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Ontheway's first TK build: ANH Stunt - Anovos/ATA


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Good evening everyone, 

 

I'm about one month into my ANH Stunt build. I've been working as time has allowed lately; which is precisely why I haven't even started an exhaustive thread of my build details, trials, and challenges. Fortunately this has been possible because there are already so many fantastic builds (and color commentary) throughout that have answered my questions as I've gone along. 

 

I bought the Anovos armor itself from a forum member, which coincidentally arrived on the exact same day as my ATA bucket. Talk about a red letter BBB day! 

 

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This is where I originally started my armor... promising of course to keep the assembly far from the kids and daily life. Of course like most, I moved to the kitchen table and have since consumer our life with ABS shavings and masking tape. 

 

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Since then, I spent the first week making cuts and managed to do so without cutting myself and without any major mis-cuts that derailed my progress. 

 

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Fast forward to now - and I have the everything from the codpiece up 90% complete. 

 

I still need to: 

- Add ab buttons 

- rivet ammo packs to tkittel (sp?) belt 

- Add interior padding as needed for fitment issues 

- Add white elastic straps to shoulders 

- Paint rivets and screws 

- finish bucket 

- Finish legs 

 

First try on of incomplete armor with softgoods and floppy anovos belt: 

 

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Current status with no belt: 

 

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More to follow... and a few questions! 

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And here are some closer photos of the ATA bucket as it stands now... I'm feeling pretty good about it but as always I'm concerned about the ears in particular. Please provide feedback! 

 

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I spent a good bit of time on the bucket today and made some headway. I know many people do the helmet first because it is so gratifying... but I'm glad I've saved it for last.

 

I started by disassembling my previous work and coating with plastidip. It took about 5 coats to get good with no thin spots.

 

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I then used the masks from the painting to cut the lenses, which I installed using the hot glue method. I also installed screen mesh in the frown.

 

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Next, I experimented with various padding. I found that a combo of tactical helmet padding and weather stripping worked well.

 

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Finally, I started hand painting; laying down the black first and then coming back over with a broad brush of gray.

 

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I'm happy with where it stands now... I'll come back tomorrow and bring out the gray more to get the black outlines thin enough.

 

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Cool. Is there any difference in the color of the white ABS between the Anovos and ATA?

No noticeable difference! we will see when I get it out in various light while trooping. Here in the house I can't tell a difference!

 

 

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... is this thing on??

 

 

More headway on the bucket over the last two nights. I do not have a steady hand, so this painting has been nerve wracking.

 

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I have some stencils, but I decided to try my hand at the tear stripes. I'm not thrilled with how they turned out but they may work. Thoughts?

 

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Then, I of course used the stencil for the tube stripes and messed it all up... obviously I didn't deal the stencil well enough. Yikes

 

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So now the question is whether to try to touch up with white paint or remove the excess with thinner... open to suggestions!

 

I also painted the ab buttons...

 

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And then tried on the armor with the thighs and new kittel belt for the first time.

 

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Please provide feedback as you see room for changes. Any thoughts on how to fix the tube stripes?

 

 

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The trick with stencils is to seal them with a clear before use. That will stop the colour coat running like yours has.

 

For the traps and tears I pre marked all mine with a fine tip pen allowing me to be careful with placement the painted over the lines. For the traps I also use masking tape for the top and bottom and used a calliper to space the lines evenly.

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Looking good so far!   :smiley-sw013: 

The only things that I can see that might need some attention are with the cover strips on the thighs.  They're supposed to stop just above the ridge at the bottom.  Since I suck at descriptions, here are some pics for reference.  :)


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just based on the last full pic the shoulders will need to come in to touch the bridges a little but will pass fine where they stand. you can probably remove some of the return edge on the bottom edge of the shoulder bell to make them fall in more and fit more comfortably. 

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Thanks nukem25rs! I will add that to the list!!

 

Last night I cleaned up managed to clean up one side of the bucket with a toothpick (thanks mutter!) but had to clean up the other side very carefully with paint thinner. After that, I quickly learned that you shouldn't do paint work after a 15 hour work day...

 

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Nonetheless, I took a break and managed to come back and clean it up to a state that I am pleased with.

 

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A bunch of electronics came in today so I spent a few minutes after the kids went down mocking up a fan setup. With the switch from amazon, this will end up costing me about $35 for all parts including a USB battery supply. I'll save this one for a rainy day AFTER I finish my armor and take submission photos.

 

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Tonight I'm going to make the changes to the thighs you all mentioned and then add the ammo pack. Then, it's time to finally tackle these shins. I'm thinking at this rate I should be complete by Sunday evening with a lot of hard work on the rear shin closure, the sniper plate, and readjusting the snaps on my belt.

 

Thanks for all of the feedback so far! I'm having a blast.

 

 

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Edited by ontheway
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Man this is getting out of hand. While waiting on shins to cure, I found myself disassembling a good (but old) pair of noice cancelling/amplifying Howard Leigh ear protection. There was no turning back once I took the main ear panels off, as I realized that the internals would work quite well inside my bucket!

 

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I'm looking forward to retrofitting these to fit in the helmet!

 

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Now I just need to find a new pair of ear protection for the range ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

 

 

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I need advice...

 

The shins are last. I've done the prescribed swap (because anovos labeled wrong) and glued up the front of the shins. I'm trying to decide which shin to put on which leg before proceeding with gluing the sniper plate.

 

This configuration is with halves 25/28 on the left leg with the sniper plate clamped on.

 

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This configuration is with halves 24/27 on the left leg with sniper plate clamped on.

 

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What does everyone think? The sniper plate matches up much better with the 25/28 configuration.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

I managed to finish this build back in November and received admission to the 501st in early December! I haven't had much time for anything outside of work - and haven't been able to get on here and update this thread. 

 

Regardless, I present TK28352. I've made a few changes since taking these photos mostly functional/trooping changes. 

 

 

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Edited by ontheway
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I wired in some temporary fans for today's troop but now I REALLY can't hear anything.

 

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I was frustrated that I was sort of a mime at yesterday's troop... I couldn't hear much and couldn't interact very well with the kids as a result. So, it's time to start working on a hearing system for the bucket.

 

I found time to rewire the guts of that noise isolating/amplifying headset this morning. I extended all of the leads and reinforced other parts of the setup for durability. This setup is powered by 3v so I need to wait for a 2x AAA holder to come in the mail. Once it's in, I can begin install!

 

 

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I spent the afternoon installing a hearing-assist system and two 12v fans.

 

Overall I'm marginally happy with the hearing assist system. There is indeed some improvement in hearing, but I can only get the headphone portion to block out so much noise from the fans. I may go back later and switch it to an in-ear, mic-fed system.

 

The dual microphone inputs are mounted in the frown. I tried mounting in the ears (drilling holes and everything) but found that it produced too much feedback.

 

For the fans, I utilized a voltage booster from Amazon that is really well made and easy to use. It boosts the 5v of the anker to 12v. The 2x 12v fans are very powerful but of course pretty loud. The LED on the booster shows input and output voltages, and can be turned off.

 

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But have you put a headset mic on or a microphone inside near them and seen if the squeltch or not? Mine in the frown drove me bannas.

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