2001: EVA Suit

joberg said:
Excellent idea those buttons!! Eager to see your next update (y)
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Thanks joberg. I’ve printed all the parts on my FDM for sizing and further evaluation, I’ll post some pics tomorrow.

As to the prints, I’ve already discovered some issues (all with the momentary switch carrier). I’ll make so adjustments and reprint them for further testing when time permits.

My plan is to continue updating/printing corrected parts on my FDM printer until all of the design issues have been corrected. Once finalized, I’ll print each part on my DLP resin printer for final working/painting/assembly.
 
vexxed said:
Friendly Bump, for this exciting project.
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Sorry to say I haven't touched it since my last post. Sadly, real life's been consuming my extra time, but this is still an ongoing project. I haven't had time to work on any of my creative projects. I really appreciate the friendly bump, it may help me get something done.

--James
 
I've been digging since I've had time lately... :rolleyes: Should be posting all the pics I have accumulated over the years sometime soon, here. I'm even more interested in this than the tricorder project,honestly. I've wanted one of these spacesuits for close to forty years -- the "Clavius" version. I've had the Clavius Base patch in my collection for ages, waiting to be sewn on to something. A few thoughts as I deal with a shot to hell sleep schedule...

If you have or have access to Babylon 5, the season one episode "Babylon Squared" makes use of the remaining blue spacesuit that was only ever seen hanging on the rack in the Discovery's pod bay. It can be a source of other angles than what we already have in the movie.

My take on the "IBM" block is that it's a microcomputer insert in the same vein as the "data cartridges" arrayed around the back of the helmet -- a thing that plugs into the arm control, but isn't a button. I can't remember when or where I decided that, but I know it's been at least twenty years.

I do have access to a machine shop, for when it comes time to milling metal frams and locking rings and other fittings. Just to bear in mind.

Stay sane, my friend.
 
Inquisitor Peregrinus said:
If you have or have access to Babylon 5, the season one episode "Babylon Squared" makes use of the remaining blue spacesuit that was only ever seen hanging on the rack in the Discovery's pod bay. It can be a source of other angles than what we already have in the movie.
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I'm pretty sure that is a reproduction made for the show, not an original suit.

I'm also pretty sure the "IBM" button on the key pad, was intended as a button for HAL, as originally it was the IBM 9000
 
lmgill said:
I'm pretty sure that is a reproduction made for the show, not an original suit.
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The one in the first-season episode was the original. The ones in the third-season two-parter were repro. I asked Mike about it during a viewing party in New York. He was an utter film geek and adored Kubrick and 2001. He specifically checked things to determine whether it was the one made for 2010, or the original. He said if it wasn't the original, someone put in a lot of effort to bring it close enough as makes no never-mind -- like doing the helmet, when they hadn't made one for 2010, out of an apparent mistaken notion that that was the helmet Bowman was wearing when he disconnected HAL, rather than the green one out of the airlock. And for little discernible return on that effort. When he asked where it had come from, it was just one of the prop and costume storage/rental houses around the LA area that had bought up some of MGM's old properties.
I'm also pretty sure the "IBM" button on the key pad, was intended as a button for HAL, as originally it was the IBM 9000
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I've seen conjecture to that effect, but nothing conclusive. Most compelling was the notion that it was changed at the next-to-last minute because IBM wouldn't like something bearing their name to be the villain of the piece. But I don't see Kubrick giving a damn about potentially offending them. Quite the opposite. From what I've read, he was mad they had never been held to account for selling equipment to the Nazis to help them catalogue prisoners and laborers in their camps.

Also, why such a big button, as compared to the rest, and for a function that should be automatic and hands-free. Just like aboard ship, speak and HAL answers.
 
Perhaps, but I've been in the costume rental business for 35 years here in LA and do not know of anyone here who would have had that costume.
My understanding is IBM pulled out of the film fairly late in production. I have also been told production tried to enlist Honeywell as an alternate. I believe there may be some truth to this, as the final HAL fonts are nearly the same to Honeywell graphics of the time.
 
That makes so much sense now. What would they have used to address the computer, though, if IBM had stayed on? "Ibm" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue for non-Arabic-speakers.

I wonder if the suit was just part of what Warner had on hand after all the MGM stuff they bought. I know they were backing Babylon 5 even before it was airing on one of their cable networks... It's definitely the original helmet, at least. They only built the red one for Bowman for 2010, and didn't get it right. The one in Babylon 5 is right. I also know they couldn't get it back for the "War Without End" two-parter a couple years later. It was gone and no one knew where. Mike said it smelled like the '60s in the helmet. Which is something I understand well.
 
I know of two original helmets, one white one and a red one, I have handled both, and the interior is very distinctive, and I don't know of any photos showing the interior. If there was a picture of the Babylon helmet interior, it might tell us something.
 
2001spacesuit.com has several with the interior visible. And I so wish someone had taken pics during filming of "Babylon Squared". The main thing that I've only ever seen accurately done on the original 2001 helmets (and a few more recent repros) is the "data cartridges" arrayed around the back. On the original, they're uniform, presumed interchangeable. Even the 2010 helmet, they're not uniform. Do I remember right that they were sculpted in, and thus part of the helmet, rather than separate pieces? 2010 is so full of errors I dismissed it from my active research close to twenty years ago.
 
That's my friend Dennis' site. I meant there where no pictures from production, that someone could use to replicate the interior.
 
Ah... Hence why I need to dig. But yeah, I remember just about every shot with a good view of the helmet has too much reflection off the visor.
 
There's a compelling story there, if they'd paid more attention to following on to 2001 instead of deviating from the book to make an almost-instantly-dated commentary on mid-'80s politics. In 2001, we were friendly adversaries with the Soviets, not closed-mouthed and suspicious. The interplay was like fencing, not an Old West staredown. If it wasn't for all the technical errors (and especially after Hyams had bragged about nailing things even better than Kubrick had), all of the space stuff and Bowman visiting his mother would have been great. I also love Roy Scheider, but they needed to find someone who at least looked and sounded like a decade-older William Sylvester. So many missed opportunities. I still enjoy it, though. Just not as enraptured as I am by the original.
 
I’m sorry that I’ve not posted anything for a while. I’ve shifted to restoring my 51 M38. There’re a few other things going on, but I’ll shift back to my prop and modeling projects before long. I’m very excited to see interest in this!! Thanks, guys!
 
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