Re: My Apollo A7L Space Suit VERSION 2 - IN PROGRESS
I'll cover that in my next post.
I'll cover that in my next post.
My Apollo A7L Space Suit V3 - FINALLY MAKING MY OWN SUIT
- Thread starter Mr. Nagata
- Start date
Re: My Apollo A7L Space Suit VERSION 2 - IN PROGRESS
Just a quick post about how I weathered the suit. I was going for just a light weathering--something to make the suit look like a real piece of hardware, but not super dirty. Here are the clean boots I finished:
I used to coffee dye things, but unless you really wash it out it afterwards, it tends to get splotchy water marks if the garment gets wet (i.e. you sweat in the costume). So I made a mixture of diluted airbrush paint that pretty much has the same effect of browning the fabric a little, but it's permanent. I spray it on thoroughly, blot it up with a towel, then let it dry. The result is a pretty subtle yellowed look. It doesn't even really show up on camera, but if you hold it next to a clean piece of fabric, you can definitely tell the difference.
After the paint dried, I dusted on my own mixture of simulated lunar dust. It's a mixture of talc, charcoal, silver mica powder, and portland cement. After I dusted it on, I throughly cleaned it off. I was kind of going for the look of the suits you see in the Smithsonian. They have remnants of lunar dust build-up in the seams, but they've been cleaned:
Just a quick post about how I weathered the suit. I was going for just a light weathering--something to make the suit look like a real piece of hardware, but not super dirty. Here are the clean boots I finished:
I used to coffee dye things, but unless you really wash it out it afterwards, it tends to get splotchy water marks if the garment gets wet (i.e. you sweat in the costume). So I made a mixture of diluted airbrush paint that pretty much has the same effect of browning the fabric a little, but it's permanent. I spray it on thoroughly, blot it up with a towel, then let it dry. The result is a pretty subtle yellowed look. It doesn't even really show up on camera, but if you hold it next to a clean piece of fabric, you can definitely tell the difference.
After the paint dried, I dusted on my own mixture of simulated lunar dust. It's a mixture of talc, charcoal, silver mica powder, and portland cement. After I dusted it on, I throughly cleaned it off. I was kind of going for the look of the suits you see in the Smithsonian. They have remnants of lunar dust build-up in the seams, but they've been cleaned:
Re: My Apollo A7L Space Suit VERSION 2 - IN PROGRESS
I'm skipping over quite a few steps here, but I finished version 2 of the suit!
And the proud new owner (Adam Savage!) stopped by today to try it on:
I'm skipping over quite a few steps here, but I finished version 2 of the suit!
And the proud new owner (Adam Savage!) stopped by today to try it on:
Last edited:
Re: My Apollo A7L Space Suit VERSION 2 - IN PROGRESS
Truly you have NO IDEA how good this thing looks in person. It's sitting in my hotel room right now and it's GORGEOUS. I bow before the prowess of Mr. Nagata. A prized piece for my colleciton.
We might even use it on one of our LAST MYTHBUSTER shoots.
Truly you have NO IDEA how good this thing looks in person. It's sitting in my hotel room right now and it's GORGEOUS. I bow before the prowess of Mr. Nagata. A prized piece for my colleciton.
We might even use it on one of our LAST MYTHBUSTER shoots.
Re: My Apollo A7L Space Suit VERSION 2 - IN PROGRESS
Thank you, Adam. Can't wait to see what you do with it.
Thank you, Adam. Can't wait to see what you do with it.
Now that Adam's suit is done, I'm going to make my own suit as well as tackle a few commission builds. The first is the MOST accurate Snoopy cap I could possibly make thanks to @Seatra, who provided me with some plaster casts of the kidney-shaped headset of a real Apollo-era communications carrier. There was some warpage with the castings and the front ends were damaged/missing, but I recast them in resin, cleaned them up, and rebuilt the front ends. Can't get more accurate than this!
The goods news is, I was pretty close with my original sculpts so the pattern I created does not need to be altered. The profile is nearly dead on, though the real headset cups are a little deeper and there is an ear-shaped cavity on the inside that I did not duplicate on my first version. You can see the real castings next to the ones I originally made in blue foam:
@Seatra also provided me with a very small amount of the actual teflon fabric that the real caps were made of. As you can see, it's a very unique looking fabric. I custom-printed the crosshatch pattern on my first replicas and it looks pretty good, but nothing beats the real thing. Unfortunately, this fabric is no longer made, so these are the only two caps I can make like this:
The goods news is, I was pretty close with my original sculpts so the pattern I created does not need to be altered. The profile is nearly dead on, though the real headset cups are a little deeper and there is an ear-shaped cavity on the inside that I did not duplicate on my first version. You can see the real castings next to the ones I originally made in blue foam:
@Seatra also provided me with a very small amount of the actual teflon fabric that the real caps were made of. As you can see, it's a very unique looking fabric. I custom-printed the crosshatch pattern on my first replicas and it looks pretty good, but nothing beats the real thing. Unfortunately, this fabric is no longer made, so these are the only two caps I can make like this:
Last edited:
Your original Headset cups were super close! Nothing beats having access to the real thing though. And the correct teflon! So cool.
stephen210
Sr Member
Simply amazing work!!
p51
Sr Member
Re: My Apollo A7L Space Suit VERSION 2 - IN PROGRESS
If I had the means to get one of these suits, that's exactly what I'd do, too.
