BDWC's ANH stunt ANOVOS build WIP

[BDWC[TK]]

Man, talk about grit.  This is probably one of the most "never gonna give up" threads in a long time.  Makes my minor tweaks look really, really minor.  Keep that chin up

 

Thanks !

This is probably the best compliment I could ask for

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Reminds me of my ATA rebuild. Love the tenacity.  

[BDWC[TK]]

Alrighty, the rear mounting clips are glued up now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Nice . If you find yourself having issues with the glue sticking I would suggest switching to velcro. 

[BDWC[TK]]

1 hour ago, ukswrath said:

Nice . If you find yourself having issues with the glue sticking I would suggest switching to velcro. 

Thanks Tony!!

Two reasons I switched out the Anovos liner for a real hard hat liner:

1. Since the Anovos doesn't have a suspension system, the Velcro mounting the top liner strap to the helmet would rub on my bald head. This would become particularly bothersome and a little painful during troops of more than ~2 hrs.
2. Since the real hard hat liner does have a suspension system this would A) feel better on my head, and hopefully allow for more airflow to keep me cooler (hopefully)

Now that said, your post couldn't have been better timed. This morning I went to insert the liner and found on of the front mounts wanting to come off. I did rough up the backsides of the clips very well, but I didn't sand the areas on the inside of the helmet before gluing (which sounds great, now in retrospect).

Those tabs on the liner do take a good bit of force to properly snap into the mounting clips. But the one problem mount did not come off fully, but just 'delaminated' slightly. So I used toothpicks, q-tips and E-6000 to re-apply into the opened area without completely removing the mount, and we'll see if it will hold tomorrow for the liner clip insertions.

 

If this fails, thanks to you, I now have an awesome back-up to the back-up. I thought that for maintenance, replacement, or cleaning that I could just unclip the liner. I now see that this is a much more difficult task than I expected. So (I'm thinking this is more of a 'when' than an 'if') the glue let's loose, I have plenty of Anovos Velcro to put in place instead......or do you recommend industrial or other Velcro?

 

I'm now wishing I'd gone Velcro in the first place now....it actually never really occurred to me

 

[BDWC[TK]]

In more news....

The air dry clay inserts

I was going to use for fan mounts might now be used for templates.

I read in another thread yesterday, that someone mounted their fans onto foam. This would not only be much lighter in weight, but also more forgiving in shape.

My only concern is whether or not E-6000 will hold foam to the helmet ??

This should cut down on fan noise by eliminating most of the vibrations, but would the foam mounts "wiggle" too much or eventually rip from the glued areas?

For these reasons, I'm thinking of using EVA, aka floor mat, foam for this. It is much denser than 'padding' foam. I can use the clay forms as templates to get the shapes correct.

I know EVA is a no-no in armor building, but for fan mounts, are there any downsides I should know about?

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Glad it helped. I use hard hat liners all all my costumes. When I first started using liners I glued as you did but after a few troops things began to come loose, I now use industrial strength velcro. As for the cooling fans I use the same velcro for them as well, it's strong enough to hold the fan in almost every condition imaginable. The industrial strength especially is thick enough to elevate the fans off the helmet which provides shock absorption and noise reduction. 

 

Hope this helps   

[BDWC[TK]]

3 minutes ago, ukswrath said:

Glad it helped. I use hard hat liners all all my costumes. When I first started using liners I glued as you did but after a few troops things began to come loose, I now use industrial strength velcro. As for the cooling fans I use the same velcro for them as well, it's strong enough to hold the fan in almost every condition imaginable. The industrial strength especially is thick enough to elevate the fans off the helmet which provides shock absorption and noise reduction. 

 

Hope this helps   

This definitely helps, but one question:

Where are your fans mounted? I am wanting to mount them just outside the Hovi tip locations and with that deep recess for the tubes, I didn't have much luck with Velcro as it basically would only grab at two or three small contact points. Are yours mounted higher up in the helmet of more 'aft'?

[ukswrath[Staff]]

6 minutes ago, BDWC said:

This definitely helps, but one question:

Where are your fans mounted? I am wanting to mount them just outside the Hovi tip locations and with that deep recess for the tubes, I didn't have much luck with Velcro as it basically would only grab at two or three small contact points. Are yours mounted higher up in the helmet of more 'aft'?

If they're not on my brackets they're mounted directly where you described, near the pockets behind the hovis aimed toward the side of my face. The industrial velcro doesn't need much contact surface to hold, especially with the small light fans. 

 

 

[BDWC[TK]]

 

*runs out to buy industrial velcro strips*

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

If you find yourself using a lot of it later it's cheaper to get it through Amazon. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006HWYJM/ref=sxts_bia_sr_2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3182441022&pd_rd_wg=p60H6&pf_rd_r=EMQJN7VGNFAC7RSZCM0J&pf_rd_s=desktop-sx-top-slot&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B0006HWYJM&pd_rd_w=wbFCh&pf_rd_i=VELCRO+Brand%2C+Industrial+Strength+-+2+ft+x+15+in+-+Black&pd_rd_r=VV3RKWQVK3TB4WFW52B0&ie=UTF8&qid=1504112814&sr=2

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Sorry can't edit posts but the link is for white, it's obviously available in black and usually $7 cheaper than in the store for the same quantity. 

