Once I got
the suit off the dummy I examined it closely, but not too
closely because it hadn't been cleaned for years and my
skin was crawling from just being near it! The single
piece suit was nearly in three pieces as the right arm
was coming off at the shoulder and there was a split down
the back - luckily both were due to the seams giving way
and not the material. The material in question is a
bright orange nylon with a yellow cotton lining and a
white fluffy padding in-between - just like a sleeping
bag actually! A resemblance heightened by all the zips,
most of which are sewn shut. The only add-ons, apart from
the arm badges, are two fibreglass wrist arm/glove joints
and two aluminium bands at the ankles, all four of which
are just glued in place and could easily be removed prior
to washing the suit.
The first (hand) wash
removed a great deal of dirt but was complicated by the
fact that the material acted like a sponge and absorbed
nearly all of the water, then threatened to fall apart
under its increased weight. Luckily it dried rather
quickly and I was able to sew it all back together again
and patch a small tear in the back. Then I could safely
wash it again - and again - and again! It really was
filthy and inbetween washes I even resorted to using
paint thinners to try and remove some stains as well as
having to scrub the interior to try and remove all the
car filler that had been used to assemble the mannequin..Finally I
let the suit dry and it was almost unrecognizable from
its former state, the material which was decades old, and
slightly worn in a few areas, looked bright and quite
new. I could now reattach the two aluminium ankle bands,
which had only needed a quick rub over with metal polish
to restore them..
Unfortunately the wrist
connectors and gloves required more attention. When the
suit had first been made the gloves were simply joined to
the suit using magnets, four of which are fixed into the
heavy fibreglass wrist castings with metal plates buried
in the matching fibreglass glove ring. During the series
these clearly proved inadequate (especially for series
two's regular fist-fights on the Moon surface) so large
metal buckles were fixed to the sides to secure the
connections.
Drilling the parts to fix these buckles had weaken the
castings and over the years both glove rings had broken
up - but the parts were still stuck to the gloves. Also
the heavy wrist castings were cracked and badly battered.
(When wearing the suit the heavy castings have a tendency
to swing into any close object and become chipped very
easily). The broken parts were carefully removed from the
gloves, cleaned up and reassembled with superglue and
skimmed over with P38 car filler, then sanded smooth and
sprayed with gloss paint. The six buttons on the left
connector were missing and I remade them using brass rod,
the red square is coloured Perspex so it just needed
cleaning and a polish to restore it. The gloves also
needed multiple washes before being glued back onto there
connector rings...
The worst part was the
helmet, which was very battered, and the clear visor was
unfortunately missing. The rubber neck piece was in a
poor state and the spring loaded parts that secure the
helmet to the neck ring were also gone and had been
replaced by rusty screws that had been forced through
both the ring and the sides of the helmet.
The first job was to remove all the rotten cloth and the
head support strapping from inside the helmet and then
sand off the many layers of paint from the outside. The
visor frame had the most layers of paint on, nine in
fact, and had obviously come from a different helmet as
one of the colours was silver - indicating its use on a
2nd season Anti-Radiation suit. The biggest problem was
the large amount of hairline cracks around the chin area
caused by the helmet being quite thinly cast and flexing.
As these cracks would quickly reappear after painting the
only option was to add a new layer of fibreglass to the
inside of the helmet to strengthen the shell and stop the
movement. This has made the helmet heavier but it has
done the job.
The visor frame also had a
fair number of cracks but here I could only remove any
loose bits of surface material and refill the holes.
After the repairs were complete the parts were spray
painted with cellulose car paints and then rubbed down
with a cutting agent to get a very polished finish. New
pieces of black cloth were cut out, using the old pieces
as templates, and glued into place then the head straps
were reinserted.
In most helmets
foam padding is used to support the helmet on the wearers
head, but these helmets use a loop of strapping attached
to the inside using metal loops buried in the fibreglass.
