QuartZ

And you guys just inspired me to grab those drop boxes and pull out that elastic. It took some wrenching back and forth. I would pull left slowly until I heard a crack, then pull right until another crack. I figure each box took 2-3 minutes of careful tension on the elastic to make sure I didn't crack/tear the plastic. Glad that's done!!! I think that's all I will do tonight. Ah Progress. -Dana

Ok, cool. Thanks for the heads. Oh and thanks again for the belt dying tips! I plan on using a pop rivet and washer as in your tutorial, I just didn't know if it was a good idea to get another washer on the inside. It sounds like I'm fine ripping the old elastic out without fully disassembling the drop boxes and installing the new elastic per the tutorial. Thanks, I already have all of the supplies so that should be all the info I need. I appreciate the crazy-quick responses! Thanks again, -Dana

Thanks, I just received my Kittle belt today and struggled with bringing myself to try @Harbinger's method for tea dying it to take the "cool" white edge off the color of the fabric. The belt is awesome! So if you're seeing this Rob, thank you for the beautiful belt, the custom size, and I hope I didn't just ruin it trying it trying to tweak the color . It's hang drying overnight. I'll be able to check out the resulting color tomorrow. My process was pretty similar to Harbinger's but I used smaller teabags, 3 of them, and probably less time steeping/submerging the belt. I'm nervous about it...fingers crossed! I almost finished dismantling the Anovos belt hard parts. I didn't break anything, I used a small chisel to slowly work my way around each cover rather gently. I covered the surfaces around each cover with blue tape (not pictured) to protect the surface from dings/scratches just in case. You hear a little cracking at a time until eventually it just pops off. I really went slow and relied on the mechanical wedge of the chisel rather than anger/brute force. I probably also got lucky: I just have the drop boxes to take part. Do I need to get a washer on the inside for the rivets as well? @ukswrath's tutorial seems to install the new elastic and rivet from the outside without needing to remove the inner dropbox parts to get at the inside? Thanks in advance for any insight/encouragement! -Dana

Good luck on your build. I feel like I'm hopping all over the place while working on this torso armor. There's a lot of different things involved. Even making decisions about hardware as I go has me ordering some parts and then moving on to another area while I wait for things to arrive. I planned ahead but I'm still changing my mind as I go. For instance, in my research, I heard people talking about a brass split rivet in the cod...I looked at the photos of the screen used articles but can't really tell for sure if it's brass (best shot I saw was from the inside and mostly looked like the washer had rusted giving it some color). I had planned on going with the standard Anovos rivet for the cod. But it nagged at me. If the experts here say it was brass then why would I not use a brass rivet So I found some that seem to match. Here's one: Yesterday I prepped and painted all of the bracket system screws so that I could just install them when I glue the bracket pads I made in and leave them in the armor. This ultimately will save me some time but it means that I have to move on to something else while the paint cures. Screws sanded and cleaned with rubbing alcohol (ready for primer): Curing after two coats of Testors gloss white: I also decided it wasn't worth trying to bend some of the bracket pads in the direction they were the stiffest to conform to the contours of some of the locations (they bend in one axis really nice but not both). So I designed and printed some short curved ones as well. All the test fitting and adjusting was worth it. I now have three different pad designs and I printed up a bunch ready for glue once the screws dry. Here's a screenshot from Fusion 360 showing the 3 final pads: I'm working on taking apart the Anovos belt right now. I'll probably post an update about that next. -Dana