[BDWC[TK]]

Well, so far, the glued-in mounting clips seem to be working OK. Only time will tell how long they'll stay bonded, but at least, thanks to Tony, I have a back up plan and industrial Velcro waiting in the wings. I also E6000'd the foam ear screw cover on, as the stock double stick tape kept letting go.


I was really happy about being able to line up the hard hat liner just right to cover my upper lens mounting screws too! This fits sooooooooooo much more comfortable than the Anovos liner I had been trooping in. I also now have much more control over my helmet movements, which helps in my mime skills (no voice/mic/amp system yet)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BDWC[TK]]

Oh, extra note, look at the back of my helmet liner. I took the forehead padding off the Anovos system and used it to cover the adjusting strap side for extra "comfy-ness"


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ukswrath[Staff]]

comfy-ness", I like it

[BDWC[TK]]

So I tried to make fan mount inserts out of construction foam. I used the air-dry clay molds as templates and carved out perfect fits, then went to glue them in....


Then I found out that E6000 melts construction foam



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BDWC[TK]]

Back to the original plan
I trimned and sanded down my air-dry clay inserts, the glued Velcro onto them



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ukswrath[Staff]]

32 minutes ago, BDWC said:

So I tried to make fan mount inserts out of construction foam. I used the air-dry clay molds as templates and carved out perfect fits, then went to glue them in....


Then I found out that E6000 melts construction foam



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Apparently that's the same thing it does to your brain if you inhale too much of it. What a visual

[BDWC[TK]]

Ok, a few days late from posting pics of he final install. Due to the foam" meltdown, I dressed up the airdry paper clay an used them. Very lightweight and a perfect flat spot, formed exactly where iI wanted the fans pointed. I did use a small piece of very heavy duty 3m plastic velcro to mount the control board.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Coming along nicely

[BDWC[TK]]

OK, to be honest , I have been trying to work on anything and everything else, in order to put off cutting up my back plate to add 'fatman shims'

 

Sooooooo.....From my research here it looks like most folks simple 'add' material onto the end of the "too short" plate area.

This looks great but I am looking for those subtle return edges on the ends that transition to the top and lower returns.

That appears to be somewhat complicated to form from a new, flat piece, so I am proposing a new technique that I will be slowly undertaking in the next week or two.

 

My proposed shimming process:

1. Cut off the ends of the back plate approx 1"to 1.5" from edge; basically in the middle of the notch
2. glue ABS backer to both support new pieces and to provide the measured extension needed
3. Cut original scrap pieces to fit area between gaps;on top of backer plate
4. Fill the gaps with ABS paste
5. Sand...polish...REPEAT, Repeat, repeat

Looking at the drawing, the RED line would be the cut line

the YELLOW area will be the new material over the backer plate

the BLUE LINES are the ABS paste filled areas

 

Now I know a lot of troopers do not have return edges on this front side of the back plate, but my OCD wants it to mach the return as on the abdomen plate.

Also, the goal here is that the 90 degree returns on the tops and bottoms will be much easier to form than trying to make a 'corner' return and/or blending it into the attachment building up ABS paste and forming.

 

I'm totally new with this shimming process, and I know I am most likely over thinking this (as I often do)....but fellow whitearmor brothers, please let me know if this seems doable or just ridiculous...be honest

 

Thanks everyone for any input you can give me!!

[ABS80]

 

I would cut at the red line and throw that section away, glue extension with new holes so you only have to deal with one seam line instead of two  but good luck finding a color matching plastic. 

 

Mark (AP)

 

Edited September 25, 2017 by ABS80

[BDWC[TK]]

11 hours ago, ABS80 said:

 

I would cut at the red line and throw that section away, glue extension with new holes so you only have to deal with one seam line instead of two  but good luck finding a color matching plastic. 

 

Mark (AP)

 

I know that's the simplest way to go, but then how do I make return edges so it doesn't look so weird being flat while the ab plate has a return (please do not say remove the ab plate return LOL)

Edited September 25, 2017 by BDWC
spelling

[ukswrath[Staff]]

Question, are the holes in the kidney already? If not just add to the kidney then drill. To answer your second question the return edge isn't required but if you want it just make the shim longer the using an modeling iron create a return edge.

[BDWC[TK]]

2 hours ago, ukswrath said:

Question, are the holes in the kidney already? If not just add to the kidney then drill. To answer your second question the return edge isn't required but if you want it just make the shim longer the using an modeling iron create a return edge.

no holes yet (because I KNEW I'd have to shim)
but...because I "like" to add a little bit of a return edge, tell me, honestly, how hard is this modeling iron thing?....and who has done this for me to hit up for tips?

 

Thanks for the input to you Tony and ABS80 !!!

gotta love this online community of endless helpers