Early Shuttle pressure suit.
- Thread starter lmgill
- Start date
TazMan2000
Master Member
That's still a lot of quality work.
TazMan2000
TazMan2000
Happy new year, and thank you again for all of your contributions. If you don't mind a further probing into this particular build, how exactly do you go about a project as exacting as this? After the client asks you to replicate a suit and you agree, is there a moment where you sit down, pour yourself a whisky, and think 'Blimey, where do I start?' Do you do this as an individual, or do you assemble a team, or do you outsource to other specialists?
kmc,
First, Thank you, Happy New Year.
I own a company that makes all types of specialty items, and this particular suit was built by a team.
As for the process, let me address your question in 2 parts.
First the mental side of starting a project like this (or any project):
I started building things when I was pretty young, and was taught to think about building something like you think about words and letters. If you understand the rules governing letters and the sounds those letters make, then sounding out words is much easier and a dictionary helps with meanings. If you can figure out words, then reading "War & Peace" (very long novel) is just perseverance. For instance, by understanding how a saw blade cuts, you can pretty easily determine what type of saw and how fast to cut anything. If you know what properties in plastics make them different, then you have a better idea on which one to use for a particular application. In this case the letters are the "Physics" or what makes things work and words are the how things work. The more "words" you figure out, the simpler any project is.
Also, try not to think of any new thing as "Easy or Hard" just consider it "More or Less familiar". This helps remove the "dread" of something seeming "Hard" and replaces this feeling with adventure and just needing to learn something new, and if you know the "letters", new words are already somewhat familiar.
So as a result of this "Philosophy" I have learned the skills required to do projects like this and with every new project I expect to learn new skills or variations of known skills.
So while I now have the skills to build something like this myself, I am not intimidated by something new in the process of building it. I also understand the skills needed to do a project, which gives me the confidence in finding the correct people, or the correct process to complete it.
Once you get rid of the "Oh, this is hard" mentality, it comes down to "Observe and Apply" (Observe- notice or perceive (something) and register it as being significant.) Observe how a part is shaped, or how the light reflects off of it. Understand what the items function is and why it was made from the material it is. Then you can better determine how you need to fabricate it and what material you can use. As an example, the hardware on this helmet was originally made of stainless steel and aluminum. Since this helmet is not being pressurized, the high strength of stainless is not required. But, the original parts were designed, based on using stainless and machined aluminum to make them, so you have to consider this in your choice of materials. This replica uses machined aluminum for the helmet disconnect and the bail bar, and uses cast "pewter" (a tin/lead or tin/lead/Cadmium alloy) for the other helmet hardware, in place of the stainless steel parts. The pewter, while not nearly as strong as the original parts, it is strong enough (with some minor alterations) to use for a functional prop replica. Plastic parts would not be strong enough if the parts need to function.
Second:
The mechanics of breaking down a project. Just like reading a book, start at the beginning of each chapter. In this case, look at each part individually, understand it, then understand it's relationship to the other parts. The most common mistake I see inexperience builders make is getting caught up in the details first.
You need to start with the big things first. What are the proportions. How tall to how wide? How round how square? How fat how thin? Look at the silhouette. What shape is it? Silhouette is one of the most important things to understand of any piece you are going to replicate, because even correct details added to the incorrect shape, will not make it right. An extreme example of this would be a; Black square or a black circle, which one is the planet earth? Even if you draw oceans and continents on a cube, it won't look like the Earth.
Once you have understood the overall shape, then start looking at the details and how they break up this shape. You do this with each piece, observing finer and finer details. Then take those observations and break them into steps.
With each step, don't be afraid of testing something until you understand it and get the results you need. If you observe your results, then based on what you did, you can change things to get the results you need. Experiment on scraps, not your project. Be patient, no one is holding a stop watch.
In America, there seems to be this skewed perception that speed building something is needed or desired, or some how makes it more amazing.
(This mentality is why I turned down many offers for "reality shows". They all wanted to make the show with the premise of a "Ticking Bomb", where how fast you built something was more important than how well you built it. I wanted to make a show based on the premise "Who done it", where the discovery of how to build it was the driving force.)
The final part of this mechanical side is more a mentality, a "pride" in your work. That is, do not let yourself be intimidated or impatient and settle for "close enough". Think of each parts accuracy as a sum of the whole, not just a part of that whole. If you have 25 parts to make on a project, and one of these parts is 10% different, and a couple of others are 5% off, and a few more are 1% to 2% off, then your finished part only looks 50% like the original. Keep in mind, depending on the part, 5% can contribute 50% to the overall look of the item. (Egg shaped earth.)
The whiskey is usually at the end, when I'm looking over the final product.
First, Thank you, Happy New Year.
