Anovos Stormtrooper.... thoughts?

Kevin Gossett · Feb 8, 2016

For ABS paste you just put some of your cut off scraps into acetone in a glass container and let the ABS melt. Then you can brush it on (lightly) to weld your pieces back together. I'd advise also putting a small plate on the back/inside of the piece to give strength.

Timmythekid · Feb 8, 2016

Kevin Gossett said:
For ABS paste you just put some of your cut off scraps into acetone in a glass container and let the ABS melt. Then you can brush it on (lightly) to weld your pieces back together. I'd advise also putting a small plate on the back/inside of the piece to give strength.

Thanks for that - okay, knowing now what I'm looking for, I checked a couple of descriptions of the process - "pudding-like" consistency, is that what I'm shooting for there?

kman · Feb 8, 2016

Timmythekid said:
Thanks for that - okay, knowing now what I'm looking for, I checked a couple of descriptions of the process - "pudding-like" consistency, is that what I'm shooting for there?

Pudding is the right direction. Think "paste". Perhaps a little thicker than pudding.

Acetone, as you'll see, dissolves ABS. You don't want to put it on your armor too "wet", for obvious reasons.

Once it dries, sand it down (with very fine sandpaper) and polish it.

trooper1975 · Feb 8, 2016

kman said:
You're definitely in the minority. That's a clear case for a replacement part, though. Send support an email with the subject line "TK KIT ISSUE" and I'm sure they'll get the ball rolling on a replacement part. Fortunately that part shouldn't hold up the rest of the build...

Your right that the shoulder bell won't hold up the build.....But if only it was as easy with the support ticket.....I've had a ticket open since mid December after receiving my FO TK Lid which had alot of defects...Still waiting for a reply...I've sent emails, messages and even opened another ticket but no one seems to want to reply.

Tom1971 · Feb 8, 2016

trooper1975 said:
Your right that the shoulder bell won't hold up the build.....But if only it was as easy with the support ticket.....I've had a ticket open since mid December after receiving my FO TK Lid which had alot of defects...Still waiting for a reply...I've sent emails, messages and even opened another ticket but no one seems to want to reply.

By most accounts I have seen they seem to just be overwhelmed. I don't think they are doing the best job but I think they vastly underestimated the response.

I would say try calling, open another ticket, etc.

There is someone here who has been posting who works in their customer support. Sorry I can't think of the name now.

Overall I think the Anovos Stormy is amazing, especially for the tier 1 and even two price, and heck even the current price.

The FO bucket had some serious flaws and they really need to get it together there but I say give them a chance to get up to speed.

I think they are just going to get better and hopefully we will see the Imperial Fleet trooper back. Really just need his helmet and belt boxes as an add on to the black Imperial Officer. I think the uniform is the same.

Tom

Inquisitor Peregrinus · Feb 8, 2016

Timmythekid said:
As I'm moving through the rough trim on all my parts, just wanted ask again - I've got a couple of spots where the blade went off course while scoring, and I think I've scratched the piece (haven't removed the protective plastic yet though). What's the best way to fix minor scratches? Unfortunately there's also one or two spots where a bit more plastic started to come away from the piece than I wanted, leaving slivers hanging on that I'm hoping to somehow weld back together. I've seen references to ABS paste, or to somehow melting down the offcuts to make a repair material - anyone have links to that process?

A couple things I've picked up from Stormtrooper circles over the years that have also proved useful on other projects...

• If the scratches are minor enough, consider investing in a Novus plastic polish kit. The different numbers on the bottles indicate the depth/severity of scratch they're intended for, and you can fill and smooth over some fairly significant scrapes and scratches. This is also good for ongoing maintenance.

• The ground-up ABS dissolved in acetone approach is probably best for adding plastic back on. (Personal observation: I flailed a bit trying to describe what I meant there. There's no useful English term, but I know the French chanteau from my clothing-design studies. We need a generally-agreed-upon term for "bit added on to extend something".) In addition to techniques for grinding up some of your ABS trimmings and the right ratio to use, I've also seen people recommend (and can attest to) using pieces of a thin undershirt-type white T-shirt as a sort-of fiberglass-like backer to reinforce the join line. Since I don't know if th etutorial(s) you've found mention anything like that, I wanted to toss it in.

--Jonah

Kerr Avon · Feb 8, 2016

craigjohn said:
Shjtty is a matter of opinion in the eye of the beholder. To me the ANH and ESB helmets are beautifully hand sculpted pieces of art and historical pieces of cinema. I'm not a fan of the computer generated perfectly symmetrical clone troopers in EPs 2-3. My kiddo on the other hand thinks they're they cat's meow. LOL

Beautiful? Not really, iconic? Yes. They are definitely historical, but don't for a moment pretend that the sculpting with poorly symmetrical and warped design was intentional. It was just fast, cheap, and when you get those two items you don't get the third item which is good.

