Apollo A7L Replica/ Cosplay

[Lankybean]

Hi All,

Ive been recently watching Tested and ive completely fallen in love with the idea of building a replica of the A7L (Thanks Adam Savage and Ryan Nagata hahah) and I dont plan to get to that sort of accuracy first time around I want to give it a shot.

I love the A7L suit, while ive seen a ton of references how do people go about making such a template for the suit? In terms of the fabric parts that is?

The helmet could also be an issue, and while I plan to build a vacuum former im thinking of just avoiding making the Bubble helmet and just stick with the outer and solar visors. Has anyone managed to make these visors without using a vacuum former? ie using a premade option?

Any tips from people who've built them or just general experience would be amazing! or even better how you went about making the templates!

Thanks all

 

[TaterHater]

Hey!
I had the exact same idea from the exact same source lol. I'm thinking about going small and cheap at first, 3D printing all that i can, and using the cheapest supplies i have available. With that in mind, I bought an XL HDX disposable heavy duty coveralls from Home Depot for 10 bucks and I'm using that as my base. I'm impressed with the look of the material and really hope it handles being sewn and glued well.

I am thinking about skipping the bubble helmet too and am looking for ideas for how to do the outer pieces only as well. I'm at a loss as well for the visor, but was thinking about building the shell with paper mache, then building off of that. Anyway, I haven't quite started yet, and if anyone has advice on how to build the EVA helmet, That would be really great. Good luck with it by the way!

 

[Lankybean]

Ive actually started 3d printing the parts I can such as the chest attachment etc. my plan was to purchase some kind of overalls, take those appart and resew using it as a template in some kind of white nylon. im having real trouble with the outer helmet. reference is scarce as all the images ive found have the beta cloth outer layer. I may try using another type of space suit helmet or try modelling the basic shape and 3d printing that but its definetly the hardest part so far!

 

[TaterHater]

I found some very useful resources for the EVA helmet.
First, I found a couple photos of Buzz's helmet without the beta cloth around the neck:

source: Apollo Lunar Extravehicular Visor Assembly

and it has a measuring tape! I found elsewhere the dimensions of the helmet were 14" by 14" by 12", but it didn't say which direction was which.
Finally,
In another thread on here, Kenlandrum linked the Smithsonian 3D scans of Armstrong's actual EVA suit. It has a bunch of handy tools, such as a measuring tape and x-ray views. It's still going to be pretty difficult, I'm still really unsure how to fabricate it, (thinking foam and vacuum forming) but now at least I know what it looks like and how big it is. Hope this helps!

 

[Lankybean]

woah thats great, I'll definetly use that for reference. I just finished printing and basic assembly of the Suit Neck ring. its not 100% accurate it I think its looking good. I'll post pics later