#4932536
I recently placed an order with Benofkent for a full pack/alice frame kit, which is currently being prepared for shipment. While searching for things on Ebay, I came across an Anovos kit for sale in Canada. The seller mentioned the crank knob had snapped off (no big deal) but the kit was complete.
After negotiating a little on price, I purchased the pack and it arrived yesterday.

Image20200314_211919 by Michael Cole

I am heading to Home Depot to get a storage tub for the pack so I can open the box and sort all the parts and take an accurate inventory. This tub will also be where the completed pack will be stored until I have a dedicated place to display it.
I have already ordered all the components from the GBFans store to do an install in it as well. I know it's going to require modding, but let's face it --- if we all get quarantined, what better time to work on something like this?

I chose not to buy the Alice frame, which the seller was also selling, but would require additional shipping. Instead, I went to an antique mall we have here near me and found an actual Alice frame with pack for 70 bucks. I'm going to pick it up today.
I know about the plastic motherboard, which I will be swapping out. I will use it for now, and custom paint it to look like painted aluminum. I saw a gentleman on one of the FB forums doing a pre-order for laser cut aluminum boards, so I may go that route. Does anyone know if the GBFans aluminum motherboard will fit Anovos with little modification?

Before building, the pack will be masked off and texturized, if it isn't already. I will eventually order the metal decals and age those as well.
I know there are a few build quality issues with these kits, as I've read extensively here on the forum, so I'm quite interested in how this is going to go.

I know the kit Benofkent is prepping for me now will be done as my Spengler tribute kit, so I may try to find reference photos for a Venkman pack and get it as close as possible to that. I need to inventory this kit to see what metal items I want to upgrade.

I doubt i'm going to be going as far as installing the e-cig mod on the Anovos, but will consider it for BoK.

So, will document everything as I go along. I think it will be interesting.

-Mike
NotSabbat, kahuna900 liked this
#4932544
UNBOXING/PARTS INVENTORY
Had a nice surprise when I opened the box -- the seller actually included the Alice frame! That was VERY nice of him to do. I kind of wish I opened the box before I went back to the antique mall and picked up the one I saw yesterday. But, to be fair, the bend at the top of the Anovos labeled frame is not as much as a real Alice frame... so I may still use the one I bought.

So now I have 3 Alice frames: The two pictured here and one in the box. The full pack is the one I bought today, the other one is an Alice frame I bought off of Ebay.
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First impressions:
Main body is a lot thicker than I thought it would be. Was not expecting that. I am not a fan of the motherboard. I'm definitely going to find someone with a water jet to cut out another one out of aluminum eventually. I have to find an Anovos inventory sheet to see how many of what I am supposed to have. The seller seemed to have everything separated in groups already, so we'll see if anything is missing.
Detail:
8/10. There are a few things I would like to have seen have a little sharper detail, but it's because I've been looking at so many of your builds that these things are catching my eye.

I've heard the stories about things not lining up, etc... so I am expecting to do quite a bit of re-drilling. waiting patiently for my GBFans order so I can figure out what is the best way to install this pack.

Regrets? None. I'm pretty happy with it. Again, I've seen quite a few of your packs and hope this one turns out even half as nice as some of yours. Good news is there is no rush to build it.... especially now that all of this is going on.

Will hopefully get pack masked off and texturing added this week/weekend, depending on what my job does with working from home/closing offices.

Stay safe, everyone.

-Mike
#4933020
dman2332 wrote: March 16th, 2020, 10:49 pm There’s an Anovos instruction booklet out on the web. I’ve peeled at it but can’t recall if it had a parts list.
Thank you. I was able to download it, and it indeed had a hardware inventory list.
greg883 wrote: March 17th, 2020, 10:34 am Hope you got a good deal on the Anovos kit!

Here's my build thread viewtopic.php?f=2&t=45382

I need to finish posting the remaining photos and steps to cover finishing the pack and general assembly.
Thank you very much for your build link. Definitely happy with the deal on the kit. Spent a few days looking through your documenting. Great build!



Day 1:
Charlotte officially has a Stay-at-Home order for non-essential employees. This should give me a lot of time to get this build going. Unfortunately, I was deemed essential (or I should say 'fortunately'. I'm speaking in terms of available build time) and do not have as much free time as I thought I would.