That said, I snatched one up and have my own Anovos kit I'm building up. I'm waiting for my mannequin that I'll get this week to start working on it more. I already have all the parts trimmed, but may have to wait for some warm weekends to start working with the E6000 glue.

Jodo · Feb 8, 2016

Seeing everyone's kits come in makes me really excited to receive mine. ordered my TK along with an black imperial officer's cap, and my order has yet to ship. It was placed on May 2nd, but I don't quite remember the shipping schedule off hand. I was told this evening on FB that the cap wouldn't change the shipping date though.

Reelo · Feb 8, 2016

Anovos just made available a batch of 300 kits for 650$.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

cyberpyrot · Feb 9, 2016

bad news guys..

i'm 5'7" just finished the thighs and it looks like i'm a little short to be a storm trooper. I put the right thigh on and cannot bend at the knee. I may elect to have surgery in the future to make me taller but for now the costume will remain on the maniquin

Reelo · Feb 9, 2016

cyberpyrot said:
bad news guys.. i'm 5'7" just finished the thighs and it looks like i'm a little short to be a storm trooper. I put the right thigh on and cannot bend at the knee. I may elect to have surgery in the future to make me taller but for now the costume will remain on the maniquin

5'7" that's around 175cm? I haven't started the build yet but that's about my size too! I suppose you can trim the parts enough and clear the back of the knee sufficiently to be able to troop. As far as I understand we're not supposed to be able to bend the legs all the way anyway.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

cyberpyrot · Feb 9, 2016

Reelo said:
5'7" that's around 175cm? I haven't started the build yet but that's about my size too! I suppose you can trim the parts enough and clear the back of the knee sufficiently to be able to troop. As far as I understand we're not supposed to be able to bend the legs all the way anyway.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

the problem with trimming the back is there are molded pieces not flat pieces you cannot reshape. to do it right you would need to remove a 2 inch section from the middle then bring it back together. im not wanting to do major mods to this suit as it is my only one.

Reelo · Feb 9, 2016

cyberpyrot said:
the problem with trimming the back is there are molded pieces not flat pieces you cannot reshape. to do it right you would need to remove a 2 inch section from the middle then bring it back together. im not wanting to do major mods to this suit as it is my only one.

I'm gonna trim the top of the thighs as well as the bottom of the shins. Should give enough knee clearance.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

TK7713Gra30 · Feb 9, 2016

cyberpyrot said:
bad news guys.. i'm 5'7" just finished the thighs and it looks like i'm a little short to be a storm trooper. I put the right thigh on and cannot bend at the knee. I may elect to have surgery in the future to make me taller but for now the costume will remain on the maniquin

Don't worry too much about trimming as it's actually more screen accurate. I have some pictures I will post but if you look at a lot of the TKs there were pretty large areas removed from both the tops of the calves and thighs at the rear around the knee area. The suits were chopped to fit the guy so you shouldn't have any problems getting it to fit. The roughness has always appealed to me, if you watch the Tantive scene the calves on some are even open at the back. On another not mine arrived yesterday. I've owned a fair few TKs from Fallano to TE, TM and CFO. Yes this has it faults but for the price is an absolute bargain and the main thing is it shows quality, even fully accurate TK pulls have a lot of work required and only look the part fully assembled, individual pieces all look rough on their own.

kman · Feb 9, 2016

PSA:

Anovos just sent out a notification email about the shipping schedule for the soft goods (undersuit and gloves):

Here is the TENTATIVE schedule for order dispatch, although we do note that additional updates will be dispatched should changes occur:

Pre-Celebration Orders (April 12 to April 15, 2015): Shipments to begin between February 10 and February 15.

Celebration Orders (April 16 to April 19, 2015): Shipments to begin between February 15 and February 25.

Post-Celebration Orders to May 4, 2015: Shipments to begin between February 25 to March 5.

Tier 2 Orders, and Full MSRP Orders up to December 31 2015: Shipments slated during March 2016.

Note: To look-up your order date, please refer to your receipt as that will be the quickest way to know. It will be listed on there.

Timmythekid · Feb 9, 2016

Inquisitor Peregrinus said:
A couple things I've picked up from Stormtrooper circles over the years that have also proved useful on other projects...

• If the scratches are minor enough, consider investing in a Novus plastic polish kit. The different numbers on the bottles indicate the depth/severity of scratch they're intended for, and you can fill and smooth over some fairly significant scrapes and scratches. This is also good for ongoing maintenance.

