ukswrath

6. Chest plate and shoulders 6b. Chest to cover plate assembly. By this time you should have your chest and shoulder cover plates trimmed out. Perform a test fit of the plates. The largest of the ribs on the cover plates faces forward. Also, when gluing the covers to the chest there should be approximately 5 ribs on the chest side, the remainder will be floating. Note the cover to chest edge alignment. In the following photos I'll be gluing the covers to the chest. Apply glue as shown. using a couple clamps secure in place and let dry. Note: The right side chest mount is a bit wonky in shape, that's ok just follow the outer edge. While clamps are in place carefully check to ensure the covers will sit relatively close to the center of the back plate. This does not have to be perfect. Finished

Hey Chris yea I heard the release date got pushed back, sorry to hear that. Welcome to Anovos. Like you said, stay positive and in the mean time get all your supplies and tools together. Also order any items that do not come with the kit. And finally, read, read, read Thanks for the kudos

Man what is up with this website, very buggy. Copy and paste is a nightmare

10. Waist belt (preassembled from Anovos) Accuracy Modifications 10e. Belt assembly (Drop box modification and install) Finishing off the waist belt, in this section I'll illustrate how to correctly modify, install the drop box and connecting connecting straps. As mentioned previously remove drop box straps from the drop boxes (glued being wedged between both drop box halves). At this point you can choose to use the same drop box elastic you removed or do as I did and use other connection elastic from the Anovos kit. I'll choose to use the old drop box elastic at a later time. This is what I used, technically the shoulder bell around the bicep strapping. Using a exacto knife remove the velcro from the elastic. Before assembly In the following few photos I'll be reinstalling the elastic, cutting out sections to go around snaps (if you assembled you belt similar to mine). Center strapping to drop box and align drop box so that the outer edge is aligned with the outer edge of the ammo belt, and with little to no clearance between the box and the ammo belt above it. Apply glue to the drop box, between the box elastic and between the elastic and cloth belt. Apply clamps and let dry. Finished, don't mine the dirtiness it still needs final cleaning.

Awesome, I like the way the MP40s look to be honest.

Just for clarification, MP40 pouches are an approved substitute for drop boxes? I don't see that in any CRL

Well, just follow one of the many Anovos build tutorials and I'll do my best to keep up with your build.

10. Waist belt (preassembled from Anovos) Accuracy Modifications 10d. Belt assembly (Holster modification and install) In this section I'll be slightly modifying, then installing the gun holster. First order of business is to remove the weak cap rivets and replace them with stronger and more accurate Chicago screws. Drill out or pull apart cap rivets. Since I won't be using the upper holster mounts I trimmed them roughly 3/4" above the lower hole. Afterwards install 3/8" long Chicago screws. NOTE: You'll have to purchase these as they do not come with the kit. Another note: You may notice the straps are installed smooth side out. With the OTTK armor it's supposed to be unfinished or rough side out. I figured this kit was supposed to be shinny so I left them as such. If this is incorrect someone please tell me. Prepare to install on cloth belt. In the image below there are measurements indicating where the holster mounts should be placed. Measure, mark and punch 3/16" holes for Chicago screws. NOTE: The original screws will be used here. And install. Next up, drop boxes... EDIT: Paint the chicago screws then drop box time lol

Your overall build looks great. I could critique things all day long because I'm OCD. Even my counterpart on the FISD will laugh at me from time to time because of it. Bottom line, what is critical on the FISD is not so much here and I respect that, also we're comparing apples to oranges with accuracies. Long story short your armor looks great, if the staff here wants to chime in on anything they may see I let them have at it.

10. Waist belt (preassembled from Anovos) Accuracy Modifications 10c. Belt assembly and installation part 2 (install Ab to Belt mounting snaps) In this section I'll be installing the Ab to waist belt mounting snaps. I'm be using Line 24 snaps to secure the belt to the ab. At the time of build I realized I'd run out of "S" popper snaps which are canon. Anyway, following the template measurements below, on the Ab locate, mark and drill 1/8" holes for the snap base. After drilling the holes place the Ab on a chair. Temporarily mount (magnets work best) the center and vertical ab buttons. Place the current belt assembly on the ab with the upper part of the belt at or just below the lower ab buttons. Temporarily attach belt assembly using painters tape. Center the belt so that it is centered with the lower vertical raised section that travels to the cod. Afterwards remove ab buttons. The purpose with the on and off of the buttons is to avoid scratching them during this procedure. Wrap the remainder of the belt behind the ab. Flip ab over so that it is face down. Locate snap mounting holes. Center cloth belt on holes. Place a pencil through the holes and mark the cloth belt. Afterwards (NOTE: I used a silver sharpie) IMPORTANT!!! At this point you'll want to locate and mark cloth belt through the mounting holes and each end of the ammo belt. Remove belt and install mounting rivets. Install the male from the inside of the ab facing forward. Sorry for the next few blurry photos. Place waist belt on a flat surface. Punch out holes for ab to cloth belt mounting rivets and for ammo belt to to cloth belt. Install female snaps. NOTE: Some how I forgot to take photos of this process DOE! Afterwards connect ammo belt to cloth belt using pop rivets. Afterwards Reinstall cap rivets covers. Apply glue and clamp Test fit Apply glue and clamp Let dry. To be cont....

