This weekend between other projects I have been working on a second prototype of the pressure gage. I know, most of it is covered with a piece of the ITMG. But I think I need to keep the detail up.
I think I have almost got it. The problem has been the template I was using to rout out the gage face area was made from plywood. It seems the bit on my dremel would burn and deform the edges making the cut irregular.
To remidy this I got the drill bits and files out and made one out of aluminum. I will cast some new blanks tomorrow and see if I can get a better fit on the lense.
One another note, After looking at some pictures of the suit, and just looking at the suit its self, I have decided the pocket on the left thigh needs to go outboard and down a tad.
So I am working up the fortatude to disasyemble the ITMG from the inner suit, and then remove and re-attach the pocket. I hope to get that done this week.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Here in Ohio we are in the beginnings of what promises to be the worst winter storm this year. So I am looking forward to having lots of time to work on the suit this weekend. Only one small problem could arise; I work for a small city near Columbus. And after 18 or so hours they run out of street department employees to drive the snow plows and start looking to other departments.
Now I am far enough up the food chain that this is not usually a problem. But if the need for snowplowing last for more than say 36 hours, I may have to go to work.
So today I have sewn the zipper flap to the suit and added the abrasion patch. And attached the velcro and snaps. I would hate to have to get out of one of these in a hurry. Two zippers, snaps and all that velcro… no wonder they wear diapers.
After the flap and patch, I moved on to the last part of the ITMG sleeve. The short tapered piece at the glove disconnects. This tapers from around 21 to 14 inches.
Popularity: unranked [?]
The flex hose seems to have the correct size and feel, the photo shows a test fit. I have since lengthened the arms a couple of inches. On my last suit keeping the arms short enough while getting the shape right was a problem. It seems I over compensated the first time here. But thankfully I left the hoses a little long, and overlapped the fabric farther than I thought I needed. Now the sleeves (where the glove disconnects attach) hit about mid forearm, just as they should.
I spent a good bit of the evening working on the lower half of the suit. Adding the batting to the legs and hips to give it the “pressurized” look I want.
I hope to find some suitable boots soon. Then I will re-join the top to the bottom and install the rest of the hardware. Then its on to the real work: The ITMG
The work up ’till now has been easy, just concerning myself with the shape of things. On the ITMG or “Integrated Thermal Meteoroid Garment” I want every snap, stitch, pocket and piece of Velcro in the correct spot. It will require a much higher attention to detail.
Well if you’ll excuse me, I have some more batting to add to the lower half. Oh, and some nylon strap and some snaps…maybe some boots…and…
Popularity: unranked [?]
I am a forty-something year old frustrated wanna-be astronaut. I grew up with the Apollo missions going strong. and I was sure by the time I was 30 we would be living on Mars… or at the very least, the moon.
I believe the Apollo A7L, aside from the mighty Saturn V that carried it, is the biggest advancement in technology of the twentieth century. Its always been a dream to put one on and step of the ladder of a LEM.
Popularity: unranked [?]
After a couple of request for a detailed record of my trials and tribulations while building an Apollo A7l reproduction from the ground up. I was convinced to start this blog.
I hope to maintain a reasonable amount of construction info here. As well as cover my mistakes, and how I overcome them. (assuming I do…)
This first entry will be brief as I collect my thoughts and take some pictures of what I have so far.
My latest suit promises to be the most detailed yet, and I am trying some new construction methods. Starting with the base structure. I hope to build a three part suit mimicking the original, where as the ITMG will be covering a pressure garment shaped base structure. With a liner inside.
The biggest issues with the last suit seemed to be maintaining the proper shape while keeping the detail high. The monolithic construction was the cause many problems, that this time I hope to avoid.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Recent Comments