propologist
Sr Member
Those sweet Tambo...one of these days I will get me a bossk suit
SW Bossk's flightsuit: Found !!
- Thread starter DownInFlames
- Start date
Tambo Fett
Well-Known Member
Bossk
Well-Known Member
My first post here! I have been working on my Bossk impression for the past few months, and I'm the guy Tambo (who has been a great help), mentioned in the posts above. Instead of the usual cotton coveralls, I am using an original, high altitude USAF flight suit in my costume, and find it the most convincing of anything I have seen attempted yet. I will try to have some photos here after the weekend.
To answer your question, the mustard tan color and black rubber collar of Bossk's suit are reminicscent of vintage deep sea, 'hard hat" diving suits, which I understand the same manufacturer also made. I believe the Bossk suit is the earliest known version of the Windak, probably even a prototype using the same manufacturing techniques and materials as the same period diving suits made by the same firm.
Bossk's suit seems to have tape glued over all of the stitched seams just like the USAF suit I am using for my Bossk (photos to follow soon), which is also a characteristic of the mustard yellow deep sea diving suits.
Bo Shek's suit, on the other hand, has visible stitching instead of taped seams, and is made in RAF blue, that appears almost black in some photos. I believe this is the actual production model. In both cases, the cloth is very stiff, and there are pleats of extra material at knees, shoulders, elbows, etc to allow greater movement. In fact, the characteristic "wings" on the shoulders of the suit as seen on Bossk, disappear when the suit is pressurised as can be seen in some of the photos on this thread.
I believe the Windak suits have a horizontal, rubberized zippper opening at chest level like the vintage USAF suit I am using, and also like the mustard yellow diving suits that Bossk's suit so much resembles. This opening would be concealed by the pressure vest, and is the reason for the black rubber planchard of the suit which some costume makers have mistaken for a black "vest", that can be seen under the white pressure vest. The helmet ring would be permanently attached to the suit, like diving and space suits, and would be too small an arperture to enter the suit through. In fact, Bossk's big lizard head wouldn't realistically fit through that small human-sized neck ring of the original Windak suit used in the SW film, so I deliberately made mine slightly larger, as would be required for a 'real' reptilian alien, who unlike a human actor, would not have the luxury of putting his "head" on after donning the suit!
More to follow after the weekend.
DownInFlames
Well-Known Member
Cool!
Looking forward to those pics.
Looking forward to those pics.
Bossk
Well-Known Member
Here's the suit without Bossk in it. People who have seen it think its some kind of real, vintage diving or early flight suit, and they are right, to a degree, because it is a modified , vintage USAF suit. What I especially like is that it has the "taped" seams just like Bossks', and I think I got the color nearly perfect. As previously mentioned, the real Windak suits were made by the manufacturer of diving suits, an one can see why. The true function of black rubber planchard (that is often mistaken for a "vest" in many Bossk reconstructions), can now be seen in the accompanying avatar photo. The "ultimate Bossk" should look just as authentic 'under the suit', so I have added a 'reptilian' chest The suit is entered by a water/air proof zipper imbedded in the rubber planchard.
I will start a new thread focusing on the complete reconstruction. I am awaiting some better photos taken at the last event, including hand to hand combat with an excellent Chewbacca! But here are a few bad pics of some of the gear.
Many thanks to Tambo for the d-rings, U-joint and resin scopes for my scratchbuilt blaster.
Because the suit has dried out, and a little bit brittle, some of the tape seams have lifted, and most have been repaired since the pictures were taken.
I will start a new thread to show the complete Bossk reconstruction. I am very happy with it, and it has received a lot of favorable comments at a recent 501st event in Nashville.
Bossk
Well-Known Member
Sorry, I uploaded the wrong image. The weapon is the original prop. I will try to attach my blaster now (which according to lore is actually a "Micro Grenade Launcher".
I made this from plumbing fittings, an army camo net pole, an old paintball gun, and an AK-47 stock I 'liberated' on my year long 'vacation' in sunny Iraq.
