This is the most
recent construction to leave the Scaledown workshops. Built for the Sir
Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, it is a full size replica of Neil Armstrong's Apollo
11 Space suit. Built by Stephen Thrum and Greg Tuckwell over a period of 10
weeks, it is unlike most other suits in museums which are shown in pristine
condition. It has been placed on a simulated lunar surface and dirtied up to
give it "life". We finished it in time to celebrate the 37th
Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Mission.
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The suit was made from over 100
different panels of fibreglass cloth. Many hours of research went into the
creation of the many and varied labels that festoon the suit. Masters were made
for the valve inlets, cast in resin and then detailed up. A frame was made from
PVC piping, plywood, industrial extraction tubing and high density foam. A
mannequin was found to be unsuitable for the job.
Even the Hasselblad Apollo camera
was built for this job. Interestingly, we have discovered that the vast majority
of photo's from Apollo 11 that show an astronaut were taken using Neil's camera.
In other words, most photo's you see are of Buzz Aldrin! Now this display stands
proudly opposite my other space models in the foyer of the Planetarium,
including my 1/48 Saturn V.
Stephen
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