This strap can be quickly adjusted to suit different
sized heads and makes the helmet cooler to wear because
the head isn't encased in foam - but it doesn't feel very
secure.
A new soft plastic amber motorbike visor was cut to fit
the frame and screwed into place. The rectangular holes
around the frame are just covered across the back using a
strip of black cloth. The black 'intake' on the top is
simply black adhesive tape with a row of air holes
drilled across it. The visor was reattached to the helmet
using two screws with chrome dome covers. (Mirror hanging screws from a
DIY store)
Its hard
to get any measurements off the round helmet - the neck
opening at the bottom of the helmet is 254mm from front
to back and 212mm at its widest. The black vent
across the top of the helmet is 120mm wide. The helmet
appears to be around 285mm tall.
The fibreglass neck ring
needed several holes filling before it was repainted. The
two spring loaded neck bolts were made using epoxy filler
blocks with a brass rod embedded in the centre..
The rubber neckpiece had
been supporting the weight of the helmet for years and
was compressed and deformed. I had to gently stretch it
out and then apply more latex rubber to the inside to
hold it in shape. The outside was cleaned, and any holes
patched with drops of latex, before it was given a
coating of watered down acrylic paint..
When I got the suit part
of the 'deal' was for me to restore a backpack and
recreate the chestpack for a display that was fast
approaching. The backpack had the number 3 on it but it
was actually the number 7 stunt pack used in the last few
shows featuring 'punch-ups' on the moons surface. As a
result it was very battered and I had to strip the parts
off it and apply more fibreglass to the inside to fill
the holes and strengthen it up.
The backpack and chestpack
are covered in a fine mesh cloth, only bits of the
original were left on and even these looked like
replacements and might not have been original at all. The
unit was covered in new cloth and the various detailed
parts reattached. One of the four oxygen outlets was
missing and needed to be replaced, these turned out to be
motorcar brake pipe connections and the airtube itself
was coaxial television cable with the outer plastic
removed.
The replica chestpack was
formed in 2mm Plasticard, then coated on the inside with
fibreglass with a Perspex backplate screwed to wooden
blocks embedded on the inside. The recessed panels were
made from clear Perspex (painted on the back) with
pinstripe tapes to complete the detailing. Due to time
constraints and a lack of the proper car seat belts there
were no straps put onto the chestpack, instead the
existing straps on the backpack were adjusted to reach
over and hook onto the back of the chestpack.
During this time my
intention was to construct copies for my own suit, but
after working on these parts I realised that I didn't
really like them enough to bother! The design and
construction is rather crude and I prefer the one Koenig
wears in 'Brian the
Brain' which I think is far better
looking - and it's a pity it wasn't used for the whole
series.
The suit is reasonable
comfortable to wear, but it gets warm quickly especially
with the helmet on. Over the years I have watched actors
wearing spacesuits in films and wished I was doing their
job, but having worn a suit for a short length of time
I'm not so sure that it was really that much fun to be
filmed in it!
The wrist
connectors are 127mm by 99mm wide. The bits on the gloves
are 12mm thick - and 35mm thick on the arm.
Red
Perspex square is 26mm by 25mm.Buckles on the wrists have
the brand name 'Cheney'. Heavy-duty zips have the brand
name 'YKK'.
Right;
Mistake - I glued the Aluminium rings back on in the
wrong position thinking that it made more sense to try
hiding the join on the inside of the leg; when they
should actually be clearly seen on the outside.
(Aluminium is 1-inch wide and 1/8th thick)
Gloves
appear to be standard store bought items, makers label
reads LesLeston. Silky white material with black leather
palms.
Left; The
'Rainbow' patch is made from lengths of coloured Nylon
ribbon. Lime, Green, Dark Brown, Black, Dark Blue, Light
Blue, Purple, Red, Light Orange, Yellow. Black rectangle
is a different material with Stars sewn on in white
cotton..
Picture
bottom left; The chestpack on display at the
Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
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