My Mercury Space Helmet (and boots) FINISHED!

[Crimson490]

Beautiful work!

I wonder if you can tell us how the visor sealed to the helmet in real life. I see what looks like a black gasket around the perimeter of the helmet's opening, but this doesn't seem sufficient.

 

[DG27]

What appears to be a "gasket" around the visor opening is actually a flatened inflatable tube. When pressurized, the tube expands outward to seal against the inside surface of the visor on a real helmet. The gas supply for the visor seal is through the visor seal valve on the side of the helmet. Closing the visor depresses the small pin plunger on the top of the visor valve which inflates the seal tube. The red button on the side of the seal valve deflates the seal so the visor can be opened.

Nice work on replicating the helmet.

Hope this post is helpful. I just joined the Forum.

 

[Mr. Nagata]

Posted pics of the completed suit in the costume forum:

http://www.therpf.com/f24/my-nasa-mercury-space-suit-226612/