Thanks, it's going slow but steady. I'm trying to find opportunities to add value for anyone following my progress. So when I have an idea that gets me somewhere, I figure it's worth putting out there in case anyone else could use it too. Here's another one for instance: I painted the split rivets that connect the Ab/Kidney a few days ago. I decided to sand the rivet heads with 400 sandpaper, then I gave them a quick coat of flat white primer (Rustoleum): Once this dried, I hand brushed some Testors Gloss White enamel paint (after reading ukswrath mention that the color match looked good in his build thread). I gave it 2 coats a couple hours apart. Note the brush marks: Overall I was happy with the coverage and the subtle hand-painted texture...but the finish was satin at best. I certainly wouldn't call it gloss. It could be the roughness of the primer underneath, I'm not sure and I haven't used Testors paint since I was a kid in the 80s. However, I do have tons of experience with painting props/models so one of my favorite tricks is to post-polish parts to get to a desired shine. I waited 48 ours for the enamel to cure and then grabbed some rubbing compound and did a quick rub/buff with paper towels: Here's what the look like after a polish pass: I was able to retain the subtle brush marks and imperfections so they have that nice hand-made 1977 feel Then I popped a few back into the armor to test the color/luster match: Again, hope this post wasn't overkill. Just wanted to share a process I'll be repeating on the bracket screws as well to get them finished up for assembly. Hope it helps someone. -Dana

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was 3D printing pads to reinforce the bracket mounting areas of the torso armor. I took a slightly different approach with this step by choosing to print the pieces, but ultimately it's inspired by others here and I wanted to print them for several reasons: 1. I wanted to have consistent parts that could easily be adjusted by changing the design and waiting 30 minutes for a whole new batch to print 2. I wanted to do other things while bracket pads were magically made for me (got robots) 3. I could do it so why not Here's a look at the two different versions I designed to go with the bracket set (for the long and short brackets): I printed them in white ABS on my Prusa i3. I have a few other printers but this one is my current favorite. Below is a shot of the printer laying out the first layer of some initial test prints (I ended up changing the hole diameters to make it easier to pass screws through). And here's an example of one of the final short pads (15 of these were needed overall and 3 long ones for the chest): And here's a picture of how they fit between the armor return edge and the metal brackets with the hardware roughly in place (not tightened down or glued at this point) With all of that work done, my plan is to heat some of the brackets so that they better follow some of the armor contours using the hot water method since this is ABS! That shouldn't take long, then I'll glue them all in with E6000 and use magnets/mini-clamps/bracket hardware as clamps in order to secure them all. Hope this makes sense and gives some other people ideas, -Dana

Ok, so I did all of the countersinking yesterday and it was much easier than I thought, I was more worried about how careful I would need to be but this Anovos kit plastic drills so nicely. I haven't had any bit walking, or anything (granted I use good bits in new-ish condition). I used my cordless drill and a 1/4" countersink bit: I went slow so that I could see about how much material needed to be removed from the first hole as I frequently checked the fit of the screw until it sat pretty close to flush. It really wasn't much work and it looks SO much better to me! Below you can see a finished countersunk hole on the left and what the screws looks like installed on the right: -Dana

Thanks for the perspective on the nylon straps and for the compliment. I'm trying my best! I figured that the strapping would probably change over time like the fit of regular clothes but that's interesting to hear that several troops later your nylon is stretching out. Argh Daniel!!! That looks so good you have me torn between elastic and nylon. Luckily it can all be changed. I'm going to focus on the strapping between front components and back components before I go back to the Ab/Kidney connection. Your armor fit looks fantastic. I hope mine turns out that nice. -Dana

I drilled some more holes in the Ab/Kidney pieces for the clamshell strapping as described in ukswrath's tutorial. Here's what the split rivets look like test fit in the locations: You'll also notice that I made nylon straps for these as mentioned in the tutorial. At first I was surprised that they weren't elastic-based like most of the other strapping. But I figure it must be to try and keep this side tightly aligned so that only the other side needs to be managed when suiting up. Thoughts? These straps also seem a bit short to me. I tried to hold them in place inside the armor to check the fit, but I think the kidney return edge that I left created additional distance that these straps (20mm between holes) don't account for. I can make new straps (which I'll try first) or shave off some armor return edge. -Dana

