Hazmat suit- ever been done?

[helix_3]

So I'm toying with the idea of making myself a white hazmat/ combat suit before the summer is over. I'm drawing my main influences from this and this along with a few other ideas from the Resident Evil/ Fallout series.

Has anyone ever done something like this before? I forum searched hazmat, hazard suit, etc. and didn't find anything that applied to costuming.

So has this or something related been done and documented? I prefer to learn from other's experiences before I learn from my own mistakes :lol

 

[JudgeSabersmith]

So I'm toying with the idea of making myself a white hazmat/ combat suit before the summer is over. I'm drawing my main influences from this and this along with a few other ideas from the Resident Evil/ Fallout series.

Has anyone ever done something like this before? I forum searched hazmat, hazard suit, etc. and didn't find anything that applied to costuming.

So has this or something related been done and documented? I prefer to learn from other's experiences before I learn from my own mistakes :lol

The suit in the first photo is commonly called a "level A" suit. It's fully encapsulated, and the wearer has to bring his/her own air when wearing it (SCBA). They're awfully hot and not very comfortable. I've had to wear one a few times when responding to chemical spills. Not fun.

However, check with your local fire station to see if they have a suit that is no good anymore (not vapor proof anymore and only good as a training demo) that they'd be willing to give you or sell you.

The second link you provided is MOPP gear that the military uses. I don't know that you'd easily find that stuff, even in a decent city with a surplus store nearby.

 

[bleyd]

You can find old Chemsuits at Surplus stores. Don't plan for them to work and if you plan to wear it as a costume throw it in the wash to clean out the charcoal. It renders it useless as protection but MUCH more comfortable to wear. I learned doing that for NATO excercises and it rarely overheated like some of the newbies that didn't wash the charcoal out. Never did that in my real world suit in the Gulf though for obvious reasons.

 

[Delmustator]

Well I've worn everything from Level A/B/C to MOPP 4 for days on end. I was a company level NBC NCO in the Army for 6 years and a Hazmat Team Decon Officer for 10 years. What the hell was I thinking?

A level A or MOPP suit is gonna make you suffer if you wear it for any extended amount of time. I have the proof that you can loose close to 3lbs an hour in a Level A suit working an incident. I can usually run about 1 hr on a 45 minute bottle.

If your going for that Gordon Freeman look?

I would consider a nice level C/D Tyvex suit (cost about $20) and then foam armor. You will still sweat some in Tyvex but not as profusely as in a Tychem level A.

P.S. Old level A suits never die, they are just used as training suits until their torn to shreds. Many layers of sweat stink deep. Swimming in your own juices sucks!
As for old MOPP suits, great camo suit for cold mornings hunting.


EDIT: Actually if I were going for the Gordon Freeman look, I'd start with a Body Glove Lycra suit for $60.

Then add foam armor...

 

[helix_3]

Well I've worn everything from Level A/B/C to MOPP 4 for days on end. I was a company level NBC NCO in the Army for 6 years and a Hazmat Team Decon Officer for 10 years. What the hell was I thinking?... I have the proof that you can loose close to 3lbs an hour in a Level A suit working an incident.

You certainly are the person to be talking to about hazmat suits!! I had a feeling that the biggest problem would be heat buildup. I think the best plan is to buy a Tyvek suit like you said, then re-tailor it to fit me better. I am a fan of the Freeman (profile pic ), and I think I might sew in some foam plates around the joints to make the plain cloth more interesting. Something (loosely) like this:

If I complete this project and am content, I may do a rebuild with the Lycra suit; $60 is a great price.

Thanks to everyone else for their suggestions!; the fact that this kinda equipment can 'spoil' means that there's probably a fair amount of cheap material I can salvage off old suits (boots, gloves, etc.)

 

[Loess]

If you're wanting to build Freeman's HEV suit, the pepakura files to make the hard sections are available over at the 405th. The boards are down right now, but I have the chest file, if you'd like it.