Help with Apollo A7L Spacesuit

zachsbanks547

New Member
I’d love to make an Apollo A7L spacesuit, but I’m not really sure where to start. Do there exist any fabric patterns, hardware kits, any other resources like that available to give me a starting point? Any help anybody can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
You seek Adam Savage. A member here, btw. Reach out to him and maybe he can point you in the right direction. He is a MAJOR space suit collector/ fabricator.
 
Ryan Nagata made Savage's suit. He's a member here. His screen name is Mr. Nagata

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Or.....Me......;)

zachsbanks547,
There are a couple of sources for the fittings and neck disconnect parts, I have seen 3d models online you can buy and have these printed, and Global Effects has been selling off excess storage items, via the ebay store, Orbital Surplus, including Apollo parts.
The fabric parts, I have not seen a source for patterns.
An Apollo spacesuit is not as straight forward as you may think. There are lots of mechanical pieces under that white outer cover, that give the suit it's distinctive look.

We built our first suits 22 years ago, using photos and visiting museums around the US, but now the internet gives you amazing access to images from virtually all museums and NASA archives. If you look for images of the structure layer of an Apollo suit (Known as the restraint layer) you can get an understanding to the mechanical bits that give the A7L its shape or silhouette. The white outer layer loosely, but closely covers these elements, so getting the correct "Bumps and lumps" is key to making a suit that looks like an A7L, and not just a white "jump suit" with red & blue fittings on it. Here is one image of the A7L pressurized, without it's outer layer.

cmpa7lbcolor.png
You could start with a set of overalls on a mannequin, and build the mechanical bits of the restraint layer from foam to approximate the proper silhouette. Then, drape some cheap white fabric over this to achieve the cover layer. (known as the TMG) Once you have this draped pattern where you think it looks good, then you can cut the final cover layer from either Teflon fabric (Expensive) or a Nylon pack cloth.

Edit: I realized, some here, may not know me, I'm the owner/ founder of Global Effects, we have built suits for everything from Armageddon to First Man.
I have also built real (as in go to space, functional, suits) for XCOR aerospace and consulted on NASA's Orion program suits as well as Space X manned space program.
 
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Imgill hit it on the head. No matter how accurate the outer shell is, you have to have the bulk from underneath to make the look. I bought a cheapo A7L suit off Ebay ($2000ish) and started modifying. The PLSS and PLSS RCU were the first to get chucked. Th internet has good dimensions for both.
 
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