I made this from plumbing fittings, an army camo net pole, an old paintball gun, and an AK-47 stock I 'liberated' on my year long 'vacation' in sunny Iraq.
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DownInFlames
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
The pics I posted in the first page are down since they changed the server in which they were hosted.
Hope these will help.
Best,
DIF
The pics I posted in the first page are down since they changed the server in which they were hosted.
Hope these will help.
Best,
DIF
Bossk
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the great reserch, DIF. It it been a big help in my costume. You don't happen to have a rear view of the Windak suit, do you? There is definately some kind of 'extra' feature in the seat area, as can be seen in flim clips, but not very well. The USAF suit I used, does have an extra fold of cloth in the seat area, to expand when seated, and I suspect the Windak has a similar arrangement.
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DownInFlames
Well-Known Member
Thanks for your comments guys, it's been fun to track this suit down.
Unfortunately I don't have pics of the back part of the Windak since the pics I have are from the suit that is/was (not sure about this) displayed in the Royal Air and Space Museum (UK) and it is displayed behind glass. Those pics were taken by a friend, not me.
If any of you live in the UK, would it be possible for you to go and try to get more pics at different angles of this suit?
Best,
DIF
Unfortunately I don't have pics of the back part of the Windak since the pics I have are from the suit that is/was (not sure about this) displayed in the Royal Air and Space Museum (UK) and it is displayed behind glass. Those pics were taken by a friend, not me.
If any of you live in the UK, would it be possible for you to go and try to get more pics at different angles of this suit?
Best,
DIF
DownInFlames
Well-Known Member
Any news?
Bossk
Well-Known Member
Yes, one new thing that I found very interesting. There is a new 35mm tall, miniature role-playing game figure of Bossk (The Dark Times set), and for the first time in any miniature, Bossk has a kind of a 'fanny pack' that seems to comply with the rear view of the spacer who wears Bossk's flight suit, but with gloves , boots and helmet, in the Mos Eisely Cantina scene.
Perhaps this is a parachute pack, as seat pack parachutes like this were common in WWII . I doubt the Spacer has the parachute in the pack, as it is not bulky enough but you definately see some big baggy thing on his butt. I strongly suspect Bossk has it too, thouh there are no back images I know of. In fact, Bossk never seems to move, and it may be because if anyone saw the butt pack close up, it would look kind of silly, and Bossk would seem more goofy than intimidating.
But maybe the Hasbro figure sculptor knows something we do not know. Perhaps he has access to film archives since they are licensed to do these.
C'mon people, can't anyone check out that Museum and check out the back of the Blue Windak flight suit? Surely we have some Brits here!
OK, I've been looking into this for a couple of days.
The Royal Airforce Museum over here in the UK has two main sites and two collections. I emailed the Keeper of Medals, Uniforms and Visual Arts at the London site, Here is his (very prompt!) reply.
I regret that I am unable to identify the suit that you rwefer to from the information that you have given. This may well be because the catalogue records are 'skeleton' records and that the Manufacturer field has not been filled in. I therefore cannot pick up Windak. It may well be that we have such a suit, but I am afraid you are going to have to give me more information before I can confiirm. In any case, it is highly likely to be in store in our Reserve Collection in Staffordshire.
The Staffordshire site is in Cosford near Birmingham. I'm going to email the Cosford site and send the pics DownInFlames posted to see if it can be recognised. Don't hold your breath guys, if I can verify which site the suit is kept, we've also got to hope it's still on display and then I've got to find the time to acctually go to the museum!
DownInFlames, do you have any more info as to where those photos were taken?
Cheers
Pete
The Royal Airforce Museum over here in the UK has two main sites and two collections. I emailed the Keeper of Medals, Uniforms and Visual Arts at the London site, Here is his (very prompt!) reply.
I regret that I am unable to identify the suit that you rwefer to from the information that you have given. This may well be because the catalogue records are 'skeleton' records and that the Manufacturer field has not been filled in. I therefore cannot pick up Windak. It may well be that we have such a suit, but I am afraid you are going to have to give me more information before I can confiirm. In any case, it is highly likely to be in store in our Reserve Collection in Staffordshire.