Parts arrived from the GBFans store last week.
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Sound board, cyclotron, wand lights, cables, speaker, and battery pack are all here now. Since this order was originally intended for my Ben of Kent build, things like the lenses will be used for that one.

Today, I spent 3 hours masking everything to get it ready for texturing.
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Couple of more small areas to mask, but for the most part done for tonight. I was hoping to get the texturing started tonight with the weather being so warm, but my brother in law needed to borrow my saw horses for another project, so won't be spraying bed liner until tomorrow.

The rest of the night is counting hardware.
#4933760
PAINT AND TEXTURING
Supplies: Krylon Bedliner, Krylon Fusion Satin Black

Prior to painting, I used a Dremel and a few attachments to remove the material for the power cell. After lightly scuffing the pack and wiping everything down with Simple Green, I proceeded to start with all of the light coats of bedliner spray to texture appropriate areas of the pack, paying attention to all the little crevices. After letting each light coat dry to the touch, I proceeded with the next, with a total of 6 light coats.

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I then unmasked the pack and let it cure for a week and a half. I then began painting all the smaller parts for the pack with Krylon Fusion Satin Black. Even though the pack already had a satin finish to it, I wasn't happy with the way it looked and wanted to paint that as well.

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Again, lots and lots of very light coats on all of the pieces. It came out to about 6-7 coats to get it where I wanted it. I then moved everything into the garage again to sit for another week to be sure everything cured. Upon inspection, I have a pack with a very even and smooth paint job.

WEATHERING
Materials Used: Tamiya X-11 Silver Chrome, XF-1 Flat Black
After the pack was cured, I moved everything back inside and began slowly weathering the pack. I am not looking for a heavily weathered pack by any means. I want a pack that looks like it had been used, yet cared for, with rubbed areas starting to show through. I started with the wear marks on all of the surfaces that would wear over time -- the edges, the corners, etc...

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I then did a dry-fit of all of the pieces to get an idea of where I want to go next, and to see if I want to weather heavier, etc...

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DECAL TESTS - N FILTER STRIPING ISSUES
Materials Used: Tamiya X-7 Red, Tamiya acrylic thinner, Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black, Tamiya X-2 White, Iwata Neo airbrush, Masters gravity airbrush, sharp line painter's tape, measuring caliper (could use a regular ruler too, but this was right here).

Here's my dilemma... I don't like the shade of red the decal for the N-Filter. It just looked way too red and almost cartoony. I wanted to do a custom touch and slightly darken the red. I chose to airbrush a stripe and use the supplied decal as a template to mask off the placement. I had to be sure that this stripe was uniform and straight. I couldn't use the top of the N-Filter as a point of measurement because it isn't flat or straight... so I used my caliper to measure from the base of the surface of the cyclotron to the bottom of the decal in 4 different places. i then measured from the cyclotron base to the bottom of the decal in 4 other places to ensure the supplied stripe decal was in fact straight.
I then proceeded to mask everything off and mix my red with a drop or two of black. Once I was happy with the color, I started spraying very light coats over and over again until I had a solid filter stripe.

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Again, light coats... over and over again. Plenty of light sources to make sure there are no shadow spots.

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Here is a comparison in colors: The stripe that came with the pack and the color I mixed

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It's a nice, subtle custom detail.
I wanted to continue working on the N-Filter. I again masked off a section for all of the holes and proceeded to paint the inside lips all white. While doing this, I also wanted to pain the inside of the N-Filter all white so the kit light shows brighter. I suck at painting with a brush, so I thinned some Tamiya X-2 White and loaded my Iwata Neo. I proceeded to spray all of the circles, and also the interior walls of the N-Filter.

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I really loved how bright the white came out, but as you can see in that second photo, one of the main complaints about the Anovos packs is the finish. I took this after only a few light coats, so you can see the texture of the material. The material goes from thick to thin in several spaces. It became very noticeable when I unmasked the holes and saw rough edges inside some of them.

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I will make a determination after I install the mesh screen and see how noticeable it really is. If it's too bad, I will break out the flex shaft Dremel and start trying to repair that. I'm not sure it's going to be a problem, but I have a plan just in case.
I then loaded my airbrush with thinned Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black and cleaned up the edges of the white circles a little bit. I am planning on airbrushing some weathering/venting stains as well after the clear coat.