Ok, here's an update covering some work I did a few days ago as well as what I'm working on today. I did start with the torso. I went over all of the parts and did some more trimming, sanding and fitting until I felt that it fit together well, didn't have any biting edges when I held the parts to my body, and I looked at suit reference from screenshots and the Gallery here to see what they had done to various return edges on the torso for the films. Here's a couple of photos showing the chest piece return edge tweaks as well as my abdomen/kidney taped together. It seems to fit me pretty well with no adjustments. I'm 5'10" and 160 lbs. so there's some room in the mid section there (particularly at the sides) but it fits snug against my stomach and back. Next up I made the decision to drill all of the holes in the pieces that are needed for the original bracket system that the film suits had. I'm still not sure if I'm going to use my Mr.Nostripes kit to actually rig my suit, but I wanted the look of the originals with the exposed screw heads so I'm going to do the work required to mount at least the screws and nuts. I'm leaning towards snaps plates right now, but this would give me the option to go either way if I change my mind. Following ukswrath's tutorial, I measured and marked all of the hole locations. And then I quadruple checked all of the brackets would fit and align with other pieces before drilling: And then I went to town drilling all of the marked locations starting with the back: I then test fit the hardware to ensure everything was as planned: Then I went ad repeated the process for the remaining torso parts: Everything went well. I have a few more things to do before I call this step done. Here's what I'm planning: 1. Lightly countersink all holes from the outside to get the screw heads to recess a bit closer to flush 2. Install bracket pads to help reinforce the locations that I drilled just to give the armor a bit more thickness (I'm 3D printing some pads in ABS) 3. Reinstall screws and nuts without the wire brackets for now (this will also help hold the bracket pads in place while glue dries) After that, I plan to start drilling holes for all of the torso rivets/snaps/poppers. -Dana

I just finished rough trimming the last of the main pieces...whew! I have a few last bits to do tonight (Ab plates) and then I'm going to move on to fitting the torso. I know a lot of people start with the arms, but for some reason I think the torso is where I want to begin. I think having that fit to me first will help me when working through limb lengths, etc. Any thoughts? Sound like a bad idea to anyone? -Dana

Wow, I had to look up the "Hippo Birdie" thing...hehe I thought you were speaking in some clever-internet-meme-speak...turns out it was a "Happy Birthday"! hehe, thanks! As for clamps and magnets, I ordered more and now I have 22 clamps and 75 magnets. I hope this will be enough. -Dana

Thanks! I'm trying my best. I actually got one more piece done last night. I just saw it sitting there as I was putting everything away and I said to myself "I can do one more": -Dana

Ok, shin/calves are rough trimmed. I think that's the last parts I'll do today. Here's how they turned out: I have a bit more return edge to remove from the ankle sides, but I'll do that later. That might be it for today. Thanks for the feedback so far. This is great! -Dana

Roger that. Sounds like outside of the Centurion requirements, there's a bit of wiggle room. Thanks Sean. I trimmed the chest to back bridge pieces (these really need to be sanded to get straight edges. I left a bit of material for that pass): I'm currently trimming the shin/calf pieces. I've got the right set done and I'm moving on to the left ones now. Man, these were a pain to cut. I think they have been the most challenging so far of all the pieces (at least in my opinion). Back to trimming... -Dana

It's my birthday today, and I've got the day off work. Guess what I've decided to do... More armor trimming!!! I'm continuing to go through the parts and trim them with my lexan scissors. These things are great. I decided to focus on the torso pieces today. Here's a look at how the chest and ab came out: And below I've got the back, kidney, and posterior rough trimmed as well: I plan to hit all the edges with sand paper and in a few areas a Dremel to get in some corners and remove some material. Once you get into a groove cutting these parts, it really goes quickly. I'm sure the finishing work will take more time, but I feel good that I'm making more progress. I'm off to do more trimming! -Dana

That all makes sense to me. I'll be taking a look at the screen used pieces to see where they went thinner, and of course fitting it to myself to see where adjustments make sense. I've followed the cut lines on the kit for all rough trims, and I'm checking ukswrath's thread for hints on all pieces before I begin. So far so good!