The Staffordshire site is in Cosford near Birmingham. I'm going to email the Cosford site and send the pics DownInFlames posted to see if it can be recognised. Don't hold your breath guys, if I can verify which site the suit is kept, we've also got to hope it's still on display and then I've got to find the time to acctually go to the museum!
DownInFlames, do you have any more info as to where those photos were taken?
Cheers
Pete
It looks as if this suit may not be at the Royal airforce museum, but at the Science Museum, I found an obscure reference to it in a forum about space flight
Is the blue Space Suit is similar to the one on display at the Science Museum
The picture he was referencing wouldn't load as the thread is from a whle ago, but from the other comments it seems certain they were talking about the pic from "First Men in the Moon" that was posted earlier in this thread.
Have sent a message to the Science museum, but I think it may be a while before I hear back, almost certainly be quicker just to nip down to London and have a look, it's never a chore to go to the science museum!
Is the blue Space Suit is similar to the one on display at the Science Museum
The picture he was referencing wouldn't load as the thread is from a whle ago, but from the other comments it seems certain they were talking about the pic from "First Men in the Moon" that was posted earlier in this thread.
Have sent a message to the Science museum, but I think it may be a while before I hear back, almost certainly be quicker just to nip down to London and have a look, it's never a chore to go to the science museum!
Bossk
Well-Known Member
Pete, thanks for doing the legwork. Since you did get a quick response, you might ask the curator to search using this keyword: "Baxter, Woodhouse and Taylor Ltd." , as they are the actual manufacturers. There was another kind of Windak suit on ebay, but it had nothing to do with the Bossk type, but a lower altitude thermal suit withoug presuization of the same era. The military spec tag listed these names as the actual manufacturer, though there was also a "Windak" logo tag. The museum staff would have probably used the military tag with the three names as the actual manufacturer (I'm the director of a U.S. Army Museum and we also have all of our artifacts on a database).
Keep looking!
Dan
OK, progress! The response from the Science mseum reads..
This object is currently on display within the Science Museum's Flight
Gallery; should you wish to view it please visit the Museum during
normal opening hours
This is good news, but thats not all, there's a little more info included in the email. This is the description of the suit direct from the museum inventory, I've underlined the most interesting part.
Windak full-pressure flying suit, complete with Taylor Helmet type F. By
Windak Ltd, 1962. NOTE: Pressure suits were
developed during the 1930s for high altitude record breaking attempts.
There was no real service requirement for full pressure suits until
after the Second World War when military aircraft became capable of
flying above 40,000 feet.
The Windak suit is constructed from a single
layer of gas tight rubberised silk bonded to strong cotton. The suit is
internally pressurised by air in order to achieve a higher pressure upon
the body then exists at high altitude. The pressure visor is
electrically heated to prevent misting and closes automatically in an
emergency.
Interesting no? I'll try and get to London as soon as I can with a camera and an empty memory card.
Cheers
This object is currently on display within the Science Museum's Flight
Gallery; should you wish to view it please visit the Museum during
normal opening hours
This is good news, but thats not all, there's a little more info included in the email. This is the description of the suit direct from the museum inventory, I've underlined the most interesting part.
Windak full-pressure flying suit, complete with Taylor Helmet type F. By
Windak Ltd, 1962. NOTE: Pressure suits were
developed during the 1930s for high altitude record breaking attempts.
There was no real service requirement for full pressure suits until
after the Second World War when military aircraft became capable of
flying above 40,000 feet.
The Windak suit is constructed from a single
layer of gas tight rubberised silk bonded to strong cotton. The suit is
internally pressurised by air in order to achieve a higher pressure upon
the body then exists at high altitude. The pressure visor is
electrically heated to prevent misting and closes automatically in an
emergency.
Interesting no? I'll try and get to London as soon as I can with a camera and an empty memory card.
Cheers
