the ammo pack to the lower thigh. Hopefully I can do that this weekend, definitely.