VINYL DECAL APPLICATION AND WEATHERING; PARTIAL DRY FITTING AGAIN
Materials used: Tamiya X-11 Chrome Silver, Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black, Tamiya XF-49 Khaki, Horse Hair acid brush (cut down), Q-Tips, Windex, paper towels.

I then partially did another dry-fit assembly again to place some of the decals. I learned decal placement basically means you can put on decals in a lot of areas that are relatively accurate based on which ever photo you sourced. Again, i'm not going for a hero screen-accurate pack... just a clean but lightly worn tribute pack.
I had an issue with ONE decal that just does not want to stick. I will do a little sanding on the pack to see if maybe I can give it a little more grip, and if that does not work -- I will just glue it on.

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It's great to see the decals finally, but they are just too clean. I want them to have a little weathering to them, so I started the wear first and then moved onto the weathering with colors.
I first start dark and go light. Black, then black and khaki thinned, then silver drybrushing, then something I discovered on accident -- Windex on a paper towel/Q-tip.


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This is actually the last decal I worked on, and never added paint -- just wear. I sprayed a little Windex onto a small area of paper towel and just start rubbing in a circular motion, but moving a little up/down/left/right instead of just one spot. The effect is pretty clean and makes the decal look worn. You do have to be careful with your pressure to avoid blowing right through the decal. A little patience and the decal wears down nicely.


NEXT STEP:
I will now take the pack back to the garage and clear-coat all of the smaller parts, and then the pack itself. The decals and the pack will be cleared over with Krylon Fusion Satin Clear, so the weathering will be sealed in, and the decals will not have a chance to peel off. After that, I MAY do a little more weathering/aging of the pack, but just slightly. I have on order a small jar of Tamiya clear that i can shoot via my airbrush for any further aging I do. This will sit in the garage to cure for a week, and then I will start the assembly. Motherboard next, and then the wand.




Thoughts on the Anovos kit so far:
What everyone has said is true -- there are some construction issues in certain areas -- thin materials/thick materials, holes off center, etc. Is it a bad kit? Absolutely not. I've built a lot worse things than this. I unfortunately wasn't aware of these kits when they originally went on sale, but did read everyone's build threads and heard the comments. I can understand some of the frustrations now, but honestly -- it's all pretty minor stuff with mine...thankfully. It's a good learning experience.
And yes, I know these kits are old news.



HELPFUL TIPS:
These aren't pack-specific, but since we are all home and some people may want to learn how to do something and don't know where to start, I thought I would just throw some of my experiences out there and maybe help someone new to prop building, or looking into starting but not knowing where to go.

Paint Mixing: Mixing paint can be messy. The easiest way I found to do this is by using those little measuring cups you get with cough syrup. I actually ordered a sleeve of 100 for around $5 on eBay. I use these cups for cleaning my brushes, paint mixing, paint thinning, etc... even holding Windex. I also don't mix large amounts of color at one time. I also bought pipette droppers for around $3 on eBay for a set of 5. I have one for colors and one for acrylic thinner. If I am airbrushing, I do a 50/50 mix of paint and thinner, and spray at 18-22 psi.

Clean-up: I love using Tamiya paints because they clean right up with Windex. I keep an old Gatorade bottle on my desk as a catch jar. When I am done spraying, I dump any remaining color in my gun into that bottle, then spray a little Windex into my airbrush. I either spray that into my vent jar or directly into the Gatorade bottle. When that is done, I then take a paper towel and wipe the gun clean. Simple. Same goes for my brushes. All Tamiya acrylic paints clean right up with Windex.
When i make a mistake while painting, paper towel and Windex, as long as it has not dried yet.

Airbrushing: Don't be afraid to try to learn how to airbrush. You don't have to make a huge investment and buy expensive equipment. There are TONS of cheap starter kits out there that come with a small compressor, hose, and a gun or two.
I have a $200.00 airbrush, a $100-ish and a $19.00 airbrush. I use the $19 Masters airbrush more than the other two because honestly I like the way the paint flows for larger areas. I can just as easily use the more expensive ones for that too, but I really like the feel of the cheaper one. My first airbrush setup cost about $125 bucks with everything.

If you don't like something, change it. It's your project.


I hope everyone and their families/loved ones are all safe and healthy through all of this.