• The ground-up ABS dissolved in acetone approach is probably best for adding plastic back on. (Personal observation: I flailed a bit trying to describe what I meant there. There's no useful English term, but I know the French chanteau from my clothing-design studies. We need a generally-agreed-upon term for "bit added on to extend something".) In addition to techniques for grinding up some of your ABS trimmings and the right ratio to use, I've also seen people recommend (and can attest to) using pieces of a thin undershirt-type white T-shirt as a sort-of fiberglass-like backer to reinforce the join line. Since I don't know if th etutorial(s) you've found mention anything like that, I wanted to toss it in.

--Jonah

Awesome info, thanks for clarifying! Two last questions about the ABS paste, I promise. First, this may sound stupidly obvious, but before dumping the scraps into acetone (or MEK I understand is ideal), do I need to remove the protective coating? Second, my limited understanding of the paste was that it is more like a glue, used to weld existing pieces back together, but it sounds like you're saying it can be used to actually rebuild small sections itself - do I have that right?
.
New questions (there really should be a build thread for this kit) - I'm noticing that a LOT of the halves of pieces don't line up very well when just placed together (nothing glued or even taped yet as I'm still finishing rough cutting) - calves, forearms, biceps....is this normal? Lastly, I keep checking the pieces against myself, and it seems as if, how to put this delicately, the suit is deisgned for a more...hefty trooper. I'm over six feet and not a beanpole, but I feel like I'm swimming in the kidney plate for example - again, is this normal? Will stapping pull it all together?

Gary Weaver II · Feb 9, 2016

Quick question from a TK Noob...

Are the gloves supplied with the Anovos soft goods accurate? I didn't think they were supposed to have textured portions on the outside of the fingers.

-Gary

TK7713Gra30 · Feb 9, 2016

Timmythekid said:
Awesome info, thanks for clarifying! Two last questions about the ABS paste, I promise. First, this may sound stupidly obvious, but before dumping the scraps into acetone (or MEK I understand is ideal), do I need to remove the protective coating? Second, my limited understanding of the paste was that it is more like a glue, used to weld existing pieces back together, but it sounds like you're saying it can be used to actually rebuild small sections itself - do I have that right?
.
New questions (there really should be a build thread for this kit) - I'm noticing that a LOT of the halves of pieces don't line up very well when just placed together (nothing glued or even taped yet as I'm still finishing rough cutting) - calves, forearms, biceps....is this normal? Lastly, I keep checking the pieces against myself, and it seems as if, how to put this delicately, the suit is deisgned for a more...hefty trooper. I'm over six feet and not a beanpole, but I feel like I'm swimming in the kidney plate for example - again, is this normal? Will stapping pull it all together?

Yes, remove the plastic film, snip into small pieces and put in the MEK, acetone to me is a bit too aggressive. As modellers we have been using this mix for years, but in styrene. The thicker the mix the thicker you can add, it's like a thick soup. Let dry between layers and make sure it's really fully hardened before sanding. You can brush it or pool it on.
For the armour, yes the strapping will bring it all in, only if you are really really thin would you have any problems. Lining the arms etc up is a case of gluing one side nice and flush all the way then the next once dry.

- - - Updated - - -

Gary Weaver II said:
Quick question from a TK Noob...

Are the gloves supplied with the Anovos soft goods accurate? I didn't think they were supposed to have textured portions on the outside of the fingers.

-Gary

I thought the originals were military chemical gloves, serving in the uk I have plenty of pairs and they do have pimples, but on the insides.

lambotour · Feb 9, 2016

Original TK gloves had texture on the outer nail portion area of the gloves. You can buy them at Home Depot for $5.

craigjohn · Feb 9, 2016

Kerr Avon said:
Beautiful? Not really, iconic? Yes. They are definitely historical, but don't for a moment pretend that the sculpting with poorly symmetrical and warped design was intentional. It was just fast, cheap, and when you get those two items you don't get the third item which is good.

That said, I snatched one up and have my own Anovos kit I'm building up. I'm waiting for my mannequin that I'll get this week to start working on it more. I already have all the parts trimmed, but may have to wait for some warm weekends to start working with the E6000 glue.

I never said the sculpting with asymmetrical design was intentional. But there's definitely a beauty to the organic hand sculpted nature of the ST.

Rather than saying it was "fast and cheap", how about noting it was a "product of it's time" stemming from the mid 70's, with no computer aided design in the process. That's something I entirely appreciate.

Anovos Stormtrooper.... thoughts?

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