fishgoh0nk

Hey Happy Holidays guys! I'm not dead! Moving was kind of a big deal and didn't have the time to get settled in enough to get back to work. The suit is right next to my computer, which I spend 16 hours a day at! Need to get back into the groove! Hopefully getting this addition will boost my morale! I got a nice addition to the suit, I picked up an E11! This is an airsoft replica, I haven't done the search yet, but I'm hoping there isn't too much to mod to this blaster for Centurion.

I like the Chicago screws idea, thanks! Just got back from BM, a little R&R, then time to get back to the TK!

Yea, I joined the ANOVOS FB build group and it was not what I had expected, nor what I want to be a part of. (Actually they're not that bad, I only saw a couple of posts with mediocrity, but they have the right intention of following your guide). I had no idea the amount of detail and craftsmanship required to build one when I initially purchased the kit; only after I received it in the mail and found your thread, I understood the dedication and skill required to do it right. I do consider myself a bit of a snob when it comes to legitimacy, and couldn't picture myself building this suit half mule. Thank you and all for keeping the artistry and craftsmanship alive in the empire!

Has there been an influx of poorly assembled/put together TK suits?

Oh! Ok, I bought some double sided rivets for the thigh ammo belt. I was actually referring to the pop rivets, also used on the belt ammo (dangling ones). Is there any benefit to using either?

Finally hand some time and space to use the dremel and the engraving bits... One button was extremely stubborn... i couldn't get the bit to angle enough around the outer rim and ultimately had to make some clearance... resulted in some damage. Guess i'll be ABS pasting this as well! Question about belts. I see a lot of rivet usage - is there any reason to use a permanent method like that? I don't have a riveter yet, would snaps work to mount the ammo pack? Is there any functional/approval behind it besides for screen accuracy?

LOL!! Good to know that's normal, I was holding off adding elastic to the thighs until I got this sorted out. I don't think I can do anything as the return edges have no impact on the tightness of the thighs. Are there any consequences: (approval or behavioral) to reshaping the inside of the thighs? I might be able to flatten it out a bit so I can bring my legs closer together.

Behold! The Witch-King of Angmar!

Does anyone else have thighs rubbing together when they're walking? If I close my legs together, the thighs will flip outwards at the hips.

ah! could've fooled me I was going to ask how one could paint buttons so accurately!

lol i was super confused, TheSwede Daniel posting a video by Cableguy Dan. I had to do a double take.

Nice video as well! In the previous video, he uses white gloves as a precursor to the black, I'm guessing it provides the same purpose as the balaclava, to protect your body (absorption) as well as the suit. I better get me some of those

Super useful and informative! Thank you! Makes it look so easy... maybe I'm just being super cautious/gentle with my kit. He basically just throws it on his body! lol

Goooosh! Those buttons are immaculate! Nice job!

I guess I was not too fond of using the bicep hooks as they were too short, and I made 6 of them and finally got fed up. They weren't uniform, the bends, length and look weren't identical, which triggered my OCD, so I figured I'd just substitute for snaps and elastic, plus the black material blends in well to the underlayer. The outside poppers you posted had crossed my mind, but I figured since I'm having some trouble reaching across my chest to snap the bells to shoulder already, snapping the bicep to Bell on the out side would be more difficult. Snapping from the inside shortens the distance my arm would have to reach. I didn't think about keeping it as one piece and wearing it like a sleeve however, that might have worked... But my arm has to take a nice 90 degree bend to even get inside the shoulder bell to avoid triggering the inner elastic, so I'm not sure.

