Felgacarb
Sr Member
This is a costume I put together for Halloween of 2009. Having just finished watching the series on Netflix, I had all the required enthusiasm for a full scratch build.
Last month I had the opportunity to stand in front of someone who actually knows how to use a camera, so that gave me an excuse to finally put this costume up on the RPF.
So first off, here's how the outfit appears today:
The hardest part of this outfit is, of course, finding the correct Sommers material. I wasn't able to do that. Although it could still be had back in '09, the price was way too much for my costume budget. Instead I went with a less fancy metallic green vinyl, and then ordered the patches.
The only tricky part really in making the jumpsuit were the scales on the back. I used a textured vinyl over foamy. Made those parts three different times. I still don't feel I that I got it right...
I added grommets in the back as vents under the scales. The bottoms of the scales were not sewed down, so the suit would breath. (However this is not nearly enough- these things really are hot and don't breath at all...)
Note- in my working from just screen caps, I got the style of zippers used wrong! These green plastic ones look OK, but not as good as the metal ones with the black backing...
In the end, there were so many layers of vinyl and foamy that I had to use the big, manual machine to attach the scales.
The gun belt and pouches could also be pricey to acquire, so I simply scratch built all of them. Just black cotton duck and nylon ribbon to trim all the edges. I did buy the real AustriAlpin Cobra buckle though. I did a replica of the season 2-4 FN gun- I used a very cheap airsoft pistol and bent up some aluminum to make the rocket launcher.
For the double tanks, I got a grey and a black T-shirt from the thrift store and modified them a bit. (Today, I'd just buy a set from Anovos! Those are much better...) For the dog tags I used a dremel to cut hexagons out of brass plate.
Here's the suit with the patches on:
I included the wrist computer detail- Once again, the real Nixon wrist watch was much to expensive for this build, so I faked one in out of aluminum sheet.
The front vest I also re-did three times. This final version is made of grey suede- the 'black dot' material is old auto upholstery I got at the pick-a-part. (From an MGB, if I recall...)
I eventually found some great looking shoes to go with the suit- they are not quite the screen-used type, but they are darn good and made out of a similar material. (But- these are not even real Nike! They are Chinese knock-offs- I was so excited to find them I hit the Buy-it-now button without thinking- when it sank in that I paid under $30 for new Nike I went back and googled the source- totally fake. Sorry Nike...)
I did a fair amount of weathering to the suit as well, much of it with gold spray paint. It is still pretty subtle. The check list looks the most beaten, and still looks a bit too nice compared to most of what we saw onscreen.
And I got to wear it to Comic Con in San Diego. Where I met Grant Imahara- wearing his flightsuit... professionally made out of the correct Sommers material.... can't win 'em all. (But hey-at least he's someone who loves these things as much as I do...)
Thanks for looking!
Last month I had the opportunity to stand in front of someone who actually knows how to use a camera, so that gave me an excuse to finally put this costume up on the RPF.
So first off, here's how the outfit appears today:
The hardest part of this outfit is, of course, finding the correct Sommers material. I wasn't able to do that. Although it could still be had back in '09, the price was way too much for my costume budget. Instead I went with a less fancy metallic green vinyl, and then ordered the patches.
The only tricky part really in making the jumpsuit were the scales on the back. I used a textured vinyl over foamy. Made those parts three different times. I still don't feel I that I got it right...
I added grommets in the back as vents under the scales. The bottoms of the scales were not sewed down, so the suit would breath. (However this is not nearly enough- these things really are hot and don't breath at all...)
Note- in my working from just screen caps, I got the style of zippers used wrong! These green plastic ones look OK, but not as good as the metal ones with the black backing...
In the end, there were so many layers of vinyl and foamy that I had to use the big, manual machine to attach the scales.
The gun belt and pouches could also be pricey to acquire, so I simply scratch built all of them. Just black cotton duck and nylon ribbon to trim all the edges. I did buy the real AustriAlpin Cobra buckle though. I did a replica of the season 2-4 FN gun- I used a very cheap airsoft pistol and bent up some aluminum to make the rocket launcher.
For the double tanks, I got a grey and a black T-shirt from the thrift store and modified them a bit. (Today, I'd just buy a set from Anovos! Those are much better...) For the dog tags I used a dremel to cut hexagons out of brass plate.
Here's the suit with the patches on:
I included the wrist computer detail- Once again, the real Nixon wrist watch was much to expensive for this build, so I faked one in out of aluminum sheet.
The front vest I also re-did three times. This final version is made of grey suede- the 'black dot' material is old auto upholstery I got at the pick-a-part. (From an MGB, if I recall...)
I eventually found some great looking shoes to go with the suit- they are not quite the screen-used type, but they are darn good and made out of a similar material. (But- these are not even real Nike! They are Chinese knock-offs- I was so excited to find them I hit the Buy-it-now button without thinking- when it sank in that I paid under $30 for new Nike I went back and googled the source- totally fake. Sorry Nike...)
I did a fair amount of weathering to the suit as well, much of it with gold spray paint. It is still pretty subtle. The check list looks the most beaten, and still looks a bit too nice compared to most of what we saw onscreen.
And I got to wear it to Comic Con in San Diego. Where I met Grant Imahara- wearing his flightsuit... professionally made out of the correct Sommers material.... can't win 'em all. (But hey-at least he's someone who loves these things as much as I do...)
Thanks for looking!