-Mike
#4934115
The GBfans motherboard could potentially fit with some trimming but I'm not entirely sure if it will screw up the mounting holes for the frame and I don't think it'd fit 100% either way. I bought one thinking of trying the same thing and decided against it unless necessary but then the other boards popped up and I'm going that route.

The motherboards that are being sold should be exact to the anovos motherboard, I've been in talks with him since he started and its made from my motherboard I sent him. Last I spoke with him he's started slowly sending out the various boards starting with the spirit packs as he's receiving them in batches of five from his supplier.
#4937280
stainless_delorean wrote: March 28th, 2020, 8:00 pm Today, I spent 3 hours masking everything to get it ready for texturing.
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Couple of more small areas to mask, but for the most part done for tonight. I was hoping to get the texturing started tonight with the weather being so warm, but my brother in law needed to borrow my saw horses for another project, so won't be spraying bed liner until tomorrow.

The rest of the night is counting hardware.
Can I ask, how did you know which areas to mask and which ones to texture?
#4937292
Prydonian wrote: July 17th, 2020, 11:51 pm Can I ask, how did you know which areas to mask and which ones to texture?
The photo reference galleries have been expanded considerably over the years as fans have documented the Packs which've popped up in the wild, the shots from the most recent years are some of the best reference for which sections have the hammered texture, and which don't. :)
#4937299
Kingpin wrote: July 18th, 2020, 2:39 pm
Prydonian wrote: July 17th, 2020, 11:51 pm Can I ask, how did you know which areas to mask and which ones to texture?
The photo reference galleries have been expanded considerably over the years as fans have documented the Packs which've popped up in the wild, the shots from the most recent years are some of the best reference for which sections have the hammered texture, and which don't. :)
Ah, I see. Thanks! And looking at them, it looks like the packs weren't even all textured identically, is that right? The two packs in the Sony Lobby set appear to have texture in different areas.
#4937306
Hi Prydonian,

Before I masked and painted, I washed the pack with Dawn dish soap and wiped it down with IPA to make sure there was no grease or fingerprints on it. Then after masking, I re-wiped it down with IPA before spraying. I used Krylon's paint+primer for the paint after I applied the bedliner coating. I have had ZERO issues with it chipping/scraping off. In fact, the one place I had to do a little scraping had to be done with a metal scraper and then sandpaper to correct it.
As for where to mask, I found the instructions here on GBFans.

I hope this helps.
#4937334
stainless_delorean wrote: July 18th, 2020, 8:02 pm Hi Prydonian,

Before I masked and painted, I washed the pack with Dawn dish soap and wiped it down with IPA to make sure there was no grease or fingerprints on it. Then after masking, I re-wiped it down with IPA before spraying. I used Krylon's paint+primer for the paint after I applied the bedliner coating. I have had ZERO issues with it chipping/scraping off. In fact, the one place I had to do a little scraping had to be done with a metal scraper and then sandpaper to correct it.
As for where to mask, I found the instructions here on GBFans.

I hope this helps.
It does, thanks! Just to clarify... before you painted, you washed it down with Dawn, lightly scuffed it, wiped it down with Simple Green, then wiped it down with IPA? I think I must have some of those steps wrong; that's a lot of wiping.

Can I ask what IPA stands for? You can imagine what results I get when I try to Google it.
#4941703
I was looking thru your flickr photos and am really impressed with your job on this pack.

Did you just glue the metal posts that your soundboard and blue lights were attached to directly to the shell?

Did you only use jb weld when gluing the components to the shell or did you actually put screws threw the part into the shell?

I really liked what you did with the wiring in the wand. Was that board mounted to the plate of the wand that you screwed on?

I hope those make sense.
#4941706
stainless_delorean wrote: July 18th, 2020, 8:02 pm Hi Prydonian,

Before I masked and painted, I washed the pack with Dawn dish soap and wiped it down with IPA to make sure there was no grease or fingerprints on it. Then after masking, I re-wiped it down with IPA before spraying. I used Krylon's paint+primer for the paint after I applied the bedliner coating. I have had ZERO issues with it chipping/scraping off. In fact, the one place I had to do a little scraping had to be done with a metal scraper and then sandpaper to correct it.
As for where to mask, I found the instructions here on GBFans.

I hope this helps.
Did you paint over the bedliner coat or did you tape those parts off and then paint with the krylon?

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