Major Matt Mason Astronaut costume

Awesome! I'll buy a 1/4 of that if you feel up to cutting another one out! Might help defrey your cost....say $10 and shipping?
 
I'm not sure if the remnants are going to be of any help for you, Cameron -- if you look closely at IMG_3233, it should show where I cut at least one inch past the mold half line. I needed to include that area to ensure that I had a useful 'pivot' point on both sides to attach to the white opaque globe.

Where I did cut this globe was akin to it's sweet-spot for clarity. The top part of the clear globe does have an injection point (like a vending machine capsule does) and worse, the plastic is marginally distorted there. When you look directly 'down' through the top, you get a fish-eye lens effect. Kinda like the hunter-seeker POV effect in Lynch's Dune.

But, the vendor I bought the globe from is a regular Ebay seller, and the price is hard to beat for what you get. I would *strongly* consider that route!
 
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I see what ya mean...thanks for pointing that out. I'm going to take your advice. Is that the 12"?
 
Forget I asked that .... Doh. I re read and I'm all set. I ordered one up. I hope I can cut mine as nicely as you have.
Lookin great Joe!
 
Thanks for the positive comments - they are appreciated!

Progress is at a crawl --- the darn accordion joints are proving to be every bit the trouble that I thought that they would be.

My back-up plan for those is to use black corduroy cloth. It's about 4 to 5 wale for the size of the 'cords' and that's better than nothing. 1 wale would be awesome, but I'm too cheap to specialty order that! I'd bought this fabric at a Joanne's Fabrics closeout over a year ago thinking it might be handy to have around...
 
I'm inching along on the accordion joints, and making minor progress on getting the helmet done. I found a collection of nestled-sizes round paper-mache boxes, and one of them became the neck-ring for the helmet.

I am not delighted with it - but - it does keep the helmet at the correct height. I am thinking of adding cosmetic tubing details to it that would assist in blending the helmet to the suit.
 
The awesomeness of this amazing project is not to be underestimated! :D

Next time you can try the famous hourglass-shaped Moon Suit!

Lifecovermoonsuit.jpg
 
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Made a bit of progress today!

I really, really did not like how the neck section of the helmet looked, so I experimented with some other ideas, and then cut it down to a more reasonable size.

Doing it this way mandates having a ring at the shoulder level of the suit, but, I will able to incorporate that without too much hair-pulling.
 
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Thanks, gang!

I really do appreciate the feedback - because it's far too easy to get mentally wrapped up in following a course of action, only to discover that you are speeding down the wrong highway! : )

Within certain limits, I am trying very hard to be faithful to the appearance of the MMM figure.

Some compromises are inevitable, true. Especially as I plan to be wearing the suit for several hours at a time, at Halloween parties and later on at various sci-fi conventions through next year. The accordion joint materials are indeed proving to be a problem, as I had suspected they would be. Having a 'Plan B' never hurts: enter the Foam Cat Litter Mat!

http://petcarelive.com/img/Aquarium/home-classics-foam-litter-mat-40-x.jpg

Lightweight, affordable, easy to cut and trim, and most importantly, takes black spray paint very nicely!

The Army Surplus belt pouches also take white spray paint well, which is good, as they make for perfect thigh pouches.
 
The helmet is coming along great, the revised neck ring looks 100 times better and more accurate too. Looking forward to seeing the new accordion joints.
 
Test fit of suit, neck ring, and foam accordion joint pieces. Fortunately, the dangling foam strip was moved out the kitten's path *before* she could nail it!
 
I am feeling cautiously optimistic about this! Actually, pretty darn proud - right up to the point where my wife observed that the suit was perhaps a wee bit more transparent than she had previously thought... :eek
 
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