kiyotei[TK] Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) Hi Folks, I've been working on a TFA kit for a couple of months now and I have had a number of problems with the kit. I got my kit in late August but didn't start working on it till sometime in September. here is what I've found so far: 1. My kit is made of styrene. I have had a number of people look at it and they all agree it is styrene. The kit is supposed to be ABS. I'm waiting to hear from Anovos on this issue. They have indicated they want me to send some parts to them. 2. My kit appears to have a number of parts that have been made from molds that were recasts from the original armor. This leads some of my parts being either too small or too big to fit properly. I am also waiting for Anovos to address this issue. Now for some photos of ill fitting parts. Stand by while I post them. Pic 1: Back Armor -> For the C7 armor the back and part of the shoulder was one piece. In my kit it was split into two pieces. They recast the shoulder part from the C7 back but they recasted on the outside. this means the part is too wide now and the curves will not line up properly. This part from the shoulder is supposed to fit inside the back plate but it is way too big to fit because of recasting. We had to really work it to get it to fit. In the next pic you can see how the new part fits the back like a glove showing how it was a recast. The next pic shows how poorly they fit and how much bondo had to be used to re-sculpt the seam. Now I will switch to the boxes that get mounted on the forearms. Once again a recasting issue. The boxes were recast and are larger then the C7 boxes but the lids were recast (inner diameter) making them smaller than the box so they don't fit. I will compare the old C7 lid with the new lid in my kit. But first here is a pic of the parts I'm talking about: This next pic shows the lid mounted on the box and you can see how much smaller it is. This next pic shows the original C7 lid on my box. It is also too small to fit but fits "better" than the lid that came with my kit. This final pic shows the C7 lid and the lid that came with my kit, you can see the size differences: Edited October 24, 2015 by kiyotei 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sylverbard[TK] Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 Styrene doesn't usually vacuform well. It's too brittle. Easy way tell is cut a strip and bend it. Abs bends and turns white. Polystyrene will shatter and crumble. Abs is a form of styrene. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK4205 Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 I believe they retooled the chest and back, and that the Shim was left untouched, leaving it larger. That's why it fits over the outside of the retooled parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK4205 Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 Styrene doesn't usually vacuform well. It's too brittle. Easy way tell is cut a strip and bend it. Abs bends and turns white. Polystyrene will shatter and crumble. Abs is a form of styrene. I'm sorry but I just can't let people walk away with this notion. High Impact Poly Styrene (HIPS or Styrene) vac forms very well, in lower temperatures when compared to other plastics, such as ABS (Acylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), which is a different soup altogether. But please don't take my word for it; check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styreneand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile_butadiene_styrene they are both good reds and you will find the specs therein. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sylverbard[TK] Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 I did say usually. I didn't say hips because the op didn't mention hips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK4205 Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 I did say usually. I didn't say hips because the op didn't mention hips. good god man that was fast! Did you visit the links I posted? Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sylverbard[TK] Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 I've used all sorts of plastics for rc models and other fabrication. I don't dispute hips as good at all. I'm more interested in his worries that it's hips vs abs for the longevity of the shatterpoints of the armour, and more concerned about a recast suit...was it direct from anovos or bought from someone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK4205 Posted October 24, 2015 Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 I only use styrene because it's all I can get in my area. My rule of thumb is that if it gets painted anyway, it doesn't matter as long as the plastic is at least 090 thick. How thick is your plastic, Jim? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiyotei[TK] Posted October 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2015 I will have to measure it this weekend. My concerns are that they sell the kit as ABS and charge for ABS. Styrene is cheaper and not as strong. Some of my parts are really thin, such as the forearms. I do have concerns about how well it will hold up. If you advertise ABS you have to make it from ABS. Nothing else matters. If you want to make the kit from styrene that is fine but advertise it as styrene. Its like selling oak furniture and shipping customers pine furniture. Yea they are both wood but... Regarding the re-casting, it is an Anovos suite. They did the recasting themselves to either create more molds or made improvements. But as my pics show the recasting resulted in parts that don't fit. That is the problem, PARTS DON'T FIT. These are $1800 kits not $100 resin parts or whatever. For $1800 I expect to get my money's worth. The suite looks good in general. I also think only some of us got styrene. Later kits seem to be thicker ABS. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiyotei[TK] Posted October 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 Hi measured a few parts from my Anovos kit to determine how thick the plastic is. Here are the measurements. If the part was still numbered I wrote the number, if not I wrote the name. I measured using digital calipers. Part 9L -> .032" Thermo det -> .039, .035, .037 Part 10E -> .032 Part 9N -> .02 Part 10K -> .047 Part 5D shoulder bell -> .056 Ankle -> .065, .057 Cod -> .075 forearm - > .035, .037, .052" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK4205 Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 A lot of those variables are due to plastic stretching. The taller the part, the thinner the plastic is stretched over it. Nevertheless, that is some very thin stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Second2nun[501st] Posted October 27, 2015 Report Share Posted October 27, 2015 Looks like you didn't cut out the holes on part 6E. This would help the yolk sit flush on top of that piece. This for sure is one of the more difficult pieces to put together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK4205 Posted October 28, 2015 Report Share Posted October 28, 2015 Looks like you didn't cut out the holes on part 6E. This would help the yolk sit flush on top of that piece. This for sure is one of the more difficult pieces to put together. It was easy enough on the alpha kit that I built. There is something up with this kit. I'm helping the OP with it and It's nothing like the first wave. No telling how many people got these kits. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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