10. Waist belt (preassembled from Anovos) Accuracy Modifications 10b. Belt assembly and installation part 1 As discussed earlier I'm replacing the Anovos cloth belt with a Kittle belt. Here's both items before assembly. Take the cloth belt and find the center of the belt. NOTE: Kittle belts have a front and back side. He generally specifies this with a piece of tape (shown above) NOTE: In this build the cloth belt will be attached to the ammo belt with pop rivets. My first choice would have been to use canon cap rivets but with the minor damage done to the mounting holes from the disassembly I'm electing to use cap rivets with aluminum washers. Using hole punch create a hole for the 1/8 x 3/16" pop rivet. For the moment we are only working on the center hole. The outer holes will be done a little bit later. From the back side install rivet and washer (if needed). A washer was used on the front (ammo belt) side also. Center section done.

My pleasure. If I may say so don't use a heat gun. Can't tell you how many ruined sections of armor I've seen due to heat guns. Shortening the elastic is of course the first option. Trimming the lower bell return edge is another step. Both these actions will draw the bells inward. Keep up the great work.

Yep Yea. During the Anovos onslaught I heard a love of diehards say they'd never buy one to only find out they caved. When Anovos hit the stage it was a shock to the vetted builders. Disney was now granting licenses to vendors that didn't follow the same rules the vetted did. If anyone was following the hysteria unfold on whitearmor it was a nightmare for us on the staff. I'm all for accuracy but like you said it's also about bringing joy to others. I do what I can to help others fulfill their dreams, whether it commission builds or build parties, it's something I love to do.

Agreed however, the set only cost $350 at the introductory price, which also came with the soft goods, under suit, gloves and neck seal. Total build cost including replacing the Anovos supplied velcro connecting straps with brackets or snaps, cloth waist belt with a Kittle belt and rubber hand guards, your still only talking $450 not including boots. Trust me I'm not an Anovos advocate, just throwing out numbers here. I built one of these armor sets for a fellow garrison member, to Centurion, in two weekends. He now troops next to $1,800 TM and RS armor owners. Besides the fact it just doesn't look at purdy as the high dollar suits IMHO, it's a fully functional set of armor for 1/4 the cost.

Thanks Jim

Looks great Daniel. A little constructive criticism, your shoulders would look even better if there was almost zero gap between the bells and shoulder covers.

Thanks Steve, yea the belt is junk. The weight of the holster alone makes it sag and look like a wet noodle. It had to go. When the Anovos Armor came out a few of us at the FISD gave them advice on what to change for future builds, for the most part it fell on def ears. So here we are lol. Though for the introductory price it's a no brainer, I bought a few and built two to Centurion so far. If you can get one cheap they're fun to build but I wouldn't plan on them lasting long.

Yea, well unfortunately the FB groups are killing the march for accuracy. Thanks for the kind words brother.

Thanks Peter. No never lol

10. Waist belt (preassembled from Anovos) Accuracy Modifications So over on the FISD it's been decided the cloth belt that comes with the Anovos kit is not worthy of approval at the highest level. In our opinion it's lackluster appearance does not meet the quality standards and so is a suggested replacement at L2 and mandatory at L3. Not sure how the command staff feels about it here but for the sake of all things holy and good in the empire I'll be replacing it regardless lol. The belt will be replaced with a Jim Kittle belt, one of the finest belts in the legion IMHO. NOTE: This procedure has it's risks, possible ammo belt damage etc. This is an "At Your Own Risk" modification and should only be done so if you want to, or required by the Special Ops DO, which I believe it is NOT. Enjoy 10a. Disassembly The trickiest part of this entire mod just so happens to be the very first step. It requires detaching the cloth belt from the ammo belt which also requires you remove the rivet covers on the front of the ammo belt that just so happen to be glued together with plastic welder type glue, which makes it almost impossible to remove without damaging the ammo belt, the caps or both. That said, I've done several of these without any permanent VISIBLE damages. If you follow my directions you should be able to pull this off without any issues. If you're still with me let's begin. Removing the rivet caps. I've found the glue bonding the caps to the ammo belt will soften with heat. I've tried a hot water bath but the amount heat it takes to soften the glue may distort the plastic so I abandoned that idea, and under NO circumstances do we use a heat gun. Here's my solution. Take a butter knife and wedge it between the cap and ammo belt. In some situations doing this will cause a less secured cap to pop off. If this happens to you you're in luck, move to the next cap. If you're not so lucky continue on. Flip the belt over so that the rivets are facing upward. Using a DULL or unsharpened 1/4" drill bit, place bit on the head of the rivet and begin to power the drill. The goal here is to heat the rivet without drilling through it if possible, if you do it's no big deal. I've also been told running the drill backwards does the same trick, though I've never tried it. Anyway, the heat should transfer through the rivet metal to the glue on the opposite side which will soften it. If all goes well the cap should pop off, sometime with the rivet sometimes without. In this case I inadvertently drilled through the rivet head which worked out anyway. Ammo belt aftermath. Finish removing rivets and cloth belt and drop boxes. Using a dremel or other remove the remainder of glue and rivet. Other items that need attention are the drop boxes. Anovis wedges the connecting straps between the drop box halves. They should be glued to the outside of the inner box. Without disassembling the drop box halves firmly, but carefully remove the straps by pulling on them. And finally remove the holster. Ready to assemble. To be continued...

