ScaryGuy building his Anovos kit in the Netherlands

[ScaryGuy[TK]]

Tonight I glued the last cover strip to the left thigh. I also glued some inner strips to the shins. They will provide some more width for the velcro.

 

 

I think the sniper plate came out nicely after gluing the front and the outer side. It's slightly tilted to the inner side, but I didn't expect to get it this straight. I had to keep adjusting it until I found an acceptable position.

 

So I continued gluing the inner side.I cut a bit from the sniper plate inner side to match it with the outer. 

 

I have also been painting the split rivets.

 

 

Gluing is almost done, so I can continue on getting the parts connected together with snaps and elastic.

Edited February 24 by ScaryGuy

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Looking good! 

[illusionz_09[TK]]

You're on the right track.

nice Job!

[themaninthesuitcase[Admin]]

I might be wrong but it looks like you've glued the cover strips on the inside of the shins. These should be on the outside only as you open them to get in them.

[CRISTONAMO]

Back of the shin coverstrips are supposed to  be on the outisde of the shin.

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Unless you're doing one of those interlocking systems, Chris and Cristian are correct. 

[illusionz_09[TK]]

Unless you're doing one of those interlocking systems, Chris and Cristian are correct. 

I assumed that is what he was going for.

But yes, definitely needs the strip on the outside.

[ScaryGuy[TK]]

The strips you see in the pictures on the shins are inner strips made from scrap ABS. I still have to glue the 25 mm outer cover strips. They will be glued to the opposite side of the inner strips. I did this to have more space for velcro on the inside. The velcro is 20 mm wide, and with a 25 mm cover strip I would only have 12.5 mm of space for the hook part of the velcro on the inside. Hope I made clear what I meant.<br><br>

But thanks for giving the advice!

Edited March 17, 2016 by ScaryGuy

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

I've seen this a few times and figured you were going for that. Move along, move along. 

[ScaryGuy[TK]]

I just glued the outer strips. Shins are in the same order as in the picture with the inner strips. Left shin left, right shin on the right.

 

 

The shoulder straps and button plates are the last ABS parts I have to glue. Almost there!

Edited February 24 by ScaryGuy

[ScaryGuy[TK]]

Today I wanted to attach the already painted split rivets to the ab and kidney plates. It seemed like an easy job but things went bad very quickly. First the paint on the rivets turned out to be still soft, so when hammering in the rivets the paint was damaged. I painted them with humbrol gloss white and they had almost a week to dry. Apparently it doesn't apply well to aluminum.

 

When I was done placing the rivets I wanted to strip the paint of the rivets, so I could paint them again. I used Carson Paint killer 

 

 

It should be save to use on plastics. I already used it when I repainted the ab plate buttons and nothing happened to the ABS. I was scrubbing the paint off with a q-tip when I suddenly saw cracks around the rivet. 

 

 

I decided to remove the rivet so I could look at the damage. The ABS around the hole was cracking off.

 

 

I removed the snap plate near the hole and reinforced the area with a piece of scrap ABS. I used a hot water bath to shape the piece to the kidney plate. After drying I will need to fill the damaged area with ABS paste.

 

 

I'm not sure what caused the damage. The paintkiller itself doesn't seem to effect the ABS. I drilled a hole in a scrap piece and applied the paintkiller but nothing happens. Maybe there where micro cracks in the ABS that got visibile when the paintkiller was applied. The cracks could have been caused by hammering in the split rivet. If the rivert head didn't get proper support from the surface it was on, the ABS might have been stressed too much.

 

I continued working on the right thigh, mounting the ammo boxes with rivets. Afterwards the paint on one of those rivets was also damaged. So I applied the paintkiller again and the same thing happened. So another repair. There are even cracks in the return edge on the thigh around the hole I drilled. It seems unlikely that could be caused by the paintkiller. 

 

 

After the paint issues I decided to buy a metal primer and repaint all rivet heads. So I used the paintkiller again on the ab plate rivets, then this happened: 

 

 

So I'm getting ready for some ABS paste experience. It wasn't easy to get aceton. After visiting several stores I found some small 100 ml bottles. Larger volumes are not readily available over here. I also have to get new split rivets. Maybe I'm not going the try hammering them in, but glue them instead. Since I use snaps they are not functional anyway, except on the thigh ammo boxes.

 

The rest of the day I continued working on the snap plates for the arm parts and thigh. At least some progress made.

Edited February 24 by ScaryGuy

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

I think it's safe to say to stay away from the Paint Killer. I would put in a piece of abs backing along the length of the ab plate and use the abs paste as filler to fix the cracked/missing part. It'll take a lot of effort but you'll be able to make it look like nothing ever happened. 

[ScaryGuy[TK]]

I think it's safe to say to stay away from the Paint Killer. I would put in a piece of abs backing along the length of the ab plate and use the abs paste as filler to fix the cracked/missing part. It'll take a lot of effort but you'll be able to make it look like nothing ever happened. 

 

Yes, it's probably safest not to use the paint killer again. I was going to use it to strip the grey paint of the frown, but I will look for something else. Thinner?

 

The ab plate now has the most damage. I will start with the abs backing. Hopefully I can create a nice new edge with abs paste. 

 

My cordless drill also started smoking when drilling a test hole in abs, so it's been a great day  .

[ScaryGuy[TK]]

Fortunately it's all quiet in the gluing room

 

Edited February 24 by ScaryGuy

[kman[TK]]

Very nice and clean work, well done all around!