Adam, it's really cool you went for a generic Apollo program patch instead of a specific mission one.
If I had the means to get one of these suits, that's exactly what I'd do, too.
Mr. Nagata, Ryan, I was inspired by this whole project to seek out the nearest A7L on display near me. I was pleased to see there was one right around the corner at the Franklin Institute, which included some original pieces of equipment as well. Since we're pretty close to Dover, DE, there is a lot about ILC Dover as well.
Some photos below, and I can upload more if interested for reference.
-Max
Some photos below, and I can upload more if interested for reference.
-Max
Last edited by a moderator:
I finished the communications carrier (snoopy cap). This one is a commission for a member here, but mine is nearly identical. I made castings of real Apollo-era snoopy cap ear kidneys in flexible urethane foam, so they're spot-on. I also used the 100% correct vintage PTFE fabric for the brown parts. This fabric is no-longer made like this, so this is the most accurate snoopy cap I could ever make.
No onto the suit! For my own suit, I decided to adapt my previous pattern to make an A7L-B (the later model suit designed for the lunar rover missions). More to come!
No onto the suit! For my own suit, I decided to adapt my previous pattern to make an A7L-B (the later model suit designed for the lunar rover missions). More to come!
Stellar work!
Do you have any interest in putting real communication electronics in a headset? Is there good info on what was used in there?
Do you have any interest in putting real communication electronics in a headset? Is there good info on what was used in there?
trekcolencc1701
Active Member
Adam Savage…….The luckiest man on earth……...
My A7LB is coming along. I adapted my pattern and once again made a few adjustments. Each suit gets progressively more accurate. The connectors on this suit are aluminum, but I'm going to strip and re-anodize them to get the colors more accurate. I've really fallen in love with the design of this version. It's actually much easier to don than the A7L, something I only discovered after patterning out and trying on both models. I can climb into and zip this suit up myself whereas I need someone to assist me with the A7L. I also love the blue liner of the A7LB as opposed to the white liner of the A7L. It just looks prettier from an aesthetic standpoint, which is probably why the suits in Apollo 13 had inaccurate blue liners, even though they weren't introduced until Apollo 15.
Last edited:
Awesome work as always. What's the material you are using now? I saw the A7L on display at the Franklin Institute and it has a sheen that I never noticed before in photos.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
I'm not sure what the origin of that suit is, but it is not a flight suit (the pattern is different, mainly that there is no separation in the arms to accommodate the bearing and several other subtle differences) and it doesn't look like Beta cloth. It looks more like nylon because it's slightly yellowed (at least it looks that way in the picture). Beta cloth doesn't really yellow. I don't exactly know why, but I've seen some training suits that were mostly Beta cloth, but had sections that were made of nylon and were yellowed. Most of the Gemini suits are yellow now because they were nylon. Maybe the suit at the Franklin Institutes is a prototype of some kind.
I used a nylon pack cloth for my A7L replicas, but I switched to a finer weave, rubber-backed nylon cloth for my A7LB. The A7L and A7LB were actually made of different materials. The A7L was several weaves of Beta cloth with teflon fabric abrasion patches in certain areas. The A7LB was 100% teflon fabric and all the extra abrasion patches were eliminated. I could actually get the same teflon fabric that was used on the A7LB, but it's $300 a yard. I have a small sample of it and the fabric I used feels, looks, and drapes in a similar manner so I'm pretty happy with it. Beta cloth has a sheen to it. PTFE teflon fabric is much flatter.
I used a nylon pack cloth for my A7L replicas, but I switched to a finer weave, rubber-backed nylon cloth for my A7LB. The A7L and A7LB were actually made of different materials. The A7L was several weaves of Beta cloth with teflon fabric abrasion patches in certain areas. The A7LB was 100% teflon fabric and all the extra abrasion patches were eliminated. I could actually get the same teflon fabric that was used on the A7LB, but it's $300 a yard. I have a small sample of it and the fabric I used feels, looks, and drapes in a similar manner so I'm pretty happy with it. Beta cloth has a sheen to it. PTFE teflon fabric is much flatter.
Yes, the suit at FI has yellowed, and the sheen would be consistent with nylon. I believe the display tag even says it was a training suit. Possibly they used nylon for the suits in the water tank?
Just from photos I really like your material. $300 per yard isn't terrible to have the real thing, but if your substitute is good then keep going with it.
-Max
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Just from photos I really like your material. $300 per yard isn't terrible to have the real thing, but if your substitute is good then keep going with it.
-Max
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
TheBryanScout
New Member
Nice Apollo 20 patch!
