Tarok's Anovos ANH TK Build - TK27777 Approved

[tarok[TK]]

Hi all

 

Mine's a familiar tale: got drawn in by the fancy website and attractive pricing and ordered an OTTK kit from Anovos late last year, suffered through broken promises of timely delivery, and 9 months later a beautiful BBB was delivered to a loving home on the outer rim planet that is Melbourne, Australia. 

 

But life does not stop while awaiting a BBB, and it actually got delivered a week before we moved house and a further fortnight elapsed before I cracked the seal. And a further month elapsed before I made the first cut.

 

 

Obligatory bucket shot:

 

 

My build largely follows that of UKswrath, however, I draw inspiration from many of the fine folks here (Kman, maninthesuitcase, and many, many more).

 

I think I have collected most of the parts and supplies required (and even started another costume over at the IOC) while I awaited, and awaited,  and awaited the arrival of the BBB. I've no doubt I'm forgetting something, but here's the rundown:

 

Helmet: Anovos. Cooling system from Sly on an Echo bracket. Audio enhancements are planned, but I'm still considering options. Also still considering padding/internal suspension options.

 

Armour (yes, I spell it with a "u" ): Anovos

 

Hand armour: JustJoseph silicone upgrade

 

Belt: likely to upgrade once armour girth is measurable

 

Brackets, internal: Mr No Stripes

 

Undersuit: (sigh) I'm long in the torso and short in the limbs, so finding a suit has proved challenging. I started by going for a 1 piece from Stormtrooperundersuit (aka eXtreme Racing), however, the front and rear wedgies were visually unappealing to an audience and even less fun for me. I then tried the 2 piece, which reminds me more of a tracksuit (do any of the UK Garrison use these?). I eventually settled on a 2 piece set from Aldi which cost me about $30!

 

Neck seal: Darman

 

Gloves: black rubber gloves from the local supermarket. I have a pair from Stormtrooperundersuit which I'll probably use from trooping.

 

Balaclava: Stormtrooperundersuit

 

Boots: TK Boots

 

Garter Suspension: Ty (pending delivery)

 

Blaster, E11: DoopyDoos with various upgrades.

 

Obligatory first cut photos (don't worry, I'm only using the Anovos manual to check off parts LOL! The file also contains print outs of UKswrath's guide and the FISD blaster guide):

 

 

I won't bore everyone with photos of parts being trimmed. I should also mention, RL is pretty busy so this is likely to be a pretty slow build  Stay tuned though

 

RR

[QuartZ]

Oh cool! Congratulations on your kit arrival. Are there any differences with the 2017 kit that you have noticed? I've heard some talk of helmet tweaks...

 

I ordered a kit late last year as well. If you don't mind me asking, what was your order date? It might help give others who are in a similar situation some idea of how Anovos is doing with order fulfillment.

 

Thanks, I'll be stalking your thread to learn more about your journey!

-Dana

[tarok[TK]]

Oh cool! Congratulations on your kit arrival. Are there any differences with the 2017 kit that you have noticed? I've heard some talk of helmet tweaks...
 
I ordered a kit late last year as well. If you don't mind me asking, what was your order date? It might help give others who are in a similar situation some idea of how Anovos is doing with order fulfillment.
 
Thanks, I'll be stalking your thread to learn more about your journey!
-Dana

Hi Dana

I ordered in September 2016. The initial delivery period was Q1, 2017. That changed toward the end of that period to Q2, 2017. Anovos shipped my kit on approx 21 June. It was delivered to Melbourne, Australia literally a couple of days later - I had a missed delivery due to nobody being home to receive the DHL delivery.

In terms of differences between this and the earlier kits, I couldn't say I'm aware of too many. The helmet lining is an obvious one. The earlier one had a hard hat style suspension system I believe whereas the kit I received features Velcro helmet pads. Unfortunately if one intends darkening the inside of the bucket the Velcro needs to be removed.

I haven't checked the belt yet, but where I think previous versions were assembled this one isn't. I'll check tonight (if I remember ).

The one thing I did notice is that the shins are still mislabelled thank goodness for all the debates about "shin-gate"


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[Shanester[TK]]

Congrats on getting your kit.  I remember when mine arrived and even though I opened it immediately, days went by before I considered starting it.  It took me almost a year of slow but steady work and now I am a Centurion.  Steady as she goes mate.  Best of luck! 

[QuartZ]

Thanks for the ordering info! I really appreciate it. I placed my order December 22 2016. So I missed the December 18 cutoff for the wave I think your order was in. Glad to hear you got your kit and that you're happy so far. I didn't read about the belt pieces being separate so if that's the case that would be a plus. Again, thank you for that information it's somewhat reassuring that I'll get my kit "Summer 2017" as they now call it on their shipping calendar although I'm not holding my breathe.