 

In answer to an earlier question you had, yes, you can trim the heck out of the Anovos hand plates, and curve them to fit your hands better. The stock trim lines are absurdly long. Curving them to fit your hand's natural contours better results in them looking much better... and, ironically, much more similar to the Latex hand guards required for Centurion, down the road.

 

Here are some shots of how mine turned out, once trimmed:

 

 

[ScaryGuy[TK]]

Thanks for the pictures Kalani. Since then I bought two latex hand guards sets from Joseph, so I don't think the abs hand guards will be used anymore. I have two latex sets, one for rubber gloves and one for nomex ones.

[ScaryGuy[TK]]

Today I started working on the damaged abs. First I cleaned up the E6000 glue and removed loose pieces. I used exacto knife to widen visible cracks to allow the abs paste to flow into it. There was also a small crack starting at the bottom edge of the first ammo box. So I glued another reinforcement piece. The abs is really paper thin on this part.

 

 

The right thigh also got a bit of damage. I used the paint killer when the ammo boxes where still attached to the thigh with the split rivet.

 

 

The abs paste looked good to me.

 

 

Applying the paste with a q-tip. I used painters tape to avoid spreading it everywhere.

 

 

I glued a piece of abs to the back of the ab plate to reinforce the damaged area.

 

 

I made it a bit longer and I will cut it after applying the abs paste and it has fully cured.

 

 

The other parts are waiting for the repairs. I'm pretty much done gluing. Most of the snap plates are in place except for the shoulder straps and the chest to ab connection.

 

The shins are done so I attached the velcro. Not the Anovos supplied one, I bought some new.

 

 

The shins don't close perfectly flush but I think it looks quite good. I don't think the bra hook strap solution will give a mor flush fit.

 

Edited February 24 by ScaryGuy

[kman[TK]]

Crazy experience with that paint killer stuff.  I can't believe how much damage it did to your plastic!

[ScaryGuy[TK]]

Crazy experience with that paint killer stuff. I can't believe how much damage it did to your plastic!

Yeah, I know. I still don't understand why it happened. I bought it together with the humbrol. It should be save for plastics, it is used to strip paint from model cars etc. I had no issues when I used it on the ab plate buttons to redo the paint job. Maybe it was a combination of the aluminum rivets and rubbing the paint off. I thought I could feel a rivet getting a bit warmer. The abs turned soft in a split second.

[ScaryGuy[TK]]

Time for an update..

 

I put some abs paste on the holes in the ab plate. First I glued some scraps pieces near the damaged edge with CA glue. Hopefully this would make it easier to recreate a nice edge.

 

 

Then cover it with some paste.

 

 

I'm going to give the abs paste at least a week to cure, so I continued working on other stuff.I glued the latex hand guards from JustJoseph to my nomex flight gloves. I followed ukswrath's example by stuffing the glove on the inside. I used E6000 instead of CA glue. I put the E6000 on the hand guards, pressed it on the nomex gloves, then wrapped it in painters tape. 

 

It came out nicely, very pleased with it. Much better then those abs hand guards. I have another latex set waiting for the Anovos rubber gloves to arrive. These will be used for the higher approval levels.

 

 

 

Yesterday I did some test fitting to determine the distance between the chest and back plates on the shoulder, and where to connect the ab and chest together. This was the first time I could fit all the pieces together. Very exciting!

 

 

 

 

Overall I think it looks pretty good. The length of the thigh is not an issue, which I was afraid of. However, I will cut the back of the knees to give me more mobility. I already started with the shins. This also allowed me to cut the longer half of the right shin.

 

The right shoulder on the back  plate was sticking out. 

 

I gave it a hot water bath to bring it down and to the same angle as the left side.

 

Before:

 

Marked where the inside edge should be

 

After:

 

 

I also glued the remaining snap plates on.

 

 

Armor TODO list:

• Cut knee area on back of thighs
• Chest to back elastic with snaps
• Chest to ab elastic with snaps
• Shoulder bell elastic 
• Glue shoulder covers
• Fix abs damage
• Attach new split rivets
• Garter belt

Edited February 24 by ScaryGuy

[kman[TK]]

Looking good! It's super exciting to try everything at once on for the first time, right?!

 

Looks like you may want to consider giving your right shin a hot water bath to help correct the mis-aligned back edge. The same thing happened with mine. Tape it where you want it to be, and after a little over a minute in near-boiling water, everything relaxed into place nicely.

[ScaryGuy[TK]]

Looking good! It's super exciting to try everything at once on for the first time, right?!

 

Looks like you may want to consider giving your right shin a hot water bath to help correct the mis-aligned back edge. The same thing happened with mine. Tape it where you want it to be, and after a little over a minute in near-boiling water, everything relaxed into place nicely.

Trying everything on was really awesome! Had a big smile on my face.

 

I already tried the hot water bath (see previous page). It aligned the back but then the front got twisted. So I reversed it with another bath. I cut the back of the knees so now the extra material is gone.

[Airborne Trooper[501st]]

Haven't seen anyone do a grid like that before as a guide to reshape, that's brilliant and will help a lot of troopers in the future. Great idea 

[easy_loco]

I really love your thread Theo. I am in the exact same situation (Dutch, around same age and length and building anything for the first time in my life) and your thread is giving me all the confidence to start this beautiful project. I will probably have millions of questions to ask you. Can I PM you?

[ScaryGuy[TK]]

I really love your thread Theo. I am in the exact same situation (Dutch, around same age and length and building anything for the first time in my life) and your thread is giving me all the confidence to start this beautiful project. I will probably have millions of questions to ask you. Can I PM you?

Hi Erwin! Feel free to PM me if you have questions.