Anovos Stormtrooper.... thoughts?

DBoz said:

The soft goods that come with the ANOVOS kit are not worth $200. That money is definitely better spent elsewhere.

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Thanks guys! This is what I needed to know. Found the reference page and will be visiting imperial boots and storm trooper undersuit for all the rest, Anovos for the OT armor.

I'm also back on the FISD and need to track down my FOTK options.


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PropZilla said:

Thanks guys! This is what I needed to know. Found the reference page and will be visiting imperial boots and storm trooper undersuit for all the rest, Anovos for the OT armor.

I'm also back on the FISD and need to track down my FOTK options.

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I troop regularly in my Anovos armor. I'm level 2 approved only because I haven't gotten around to making the one tweak needed for my to hit level 3.

Anovos armor is good to go, as long as your body type allows it to fit you reasonably well. Modifications for shorter troopers are pretty straightforward. I'm 6'3", 220# and it fits me reasonably well with only a couple of minor modifications to accommodate my girth. I'm about as big as this armor will take, though, without starting to really show issues due to size.

Don't waste your $200 on the Anovos soft goods. Buy some all black compression gear (UnderArmor is popular but expensive, there are tons of options on Amazon or Walmart for less) ($20-80, depending on brand), buy a pair of black chemical gloves for your Centurion photos ($5... but buy a pair of Nomex flight gloves from eBay for $10 so you can troop in comfort), and buy a neck seal from Darman on FISD (about $35, IIRC), and you will have far better end products than Anovos is offering, for half the money.

I'd buy TK Boots over Imperial Boots, personally. There are no bad choices between the two, however.

Thanks to all these reviews I'm interested in picking up a set of armor parts only. This would be my first Trooper build! I can't see how the armor is adjusted for fit though in the lower legs. (Upper arms appear to have some room to adjust) Is anyone who owns this kit able to advise on what the max measurement around a calf muscle would be to fit?

Thanks

TV8 said:

Thanks to all these reviews I'm interested in picking up a set of armor parts only. This would be my first Trooper build! I can't see how the armor is adjusted for fit though in the lower legs. (Upper arms appear to have some room to adjust) Is anyone who owns this kit able to advise on what the max measurement around a calf muscle would be to fit?

Thanks

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The arms close entirely and are sealed. People with especially bulky arms have issues there, too. The shins are sealed along the front seam, but open in the back to get your leg in. (unless you have removable feet, LOL)

How big the shins "can" be depends on how much work you want to do, and whether you are building for "fun" or trying to meet stringent 501st specs with a picky GML.

Normal construction means building to screen-accurate specs: You'll be trimming them in front so the correct amount of ridgeline just barely shows under sides of the the cover strips. If you don't care about any of that, and just want your friends to think you're awesome for dressing up like a Stormtrooper, then you can leave that front edge longer and that ridge will be down the sides, giving you about 1.5" of extra room up front.

This is a thigh, but illustrates the point (hopefully you can see this FB link because I don't really want to re-host someone else's image elsewhere):

https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.ne...=680761f4950c0fae63e70b2834dd48b5&oe=59475057

TV8 said:

Thanks to all these reviews I'm interested in picking up a set of armor parts only. This would be my first Trooper build! I can't see how the armor is adjusted for fit though in the lower legs. (Upper arms appear to have some room to adjust) Is anyone who owns this kit able to advise on what the max measurement around a calf muscle would be to fit?

Thanks

Click to expand...

The arms close entirely and are sealed. People with especially bulky arms have issues there, too. The shins are sealed along the front seam, but open in the back to get your leg in. (unless you have removable feet, LOL)

How big the shins "can" be depends on how much work you want to do, and whether you are building for "fun" or trying to meet stringent 501st specs with a picky GML.

Normal construction means building to screen-accurate specs: You'll be trimming them in front so the correct amount of ridgeline just barely shows under sides of the the cover strips. If you don't care about any of that, and just want your friends to think you're awesome for dressing up like a Stormtrooper, then you can leave that front edge longer and that ridge will be down the sides, giving you about 1.5" of extra room up front.

This is a thigh, but illustrates the point:



Now, if you want to do a fairly large amount of work, you can always build up the armor in various ways and places by adding shims. A relatively small increase, about a inch, actually isn't that difficult to conceal in the back. Larger amounts require exponentially more effort.

Normal Anovos shin fronts:

Many thanks Kman for that comprehensive answer. My calves are 17 inches around at the thickest and biceps are 16 inches around. I may have problems it seems getting a screen accurate fit..

TV8 said:

Many thanks Kman for that comprehensive answer. My calves are 17 inches around at the thickest and biceps are 16 inches around. I may have problems it seems getting a screen accurate fit..

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Hard to say. My calves are about 16" around at the widest point. I did the normal screen accurate trim in the front (as you can see, those are my shins pictured above) and barely trimmed anything off the back, just so it lines up. It's a hair snug but it fits me. Your calves are only 1" bigger so you can probably add a shim in the back relatively easily to get that extra inch out of them. Adding 1/2" on each side of the opening should be do-able, and still be able to be hidden behind the stock cover strip in back (the overlap strip that hides the opening)

You also have an inch on my biceps... but I'm reasonably sure there is a little more room there, so that may not be an issue. (and again, if so, you should be able to cheat 1" by shimming under the cover strips, without compromising the appearance or exposing new plastic that doesn't match the original)

I don't know about the rest of your measurements, but those two should work out. You do have a little extra work ahead of you, compared to someone who truly matches the stock size, but it doesn't sound like any heroic efforts will be needed.

Any other question, feel free to post over at whitearmor.net, the home of the 501st's stormtrooper division. I, and any of the other Attaches, will be happy to assist.

Awesome, thanks Kman!