11. Thermal Detonator cont.... 11c. Assembly (using accurate screws). NOTE: As discussed in the "Helmet Update" section the machine screws used to secure the ears are incorrect for that application. The screws Anovos provided to attach the belt clips to the TD are also inaccurate however, the good news is the Anovos ear screws are a perfect match for the TD clips (Pan head and slotted). In this section we'll continue with the assembly. Starting with the TD Control Panel, apply and glue panel. Temporarily install end caps Install clips so the the edge mates against the end caps and the control panel. Afterwards using a sharpie or similar locate and mark the clip mounting holes. Measure mounting screw (I think they were 1/8") and drill holes in tube. Install clips as shown. Install end caps and paint screw heads if you haven't done so already. Finished

11. Thermal Detonator 11a. Trimming. Thermal Detonator comes pretrimmed from Anovos. No additional trimming was needed. 11b. In this section I'll be painting the tube prior to assembly. Using a Scotch Brite pad lightly scuff the tube to remove the top layer of film or dirt. Measure the end cap widths then apply painters tape to each end of the tube minus 1/8". Minus 1/8" is to allow for full paint coverage due to imperfections in the end caps. Install and trace out panel. Install painters tape minus 1/8" for panel imperfections. Paint assembly glossy black or similar. Afterwards remove tape. Using a sander, dremel or other remove some pipe material on the outer edges of the tube without paint. This will allow the end caps to install easier. Afterwards test fit caps. Using the original Anovos TD belt clips prep and paint the same color as tube. Paint screw heads now or later. I painted them before Let dry and prep for assembly.

Excellent work Daniel.

13. Helmet Accuracy Modifications cont....: 13b. Hovi Tip screen update. So accurate tips should have screen material with roughly 7-8 strands of wire within the 17mm inner diameter of the tip. The Anovos supplied tip screen is roughly 20+ strands which is too fine. In the following illustration I'll demonstrate how to update the screen mesh. First remove the Hovis by removing the screw from inside the helmet. Using a small screw driver or pic pry the old screen out. Be careful to not damage the hovi tip. The next step is easier if you remove the center section. Using a 3/8" deep socket or equivalent pop out the center. NOTE: There is some glue holding it in place but it shouldn't be too difficult to remove. I've done about 1/2 dozen of these Anovos tips, they're all the same. Here's some hovi tips mesh pre-cut and ready to install. You can find this material in some flour sifters (dollar store) or I sell a set for $3 shipped US. Place the Hovis narrow side down. Using the same socket used to punch out the center, press in the new screen material until the socket will not go any further. They should roughly look like this when finished. Old & New Add E6000 and reinstall the base then let dry. Reinstall in the helmet.

13. Helmet Accuracy modifications: So I'm going to jump ahead here a bit and talk about the helmet. As with the ANOVOS OTTK armor there were some areas of the helmet that are not accurate in the OTTK world like the ear screws that come flat head but should be "V" head and slotted. The Hovi tip screens are also too fine and should be a bit more course. I didn't like the tube stripe color either which was glossy black and barely recognizable, and finally I wanted to clean up the Vcoder lines and extend the frown past the last tooth as seen with ANH Stunt Centurion armor. From what I've read in the CRL none of these will prevent you from being approved "Specialist", though I could be wrong. Anyway in the next four sections I'll illustrate how to update these areas. 13a. Frown and Ear Screws First remove the ears. Since I'll be replacing the screws as mentioned above there's no better time than now get started. NOTE: Save the ear screws as you'll need them for the Thermal Detonator accuracy update we'll be performing a bit later. Using paint thinner remove the old tube stripes. Remove the internal padding exposing the screw nuts. Install tube stripe stencils (purchased from Trooperbay). Place the the tube stencils so the the edge of the tube stripe itself will be roughly a #2 pencil width distance from the face and the most forward stripe is roughly near the front face Hovi tip socket. Sorry the image is so difficult to see, Tape off and paint Using Testors flat black paint the tube stripes. Once dry carefully remove the stencils. Ear Screws. As mentioned before the ear screws are incorrect and will be replace with "V" head slot screws. I purchased 6 "V" head screws with a 6.5mm head (which is close to screen accurate and used with the OTTK armor). Drill out the existing holes to accommodate the new screw shafts which slightly larger. Test fit. Paint Tester glossy black then reinstall. Next up Hovi Tip screen replacement....