I own a company that makes all types of specialty items, and this particular suit was built by a team.
As for the process, let me address your question in 2 parts.
First the mental side of starting a project like this (or any project):
I started building things when I was pretty young, and was taught to think about building something like you think about words and letters. If you understand the rules governing letters and the sounds those letters make, then sounding out words is much easier and a dictionary helps with meanings. If you can figure out words, then reading "War & Peace" (very long novel) is just perseverance. For instance, by understanding how a saw blade cuts, you can pretty easily determine what type of saw and how fast to cut anything. If you know what properties in plastics make them different, then you have a better idea on which one to use for a particular application. In this case the letters are the "Physics" or what makes things work and words are the how things work. The more "words" you figure out, the simpler any project is.
Also, try not to think of any new thing as "Easy or Hard" just consider it "More or Less familiar". This helps remove the "dread" of something seeming "Hard" and replaces this feeling with adventure and just needing to learn something new, and if you know the "letters", new words are already somewhat familiar.
So as a result of this "Philosophy" I have learned the skills required to do projects like this and with every new project I expect to learn new skills or variations of known skills.
So while I now have the skills to build something like this myself, I am not intimidated by something new in the process of building it. I also understand the skills needed to do a project, which gives me the confidence in finding the correct people, or the correct process to complete it.
Once you get rid of the "Oh, this is hard" mentality, it comes down to "Observe and Apply" (Observe- notice or perceive (something) and register it as being significant.) Observe how a part is shaped, or how the light reflects off of it. Understand what the items function is and why it was made from the material it is. Then you can better determine how you need to fabricate it and what material you can use. As an example, the hardware on this helmet was originally made of stainless steel and aluminum. Since this helmet is not being pressurized, the high strength of stainless is not required. But, the original parts were designed, based on using stainless and machined aluminum to make them, so you have to consider this in your choice of materials. This replica uses machined aluminum for the helmet disconnect and the bail bar, and uses cast "pewter" (a tin/lead or tin/lead/Cadmium alloy) for the other helmet hardware, in place of the stainless steel parts. The pewter, while not nearly as strong as the original parts, it is strong enough (with some minor alterations) to use for a functional prop replica. Plastic parts would not be strong enough if the parts need to function.
Second:
The mechanics of breaking down a project. Just like reading a book, start at the beginning of each chapter. In this case, look at each part individually, understand it, then understand it's relationship to the other parts. The most common mistake I see inexperience builders make is getting caught up in the details first.
You need to start with the big things first. What are the proportions. How tall to how wide? How round how square? How fat how thin? Look at the silhouette. What shape is it? Silhouette is one of the most important things to understand of any piece you are going to replicate, because even correct details added to the incorrect shape, will not make it right. An extreme example of this would be a; Black square or a black circle, which one is the planet earth? Even if you draw oceans and continents on a cube, it won't look like the Earth.
Once you have understood the overall shape, then start looking at the details and how they break up this shape. You do this with each piece, observing finer and finer details. Then take those observations and break them into steps.
With each step, don't be afraid of testing something until you understand it and get the results you need. If you observe your results, then based on what you did, you can change things to get the results you need. Experiment on scraps, not your project. Be patient, no one is holding a stop watch.
In America, there seems to be this skewed perception that speed building something is needed or desired, or some how makes it more amazing.
(This mentality is why I turned down many offers for "reality shows". They all wanted to make the show with the premise of a "Ticking Bomb", where how fast you built something was more important than how well you built it. I wanted to make a show based on the premise "Who done it", where the discovery of how to build it was the driving force.)
The final part of this mechanical side is more a mentality, a "pride" in your work. That is, do not let yourself be intimidated or impatient and settle for "close enough". Think of each parts accuracy as a sum of the whole, not just a part of that whole. If you have 25 parts to make on a project, and one of these parts is 10% different, and a couple of others are 5% off, and a few more are 1% to 2% off, then your finished part only looks 50% like the original. Keep in mind, depending on the part, 5% can contribute 50% to the overall look of the item. (Egg shaped earth.)
The whiskey is usually at the end, when I'm looking over the final product.
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Imgill, brilliant reply. It is greatly appreciated. Your analogies are effective, particularly the one pertaining to language and reading. Having had to put in the work over several years of learning Japanese when I first arrived here, it is easy to make the connection with someone accumulating experience and the requisite skills in order to replicate/create hard and soft goods for a project. At some point this year, I need to start collecting moulds and bucks for an A7LB's helmet, rings, and soles.
Anyroad, thank you again for your response and of course for all your hard work over the years of building spacesuits, armour, and equipment for the film and television industry.
Anyroad, thank you again for your response and of course for all your hard work over the years of building spacesuits, armour, and equipment for the film and television industry.
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