bremark's ANH Anovos Build (beginner build)

[bremark]

I received the BBB last Saturday (Feb 1) and have started to rough trim the parts - which takes me a long time!  Here are all the parts at the beginning

 

 

 

I've finished the shins, thighs, chest, back, butt, the forearms so far.  How much should I trim off the forearms to fit my arm?  I've read that you shouldn't take off more than what Anovos had marked since you need to put the gloves through.  I still have a fair amount of room but also read just add foam to make up the difference.  Is that true?  I still have a lot of room in the forearms

 

 

 

Here's what I've trimmed so far

 

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Check out ukswrath's anovos build thread. Until you've got all the flashing trimmed out you can't get an accurate sizing. 

[bremark]

Making slow progress.  I got most of the parts rough trimmed - so now the fun will begin

 

 

I am following ukswrath's build - and I am starting with the forearms.  I removed the return edge off the wrists.  I still need to sand and make this look better

 

 

I searched and I think that I need to remove the return edge off the elbow section as well.  But can someone confirm before I make the first cut.  Thanks!

 

[bremark]

Some small updates.  I removed the return edges from the forearms and was able to put the front and rear cover strips on both the left and right arms.  Have them clamped and held down with magnets

 

 

I'm now going to start working on the biceps by cleaning up the return edges so when I move it doesn't pinch or scrape.  Another thing that I'm happy about is that I don't think I will need to shim to kidney to ab piece.  I'll need to double check when I can tape everything up but it looks like it will fit just fine.  

 

I also ordered some Tandy snaps - if anyone is interested here is what I ordered off Amazon

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MS98MN8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

 

I am thinking about using the supplied Anovos strapping but using the snaps and E6000 to glue everything down.  Has anyone heard pros or cons to this method?  

[bremark]

Well, did have the shins assembled (at least the front cover strip - I hadn't trimmed the back yet since I'm waiting on the boots).  But since I am following ukswrath's build it turns out Anovos had the shins labeled incorrectly so consequently I had the left outer and right outer as a pair and the left inner and right inner as a pair.  Luckily I was using E6000 and was able to pry them apart without a problem.  So I am now boding the cover strip to the correct shins.  So that will take a few days.

 

In other news, I think I am going to have to pull apart the forearms and trim them a little.  I won't be able to trim much since I can't lose the return edge.  I haven't decided yet but am leaning towards that.

 

I think I am going to try the Anovos straps with some snaps I bought earlier.  I am going to try using E6000 to bond the velcro down and then use the snaps and straps (along with the velcro) to keep everything together.

 

Luckily this isn't a race!

[bremark]

I think I finally made some progress today.  I pulled apart the shins and rebonded the cover strips since Anovos mislabeled the shins.  Wasn't happy about it but luckily I used E6000 and it wasn't hard to do.  A couple days later I have new shins

 

 

And I also think they look better and the back should close up better

 

 

My boots from Imperial Boots should be here any day so then I can actually size them and likely trim some off the back.

 

I also got a couple snaps made - I'm also using the velcro that Anovos provided.  I am going to glue down the velcro using E6000 to the ABS so I'm hoping the additional snaps will hold it together.  It was my first time making snaps and I had to hammer it in pretty well before they would snap together.  Below is my first attempt and I will try these out later this weekend

 

 

I also drilled the rivet holes in the ab and the kidney based on ukswrath's instructions (only 10mm from edge - so I'm not following the Anovos instructions.  I used a drill bit a tad smaller than 1/8" and the rivets fit in there snugly.  I pulled them back out and will wait until ukswrath gets to that point since I have plenty of other things to do

 

 

Finally I have the front cover strips on one side of each thigh.  I'm not good enough to get both halves on at the same time so it takes me twice as long.  But I think it works better for me since I'm not in a rush.  Tomorrow I will put the other half on each thigh.

 

 

So slowly but surely getting there.  I still haven't decided what to do about the forearms and biceps.  I have some foam I can put in the forearms.  I guess I am waiting on the softgoods to see how tight it is.  I still think its likely I will need to pull them apart and trim a little more off.

[bremark]

I decided to tape up the torso and make sure everything fits.  The front looks pretty good and I don't need shims around the waist (thanks to all that running).  The gap at the ab to kidney piece will fit when I actually put the straps on it

 

 

But the problem is the back.  There's a pretty large gap between the back piece and the kidney piece.  I asked what to do about this and ukswrath (Tony) said he had to use a hot water bath to smooth out the top where it has a pretty sharp return over the shoulders.  Once he makes a tutorial for that it's something I will need to do to mine since that gap is clearly too big