 

-Dana

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking forward to the progress

[Novak Dimon[TK]]

Congratulations to your BBB 

-Day. 

A long waiting time gave me the patience to soak in all the precious information that lead me to Centurion.  I see that you are well prepared too.

I wish you the best of luck for your build as well a steady hand, a level head and a sharp eye. 

Cheers

Christian

 

[tarok[TK]]

Thanks all for the above comments.

Dana asked about the belt earlier.

Anovos appear to have noticed that folks are pulling their belts apart, and having trouble at that. Anovos' response is to no longer supply the belt assembled. A good move IMO.



Unfortunately the belt itself is still way to soft, and this will need to be replaced.



Not included above are photos of the holster. Upon feeling it I instantly regretted my decision not to have ordered a replacement from Darman Props earlier this month and combining postage with a IO/MS5 holster I have coming for another project. The holster is extremely hard, and will need a lot of work to soften.


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[QuartZ]

Thanks for updating your thread with more information about the belt changes. I'm certainly happy that they made that change so new builders like us won't be cracking parts trying to take the belt apart. Like you, I plan on building my armor so I can properly measure myself to place an order for a Kittell belt. Again, thanks for the great post about the changes!

 

I don't know what to expect with the holster, so I'm gonna check back on your thread and see if you post more about your experience with the Anovos holster. Although when I ordered my Darman neck seal, he also offered to sell me one of his holsters...I chose to wait until I could examine the Anovos holster. Maybe I should have took him up on it. We'll see.

 

Keep up the progress/info posts!

-Dana

[tarok[TK]]

Hi all

 

Long time no see After rough trimming most of the kit parts back in August I kinda hit a mental wall/funk. Changing my approach may help. Instead of trying for a perfect Centurion level suit first time, I’m going to try just building for a fun, basic suit using the horrible Anovos Velcro and all lol. I’d rather just get out there trooping; I can always upgrade later. (Somewhat ironically this is the approach I advocate at work - I really should listen to my own advice occasionally lol)

 

Diatribe aside...

 

Today was right bicep final trimming day - yup, funk broken

 

Anticipating a Darwin Award for rigging the sander and rotary tool in a desktop vice, I though “safety first”.

 

 

Return Edges reduced to 3mm (more or less). The rotary tool is awesome for removing excess plastic. A quick hand sand with 150 grit took off flash. I’ve got about 1.5cm clearance at the top, 3cm at the bottom. I’m contemplating tapering the bicep, but the piece is passable and fits. I may just glue and come back to this later.

 

 

Speaking of glue... is this enough?

 

 

 

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[tarok[TK]]

Ah, before I forget... I wasn’t completely idle during my TK sabbatical: I got my Imperial Staff Officer costume approved. ID-27777 here


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[lucnak[TK]]

Yeah, that should be enough E6000! Don't think you'll use all that.

 

Nice to see you come back to your build! Don't be afraid to reach out to your local garrison. Someone might be able to help you in person!

[TheSwede[TK]]

Welcome back and have fun with the build

[tarok[TK]]

This is probably a small win (or even quite inconsequential) to some, but given its taken a while to get to this point, it’s a big win to me: we got a glued bicep! well, it’s curing in the shed anyway.



Question about the E6000 though. It seemed tacky from the get-go, not really runny. Is that normal?


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[TheSwede[TK]]

1 hour ago, tarok said:

it’s a big win to me: we got a glued bicep!

Way to go! 

 

 

1 hour ago, tarok said:

It seemed tacky from the get-go, not really runny. Is that normal?

Never used E6000 so can`t answer that one though, I´m sure someone else will

[Frank75139[501st]]

Good job. My e6000 wasn’t runny at all.


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[tarok[TK]]

Good morning from Melbourne,

Need some forearm trimming advice.

To summarise: I need/want to shorten my forearm armour to make for a more comfortable fit (being able to bend my elbows to a 90 degree position would be nice, as would some wrist flexibility be cool).

The question is: where should the lower end of the vambraces sit? At the wrist joint end of the radius/ulna bones?

My gut feel is saying shorten just above the lowest indent (sorry, not sure what the square indents that run up the forearm are called). I’d like to shorten prior to gluing so as to get the taper right early on.

Below are a couple of pictures (of me ) wearing the right arm armour (loosely fitted) for context.



Thanks in advance!


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[lucnak[TK]]

Yes, if you need to trim it for length, cut to a length between the indents. Even with the forearm piece turning into your elbow, you're unable to lift much higher than that?

