- October 28th, 2019, 7:25 am#4926272
Hello all,
This has been a long time in the making. I ordered my pack in November 2017, it arrived in November 2018 with broken pieces and some rusty hardware. I reported the issues to Anovos ASAP and they assured me every month they'd be on there way, with a final communication in May 2019 that they were shipping the replacement parts soon.. and that was the last I heard from them.
Do not buy anything from Anovos.
I decided to finally move forward, make repairs myself, and start building this thing. I wish I had done it sooner but the promise of receiving the parts "soon" from Anovos kept me from doing it. Now I've missed another Halloween due to their empty promises. Oh well, that's in the past and there's nothing I can do about it.
I've never made a kit like this. I didn't even build too many models as a kid. So this is kind of new to me..mistakes will be made.
First, I fixed the booster tube and trigger box. One of the bolts had come off. Anovos had slathered it in glue on the inside but it still had broken off prior to getting to me. The trigger box had a small broken triangular piece. This one is my fault- as I moved the pack's box around in the time since I received it, it somehow got crushed. No big deal, both pieces were easily fixed with some gorilla glue. The break on the trigger box is on the bottom. Some light sanding and paint and it won't be noticeable to anyone.
Next up, the big issue. The one that kept me building for so long. The front nub of the gun box is broken.
I'm still working out how to fix this, but this is my work so far.
I ground down the broken tube until I reached the faux weld marks. This was so I had a reference for how wide the hole needed to be as I dremeled the rest of the tube out.
I ordered a an aluminum tube from OnlineMetals and fit it in.
Now this is where I ran into an issue. Anovos used a slightly smaller than 1" aluminum tube on the front part of the wand. I ordered a 1 1/4" OD tube with a 1" ID. This left an unsightly 1/4 wall exposed. Definitely doesn't look like the film. To fix this, I made a small collar to go around the Anovos tube, which will give the gun a more appropriate appearance. It's not accurate but it will work and most people would never even notice.
Next step will be to get the holes drilled and tapped in the appropriate spot. I don't have a drill press so I need to figure out a way get this done. Once that's complete, I will epoxy the new nub into place.
Does anyone know the "correct" locations of the barrel screws? From what I can tell, the real props had them in various places with little to no consistency.
I also have worked on a few other items as I had time this past weekend.
I was test fitting the electronics from GBFans and noticed the switches don't reach through the thrower body. I carefully sanded the inside with a dremel. I might need to do some more but they do reach through now.
I also cut out the Power Cell window. This is a big complaint by many who own this pack, and I see why. There are areas you are cutting through resin and fiber glass.. and it's really tough. I drilled holes with a large drill bit down the length of it, than used files to take out the rest. I'm not done with it.. the window itself needs a little filing done, especially near the bottom, but it is mostly gone now. I need to get on the inside and use a dremel to remove material so I can fit the blue acrylic in place.
Kind of a schizophrenic start to the project.. I don't have a lot of the tools I'm going to need on hand, so I had to do what I could, then order tools like the filing set and wait. However, I've started to build it, and that's the important part.
This has been a long time in the making. I ordered my pack in November 2017, it arrived in November 2018 with broken pieces and some rusty hardware. I reported the issues to Anovos ASAP and they assured me every month they'd be on there way, with a final communication in May 2019 that they were shipping the replacement parts soon.. and that was the last I heard from them.
Do not buy anything from Anovos.
I decided to finally move forward, make repairs myself, and start building this thing. I wish I had done it sooner but the promise of receiving the parts "soon" from Anovos kept me from doing it. Now I've missed another Halloween due to their empty promises. Oh well, that's in the past and there's nothing I can do about it.
I've never made a kit like this. I didn't even build too many models as a kid. So this is kind of new to me..mistakes will be made.
First, I fixed the booster tube and trigger box. One of the bolts had come off. Anovos had slathered it in glue on the inside but it still had broken off prior to getting to me. The trigger box had a small broken triangular piece. This one is my fault- as I moved the pack's box around in the time since I received it, it somehow got crushed. No big deal, both pieces were easily fixed with some gorilla glue. The break on the trigger box is on the bottom. Some light sanding and paint and it won't be noticeable to anyone.
Next up, the big issue. The one that kept me building for so long. The front nub of the gun box is broken.
I'm still working out how to fix this, but this is my work so far.
I ground down the broken tube until I reached the faux weld marks. This was so I had a reference for how wide the hole needed to be as I dremeled the rest of the tube out.
I ordered a an aluminum tube from OnlineMetals and fit it in.
Now this is where I ran into an issue. Anovos used a slightly smaller than 1" aluminum tube on the front part of the wand. I ordered a 1 1/4" OD tube with a 1" ID. This left an unsightly 1/4 wall exposed. Definitely doesn't look like the film. To fix this, I made a small collar to go around the Anovos tube, which will give the gun a more appropriate appearance. It's not accurate but it will work and most people would never even notice.
Next step will be to get the holes drilled and tapped in the appropriate spot. I don't have a drill press so I need to figure out a way get this done. Once that's complete, I will epoxy the new nub into place.
Does anyone know the "correct" locations of the barrel screws? From what I can tell, the real props had them in various places with little to no consistency.
I also have worked on a few other items as I had time this past weekend.
I was test fitting the electronics from GBFans and noticed the switches don't reach through the thrower body. I carefully sanded the inside with a dremel. I might need to do some more but they do reach through now.
I also cut out the Power Cell window. This is a big complaint by many who own this pack, and I see why. There are areas you are cutting through resin and fiber glass.. and it's really tough. I drilled holes with a large drill bit down the length of it, than used files to take out the rest. I'm not done with it.. the window itself needs a little filing done, especially near the bottom, but it is mostly gone now. I need to get on the inside and use a dremel to remove material so I can fit the blue acrylic in place.
Kind of a schizophrenic start to the project.. I don't have a lot of the tools I'm going to need on hand, so I had to do what I could, then order tools like the filing set and wait. However, I've started to build it, and that's the important part.
Last edited by Marcus B on October 28th, 2019, 11:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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