Well, that was brutal. Removing and dethreading, then re-sewing 4 dritz snaps on is tedious!! Ughhhhh.. but it's done! Tired, will try a fit with the whole get-up tomorrow. Hopefully someone can provide some guidance on donning the shins without breaking them

Adding some more progression pics and questions in a new post to avoid confusion- I still have some unanswered questions from my last post, if you guys could read that as well, that'd be much appreciated! So I was getting in some pictures of using snaps instead of bicep hooks - They turned out OK, they're very comfortable, but a little more cumbersome to snap with one hand, as you need to grab the shoulder bell stap, pinch it, and with the same hand snap on the bicep snap. I think my shoulder straps' snaps needs a few adjustments as the bells have too much of a gap with the chest plate. What do you guys think? The Green is where I want to be, I think I can achieve this by doing 3 things: 1. Raising the shoulder bell to shoulder by shortening the snap position. 2. Moving the inner shoulder bell snap more towards the front to provide a rear rotation: 3. Lastly if 1 and 2 don't give me enough closure, remove entirely the return edge from the bottom of the shoulder bell: Pesos for your thoughts?

Question about this - don't sand the closure part? or the front cover strip part? Still wondering about this - i'm scared about the hotdog method. what if the cover strip decides to pop off after multiple wearings? Both calves curing: I gave it a heat-gun blast to bake in the splint as well as relieve any tension that may have formed when held in wearable position. I should've sanded the interior where I would be gluing the bra strap closures while the 2 halves were apart... Looks like I'll be a leg plumber for the sanding bit, once the front cover strip is applied, which will most likely be in 2 days after full curing.

what's the best way to put on the shins?? since the front is sealed up by a coverstrip, would you have top open it up like a hotdog bun and place your leg in like a hotdog? Or is it better to open it up slightly, then slide your foot in from the top?

HAHA! That means your suit's super good. Good illustrations too! And good advice! Already on it! Just added the inner splint and gave my self another 2mm to play with - there's enough room for the 20mm coverstrip to look mighty good and gives me more room to play with when working on the closure.

Ah, forgot how much information Tony's build guide HAD! Definitely should've gone back to read this (pre assembly) again. I see here he's experiencing that same offset.

The ANOVOS calves are a bit weird, they were sent incorrectly marked to a lot of people, my playing with the pieces resulted in swapping the left and right inners. This fixed the issue of having 2 blade curves on the right leg and 2 calf muscle buldges on the right. However, this also resulted in more material to trim on the left and less material to work with on the right. The result of the re-matching corroborated with what people had done online (pieces 24+27, 25+28), so I think I'm good, just not sure if the lower edges (near the foot) should be roughly the same length or not and whether I should employ trimming to fix the angles of wear. I think the snaps feel ok, I have some meaty arms and a soft armpit, where the snaps sit so I don't feel them at all. Using a black strap material also gives the bicep some illusion of a float. I'll post pictures of it worn soon.

Got some nooshooz! Fits pretty well, my feet vary from 9.5-11.5, seems like the average shoe maker fits well at 10. I ordered an IB 11, and the width is very good, but I have a good toe clearance about .5-.6 inches. Now I can start adjusting the calves! I'm having a bit of trouble getting the calves to not tilt outwards. I'm not sure if it's because the bottom crescent edge on the inside is longer/closer to the ankle bone that the outer. (Left edge is on right ankle bone) Not only does the ankle bone push against the edge and tilts the calves' top side outwards, the shoe also gives it a rise. I trimmed as much off as i could without making them "even". Should the be "even?" or should the inside be longer than the outside? Notice I'm tilting my leg INWARDS to get the calve to sit perpendicular to the floor. If I stood up straight, the calve would go to the left. Biceps: I tried using bicep hooks, but it appears that the hook length needs to be about 4 inches long, 2 inches to close the gap between bottom of the bicep cutout and 2 inches to be glued. I decided to forego the hooks and use elastic straps and snaps. I plan to glue about 4inches and leave 1-1.5 inches for some tautness when attaching to the shoulder's inner elastic strap. I'm excited, can't wait finish!

Yea, I agree - I trimmed off more return so there'd be less outer pull. I'll decide whether i'll need to trim off more once the new elastic straps dry and I finish trimming the rear biceps.

Got it! Further analysis reveals that my lats/rear delts are pushing down the bicep in the rear. I'll need to take off more material and the biceps will continue to sit high when my arms are at my sides.