After a few days of Thanksgiving festivties, I got started on the kit. I got all of the arm pieces rough trimmed to the marked lines and removed the return edges on the wrist side of all the forearm pieces. As suggested in other build threads, I plan on doing several fitment passes and taping everything together before I final cut/glue parts together. I also need some more magnets (I have plenty of clamps) so that will buy me some time until they arrive. So here's what the parts look like: I used lexan scissors (straight and curved) for most of the cutting (it was really easy with these) and only had to use the x-acto for a few areas like removing the wrist return edges. I removed the protective film from all the scraps and saved them in a paper bag for ABS paste or in case I need them later. I didn't bother doing any cleanup/sanding since I'm sure more trimming is in store to fit me. I'm 5' 10" and 160 lbs. I've noticed that the biceps and forearms on many of the ANH stormtroopers in the beginning of the film look slim (on the Tantive IV). The kit pieces look pretty bulky in these areas leading me to believe I'll cut more off as I fit them to me. Anyone have a recommendation on how much return edge I should leave on the rest of the arm/shoulder pieces? I've heard 1/8" from some builders. Thanks, -Dana

I've watched his videos several times while waiting for my kit. I feel like I absorbed a decent amount of information watching them and other videos like Trooperbay's tutorials and Pandaprops' build. Thanks! Yes, this is a "V1" Anovos kit with the preassembled, sad, floppy belt. I plan on replacing the belt with a Kittle as you did. Oh, and thanks for the details on your tea staining process. I will refer back to that when I get my belt and try a little bit of a lighter pass on mine as you suggested. Your build looks like it's coming along nicely! I'll keep popping in to see if I can avoid any mistakes through your experience (since you're almost done). -Dana

I'd love to know more a out your tea bath process for your belt. Is this a Kittle belt? I myself am torn on what to do about the belt color. I think the Anovos belt has a good color and I too think the white canvas is too bright/cool in tone compared to the nice off-white/warm tone of the Anovos armor. Your result with the bath looks excellent in my opinion! Can you tell us how you did it and what you used to achieve that tone and even color? Thank you in advance, -Dana

Thanks for the encouraging words. I've certainly been through ukswrath's thread several times. And I'm going back to it! So I broke everything out of the box and took stock of the parts. I think this is everything, or at least I don't think anything is missing: I thought I should also list some of the parts I have that aren't pictured. I have Imperial Boots, a Darman neck seal, a 2-piece undersuit, both rubber gloves and cloth flight gloves, misc. building supplies (snaps, elastic, nylon, etc.) I'm sure I'll need to get a few things along the way...but I think I'm in good shape to start building. And so with that, I plan to get started on the arms. I'll update when I accomplish something -Dana

Today was my BBB Day and I'm really excited! However, it wasn't a traditional BBB Day because the kit I ordered directly from Anovos last December (2016) has been delayed twice. While I continue to wait for it, I was lucky enough to grab a "new in box" kit from a 501st member who had purchased two and didn't need the second one. So we struck a deal, and we met up this morning to make the hand off. So here it is: I rifled through the box already and took a really quick look at the contents. I'll do a proper inventory next. I have to say, while the wait and delays have left me very frustrated at Anovos as a company, the kit looks really nice so far. I'm going for Centurion out of the box and will be referencing all the fantastic builds here at the FISD. I have been preparing for this moment. I've read a lot here, watched build videos on youtube, and I've bought supplies/materials to complete the kit. Looking forward to trimming. -Dana

I just left the Launch Bay at Disneyland... they sell TK Helmets for $280 (I didn't check shipping on this item) and the TK Armor Ensemble for $1800 (plus $150 shipping). No kits. The woman working there was nice enough to pull out their Store catalog that they use for ordering. I flipped through the whole thing and found no kits. As an Anual Pass holder you can get 20% off (at least at my pass tier). So the Armor Ensemble would end up costing about $1700 after discount (including shipping and CA tax). She also said they think you receive the items within 6-12 weeks. But they ship direct from Anovos and the employee said It's out of Disneyland's hands at that point. Hope some of that information helps. I went there today hoping to order a TK Armor Kit since I was notified my order from December of last year has been delayed (sadly as I expected). Was slated for Summer 2017 shipping. Oh Anovos! Oh, and they replaced their TK Helmet in the display case with a v2.0 -Dana

double post. see my next post. Sorry, -Dana

JawaJoe: That's good news. Thank you so much for the quick reply and the illustrative photo. I hope they do the same for the full armor kits. Good luck with the left ear! -Dana