Dr. Who - The Empty Child - Gas Mask

ItsThatGuy

Sr Member
Anyone ever been ever to ID them? Were the made for the show or am I able to buy them somewhere?

emptychild.jpg
 
i think its a world war 2 British children civil defence gas mask. it look like they cut the latex valve off of it but the stub is still there. heres a link to one but i think this one is the adult size, which is also a slightly different shape to it.

Soldiers Sales Pages
 
They were made for the show. Neil Gorton talks about it one of the features on the series one boxset. They couldn't get enough original ones in one hit, so they were made from silicone rubber by MFX.

Doubt he could tell you the correct colours, though :angel
 
i think its a world war 2 British children civil defence gas mask. it look like they cut the latex valve off of it but the stub is still there. heres a link to one but i think this one is the adult size, which is also a slightly different shape to it.

Soldiers Sales Pages

Those do look very close, but are pretty pricey.
They were made for the show. Neil Gorton talks about it one of the features on the series one boxset. They couldn't get enough original ones in one hit, so they were made from silicone rubber by MFX.
Figured as much. Thanks for the info.
 
Those do look very close, but are pretty pricey.
Figured as much. Thanks for the info.

Yup WWII british civilian gas mask with the valve removed and it also has the canister removed too if Im not mistaken. It is what they based it on though. I lucked out and just won one on ebay for 40$ canadian! Im doing the gas mask nurse from empty child. Only thing I need is to figure out how to do the stiff neck on the dress and where to get her watch. Im so excited about my gas mask its in really good shape.
 
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Yup WWII british civilian gas mask with the valve removed and it also has the canister removed too if Im not mistaken. It is what they based it on though. I lucked out and just won one on ebay for 40$ canadian! Im doing the gas mask nurse from empty child. Only thing I need is to figure out how to do the stiff neck on the dress and where to get her watch. Im so excited about my gas mask its in really good shape.


Do you have a pic yet? I'd love to see it. I was one of those who thought they were original Civilian WW2 british Gas masks. I was wondering "how in the heck did they get so many pristine examples?" those are REALLY HARD to get. :D
 
Do you have a pic yet? I'd love to see it. I was one of those who thought they were original Civilian WW2 british Gas masks. I was wondering "how in the heck did they get so many pristine examples?" those are REALLY HARD to get. :D
I dont have it yet its shipped out today so Ill get it in like 15 days. Ill post a pic when I get it :)
 
I'm quite sure they said they were custom made on the Confidential episode, i can try watching it again to be sure. They said they could easily find gas masks, but not enough identical ones, so they made them themself.

EDIT: Oh wait, Birdie already said that.
 
They're really close to the WWII british gas mask, but definitely not the same. Look at the ridge around the lenses on the real deal. It's pretty much flat on the ones on the show. A clear inspiration, no doubt, but custom jobs for sure.
 
I was asking my Father this a few months (he is ex British army) and he said it is a custom mask. Then he sent me a care package in it was his old Gas mask he actualy wore, I use to play with it when i was a kid and now my kids can play with it. he is my youngest Alexander doing his impression of the empty child,, you will need speakers turned up to hear is little voice.
 
I had a teacher once who lat us check out her gas mask. She was 6 years old during the Blitz. Theirs was beige with a rubber tube, looked nothing like the military one.

Still though. Neat! :)
 
I'm not meaning to be the health and safety police but what you have to be VERY careful of with pre 60's respirator is they can contain ASBESTOS. Ones to never wear are the British MK4 and MK5, it you 'have' to wear it then remove the filter and thoroughly clean it, I still wouldn't advice doing so as about 1/10 workers died from making these filters.

On a lighter note...
1930s_gas_mask.jpg
 
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I'm not meaning to be the health and safety police but what you have to be VERY careful of with pre 60's respirator is they can contain ASBESTOS. Ones to never wear are the British MK4 and MK5, it you 'have' to wear it then remove the filter and thoroughly clean it, I still wouldn't advice doing so as about 1/10 workers died from making these filters.

On a lighter note...
1930s_gas_mask.jpg

You took the words right out of my fingertips!
 
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I was asking my Father this a few months (he is ex British army) and he said it is a custom mask. Then he sent me a care package in it was his old Gas mask he actualy wore, I use to play with it when i was a kid and now my kids can play with it. he is my youngest Alexander doing his impression of the empty child,, you will need speakers turned up to hear is little voice.

That looks like a UK S10 respirator.
 
Anyone ever been ever to ID them? Were the made for the show or am I able to buy them somewhere?

emptychild.jpg

It was custom-made replicas, made by Neil Gorton and his SFX team. It is loosely based on UK second world war gas masks.

IMPORTANT HEALTH AND SAFETY ADVICE...

Second World War UK gas masks have carcinogenic (cancer-causing) ASBESTOS inside the filters / breathing apparatus and should NEVER be worn.

Over time, the rubber of the gas masks starts to break down and can potentially expose the wearer to ASBESTOS dust, which if breathed in the lungs can (over time) cause cancer to form.

(Criminally, I often see WW2 gas masks on sale at re-enactment fairs.)

The ones in Doctor Who were custom-made replicas, made by Neil Gorton and his SFX team.
 
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Thanks for the warning guys, I just got off the phone with my father and he told me that he had the gas mask checked over befor he shipped it over here. He had to have the filter removed for safety before he was allowed to ship the thing. At the same time he got the whole mask checked over by a company in England and it was given the all clear.
He said one of the main reasons he got it check was because he "didn't want his grandchildren breathign and **** in:".
 
I've refined my search & found closer masks's to the empty child mask. I searched for "British civil war gas mask or British world war 2 gas mask".
I did find another gas mask more closely resembling the empty child gas mask. All you would need to do is take off the tag above the nose peace, remove the filter & put on a smaller filter.


$_35.jpg

found here
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Gas-Respiratory-Mask-Dated-1942-WWII-WW2-British-steampunk-/251801366209?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3aa087eec1

Anyone who's good at molding, sculpting, could make a non-working gas mask replica, I'd buy it.
 
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