[tarok[TK]]

Yes, if you need to trim it for length, cut to a length between the indents. Even with the forearm piece turning into your elbow, you're unable to lift much higher than that?

Assuming the bicep is at the correct height (admittedly it may have slipped slightly) and the wrist end is at the correct level, no: that’s the limit.

Another question: with the arm fully vertically extended, should the forearm and bicep armour touch at the rear? Or should I allow for spacing? And how much?


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[lucnak[TK]]

1 hour ago, tarok said:

 

Assuming the bicep is at the correct height (admittedly it may have slipped slightly) and the wrist end is at the correct level, no: that’s the limit.

Another question: with the arm fully vertically extended, should the forearm and bicep armour touch at the rear? Or should I allow for spacing? And how much?


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They can touch. Once you have your glove with the hand plate on, you want to even out the amount of black showing between the bicep and forearm and the forearm and the hand plate.

[tarok[TK]]

Another small update - to show I’m still maintaining momentum, albeit at sloth rate

Right forearm was shortened by one dimple. I was fortunate to troop with my (new) GML over Easter and get some feedback on both forearm and bicep. In addition to some great tips, it’s reassuring to know I was on the right track.

Tonight I glued the back cover strip down. I’d intended to do both but engineering-wise it wasn’t going to work. Having brought the forearms in a bit, the parts are a bit “springy” (its late: words escape me ), and it took a bit of MacGyver’ing just to get them to this point

Why the back strip? Because if I’ve stuffed it up at leave it’s at the back, and not as noticeable








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[tarok[TK]]

Wow, look at that! Over 6 months since I last updated this build thread LOL

 

Things have not been still, merely happening at a glacial speed amid the awesomeness of adult life. They should really put a warning label on that! Anywho...

 

The below photo montages really show where I'm at, however for those that prefer the 1000 words instead of a picture: 

 

- Biceps and forearms trimmed, glued, etc. Right bicep/forearm strapped. Left to be done this weekend.

- Back/kidney/posterior plates strapped. Back shoulder tabs to be hot water bathed this weekend and kidney/groin strap rivet holes to be drilled. (After seeing it hang together with the velcro my first thought was that this is being replaced as soon as I have time!)

- Ab/chest trimmed

- Leg parts correctly identified and trimmed. Return edges to be reduced to 3mm before further work proceeds

 

Other than that, I bought a Ryobi desktop sander which is fan-freakin'-tastic! Just demolishes those bits you quickly need reduced etc. Also gave the hot water bath concept a bash earlier in the week - think I've got that sussed out.

 

I've also got to say: my GML, in particular, has been great. Any time I've had a question about what might pass basic approval (which is all I'm aiming for right now), he's been awesome at giving advice. 

 

Enough waffle... pics:

 

Right Arm: I replicated the supplied straps using painters tape to work out the velcro placement.

 

 

Forearms were shorted by a dimple and tapered in for better fitment. Still a bit of clean up to be done.

 

 

Left arm - still some return edge clean up to be done.

 

 

Velcro strapped back. Let's just get approved, then we'll revisit the snaps vs Mr No Stripes system debate.

 

 

The kind folks over at the Anovos TK Build group on FB help clear up the Shingate questions. This is pre-trim.

 

 

New toys and experiments.

 

Edited October 18, 2018 by tarok

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Real life does have a habit of getting in the way  

 

Just watch the length of your cover strips, you don't want them longer than the armor as they can catch when moving.

 

Coming along nicely

[tarok[TK]]

Real life does have a habit of getting in the way  
 
Just watch the length of your cover strips, you don't want them longer than the armor as they can catch when moving.
 
Coming along nicely

Thanks mate

Yeah, I intentionally made them a bit longer than necessary. I figured was easier to trim off the excess later that add more lol


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[tarok[TK]]

Small update.

Installed the split rivets (was going to paint them with Humbrol Matt white but got lazy, so just used white-out) on the left side of the kidney plate and abdominal section. I have about a 50mm gap, which I’ll leave for now (just got through basic approval). I made my own strapping using 30mm wide webbing from a local haberdashery store, and 4mm eyelets. The pliers are from Prym and can be used for stud work, eyelets, punching holes, etc, all provided one has the correct fittings. I saw it get a mention by Chris (@themaninthesuitcase) and thought I’d give it a go - if it didn’t work for this purpose I know my partner will use it for mending kidswear.



Did a quick fitting. I think the torso can probably come up a bit more when I try it wearing my undersuit. However, the back plate still sits low. I will try straighten the shoulder tabs via hot water bath, however I think the rear neck is still a bit low.

Is an issue if the skirt section of the neck seal is exposed? Will take more photos with undersuit and neck seal during the week.






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Edited November 26, 2018 by tarok