My long-awaited Anovos/Denuo Novo First Order Stormtrooper armor

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

MyBuddyBossk... First of all, love your user-name. Yeah, it's been an interesting time. I have seen some good fanmade suits come along. I'm supplementing this one with some of KB's, but it's still going to require work to integrate. I wanted to hold out for something with provenance -- even if liberties had to be taken for manufacture and construction. I had hopes after Anovos said they were going to do the inversion-forming that we'd get nice sharp corners to work with, so seeing that turned out to be a straight up lie was... irritating.

But. I've spent a lot of my formative years in this hobby learning how to make silk purses out of pigs' ears. As long as I have something of the right approximate size and shape, I can work with that. I am fond of quoting a bit of Industry wisdom Rick Sternbach passed along to me some years ago: "We have been doing so much for so long with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing." I also have a personal aim of making most of my costume work "better than the film prop". I know the shortcuts taken for things that don't need to stand up to scrutiny, but a worn costume does. So while waiting to get the kit was an exercise in patience, so, too, will be the process of building it to my standard.

Also, I just realized, I haven't posted pics of the weapons or accessories in this thread. Gloves from Imperial Armoury:

SE-44C sidearm blaster, 3D files by Germaine/5thHorseman over at the FISD, 3D printing mostly by me. Shapeways did the main sight piece, due to fiddliness, and the aluminum "holster-bracket" side plate was procured elsewhere...

This was after less than an hour of cleanup. It has since progressed further. I'll get some more pictures taken and up over the weekend.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

Ah, the gift that keeps on taking. Updating things as I learn them about this kit, to pass along, even if I haven't addressed myself to fixing them yet. So. The thighs and calves on the film suits (TFA version, anyway -- I have no idea about the TLJ ones) have the outside seams back-over-front and the inside seams front-over-back. The kit gets that for the thighs, but the calves have the outside seam front-over-back, so I'm going to have to cut off the glue tab on the calf backs. Since I'm already thickening all the pieces, that's a relatively minor addition to the work on the shins, but still annoying to have to correct.

Unrelated word of advice. As I said above, I've been talking to DN about the clip greeblies. Where they stand now is they have thanked me for my "suggestion" and forwarded it to production. So, for the time being, if anyone orders arm or leg parts sets, they'll come with some right and some wrong greeblies. They also might, at some point, offer plastic parts only, but for now, only full sets. So I'll have some sticker sheets, should anyone need them for some reason. But, since I'm getting one set of each arm and leg just for the plastic pieces, between those and the other pair of legs I'm getting, I'll have enough of the large greeblies (6) to build the legs properly.

...It also means I'll have a dozen of the small clip greeblies. Maybe I'll use them to "swarzify" a pair of boots to make, like, a First Order-y version of BSG Colonial Warriors' boots...

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

As I said over in the main Anovos/Denuo Novo thread, I got the spare chest and right leg armor sets that I pre-ordered. I haven't looked on their site to see whether they've changed their listings, but what I got wasn't exactly what I ordered. Not that I'm complaining. The chest set (I pre-ordered outer and inner chest plates and backplate, plus chest latch greeblies) came as chest and torso armor -- down to the cod and butt plates. No thermal detonator, but I don't need one.

The leg came with the correct three large clip greeblies, rather than the two large and one small. So they seem to have listened to what I said.

I've already got everything rough-rough trimmed and the three pieces of the outer chest plate cut apart. Just with trial, taped sandwiching, it already feels so much sturdier. So, I guess... if one wants to build a good set of FOTK armor, ya need two kits. *lol* I'm going to wait to see what sales they run to get the rest of the arm and leg sets I need, but I have plenty to work on right now. I'll see about pictures later on.

 

[aero]

I just came acoross your thread today, I'll be keeping an eye on it.
I'm in the process of finishing up my armour.
Abs slurry for me and tonnes of sanding. I'm not painting the armour so it's been a long process getting everything just right. The forearms aren't right and to get the shape right meant hours of abs slurry and sanding. These forearms that come with the kit aren't TLJ.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

aero, yeah, the closest approximation is Finn's forearms, but, as you have found out, they're a base that can be worked with if one has the reference, patience, and materials. I admire your patience with sticking with bare polished plastic. Did you build the edges up sharper, too?

 

[aero]

Inquisitor Peregrinus, Yes, I built up the edges on the forearms and removed the box detail at the end of the Piccatinny Rail (whatever that's called) and 3D modeled and printed one for sharper detail. I also removed the pill detail on the wrist end of the forearm and made the pill recess deeper also. I'm going a little too far down the rabbit hole.
I'm trying to finish before Star Wars Celebration Europe.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

Inquisitor Peregrinus, Yes, I built up the edges on the forearms and removed the box detail at the end of the Piccatinny Rail (whatever that's called) and 3D modeled and printed one for sharper detail. I also removed the pill detail on the wrist end of the forearm and made the pill recess deeper also.

Nice approach... I'm working with what I got -- partly to see if I can, and partly because the formed plastic is more conducive to the added functionality I'm incorporating. Don't talk to me about rabbit holes.

I'm trying to finish before Star Wars Celebration Europe.

Ooo... Good luck with that. How much is left?

 

[aero]

Nice approach... I'm working with what I got -- partly to see if I can, and partly because the formed plastic is more conducive to the added functionality I'm incorporating. Don't talk to me about rabbit holes.


Ooo... Good luck with that. How much is left?

tweaks here and there nothing too involved (he says while looking down the rabbit hole ), it's really the webbing side of things I'm figuring out.