Find more of Christine Knobel's work at instagram.com/thestarflower/ Adam's xEMU suit build: kzfaq.info/sun/PLJtitKU0CAejUJOkTX4TYXt4mVhFzqS5H Adam's first Mercury spacesuit: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/l7J_ibZmq9KVf40.html

ADAM! These suits aren't ruined, just modify them a little bit, insert a skeleton, and pass them off as the pilot pressure suits from the original "Andromeda Strain"! You wouldn't even have to put the hard parts back on, at least not the rubber bits, because the 'space critter' ate them.

25:10 Fun optical illusion of Adam standing on a little table.

I love that any time anyone brings up G4's revival the reaction is always the same: "Welp!"

The weathering talk reminded me that while I was working on my ghostbusters jumpsuit, I had polished my jumpboots while mostly asleep and did not notice I had left a lot of big gobs of polish on them. When I put the outfit on to see how things worked so far, the polish ended up getting onto the legs and staining it. I tried to clean it out, but it ended up smearing since I didn't know what to do. It ended up getting worse, and worse. By the time I was done, I sat back and realized that it ABSOLUTELY looked better with the smears since they had happened so organically. They literally looked like some rookie had gotten polish on their suit and then panicked trying to clean it off before they got into trouble.

When you asked what tea you were using my mind immediately went in Captain Picard's voice "Tea, Earl Gray, Hot!"

Does anyone else find the following rather soothing; the sound of Adam stomping across that apparently hollow shop floor, it just feels comfortable like an old piece of well-worn in clothing that just fits right every time you pick it up and put it on....

Adam is the Bob Ross of weathering. I want more of this exact kind of thing. 30+ seasons of "the joy of weathering"

How divisive is wanting things weathered. I love the brand new look.

Yup. Figured this would eventually happen when Adam first showed this suit ages ago. I saw the vinyl and thought... "Man, Adam is going to be heartbroken about this one day." My mom used to moonlight as a clothes designer when she went to her second Uni. And she had a few pieces that were still left in her collection. Back in... 1999~2001 ish, she fought with the same thing. The vinyl let go. She was so upset over it too. Luckily, i knew a really good leather shop who dyed some leather with the same weight apparent and did the swap work.

I love how, no matter where you set up a workspace, in every shot there is a wash of items in the background that can evoke a myriad of memories and stories!

Adam's narration while he was brushing tea onto the suit really made me think of Bob Ross, in the best way possible

Does anyone else watch Adam weather things with a paint brush and go "this is like watching Bob Ross doing a cosplay costume. Except Adam is hoping for happy accidents." ? Lol. Keep on Bob Rossing Adam!

The Kansas cosmosphere has an amazing display of the progression of all the space suits from Mercury on.

Spectacle has always been hand in hand with science. NASA's budget has often reflected popular interest in what's going on. When the shuttle launches became mundane in popular culture, the budgets were shrinking. Sometimes it takes movies to get people interested again.

...and I do grin a little every time I talk into my smart watch to give it a voice command or take a phone call because I saw the Dick Tracy remake in 1990 when I was a kid. There _is_ a virtuous cycle between culture and science.

Love to see a photo showing the eye chart in the capsule.

Adam When the first Canadians arrived in Afghanistan during te war we were famously ill equipped for the environment. The troops were wearing green CADPAT uniforms but that was workable. The worst part was the fact that they all had a bright white Tilly hat for head wear. The Regimental Sargent Major took one look at the hats and decided that the troops were all walking around with a bright white target on their heads. Before going out on their first patrol he told the cook to get out his biggest pot… a cauldron really. He told him to boil up the biggest nastiest pot of coffee ever created. They boiled the hats for a few hours in the coffee. The result was nicely camouflaged hats with the pleasant odour of coffee. Your tea trick is the genteel version of our combat proven coffee.

Actually.. Now youve got a dystopian space suit with vibes of desolation and struggle... You cant make aging like that look natural.. it just is... I for one dig the rotted aged look...

Had the same happen to a replica WW2 sheepskin bomber jacket and overtime the leather look layer just exfoliated itself.

Pleathers do the same thing ... I bought a nice bed a few years back, which was advertised as "real leather" headboard, it now looks just like your suit :)

6:59 That whole point he's making, ending with, "There's always been a virtuous circle between culture and science," articulates something I find myself saying a lot. It's just that he said it much more eloquently. Every time I see a reveal of some new high tech car, a new humanoid robot, a breakthrough medical advancement, or some other new thing that might have seemed impossible just 10 years ago, I always share it on my social media. Those posts always come with some wording from me about how we are truly living in the science fiction world that we've always imagined we would live in. Science fiction is becoming science fact. I have seen people who work in the field of robotics criticize Tesla's robot Optimus, the Boston Dynamics' robot Atlas, and their new one they just revealed, Atlas 2. They'll say something like, "A humanoid robot is not practical. The most efficient robot is one that is specialized for a specific task. Why are they building a humanoid robot?" And they're right. Most robots doing work today are very specialized like the robotic arms that assemble cars. They do one thing very well and they aren't humanoid. But my response to their question of why build a humanoid robot is always, "Have you seen The Phantom Menace or Star Trek The Next Generation?" Humanoid robots are just what we _want_ to build. Nobody cares if it's the most efficient way to make a robot. Efficient robots will and do exist. But the cultural consciousness has been expecting a humanoid robot to exist for a hundred years. Now that we have the technology, engineering, and material science prowess to do it, we're gonna do it. All of that is a long winded way of saying, "There's always been a virtuous circle between culture and science."

Is the new suit upgraded fabric that will last longer?

Looks pretty nice, some differences from what I remember of the spare suit we had in the building I worked in at WPAFB, I think they finally moved it to the museum about a year after I left. I was always amazed at how small it was, always thought the astronauts were all taller.

Your 'ruined' Mercury suits could be just weathered from a stranded Adam Astronaut in a cool 1970s Sci-Fi movie! :D

Adam's love of things is so fun to experience

Spectacular color match on that dye. Now I kinda want a space suit. but I'm in a tiny apartment *sigh*

Nice edit. I've rarely seen editing used as the joke, you did an excellent job!

I was so glad to hear that dressing a mannequin is a PITA to everybody!! I have a couple different costumes I keep on mannequins and I always dread taking them off to wear them and even more so, dread putting them back on the mannequin when I'm done!

Wow what a fantastic video , the suit is brilliant , so so well done Adam .

Adam, do you get to see the UK Repair Shop restoration program at all? The bear ladies, who repair Teddy Bears and Dolls, have a mix of tea chart specially for dying new bear fur to match in with older aged furs… I also think you would love Steve the watchmaker, and Dom the metal worker. (Who has his own you tube channel and book on tools).

a few years, I remember you starting The Martian, Ares III, Watney space suit and then never posted an update to it.

Live in North Tarrytown, now Sleepy Hollow in mid '70's. Love your videos!!!!

I may be worthwhile to your viewers to note that the tannins in tea react with sunlight.If you weather something with tea (such as book pages) , and then take it out in the sun, it will darken significantly.

Will Adam do a look at or a build of the suits from "For All Mankind"?

I wish my craving and excitement for knowledge and creating could be rewarded enough I might have a life a fraction of Adam’s

Thats a nice zipper, I own a vintage m65 field jacket and the solid brass teeth are very satisfying to use. Thankfully nylon doesnt age like vinyl does otherwise I couldnt appreciate this thing over 50 years after it was made.

I love how every time Adam goes off screen to grab something, you just hear a bunch of loud clanging noises, and then he comes back into frame with a friggin space suit lol. this man is a real life cartoon and it’s great

Being reminded again of G4 going down the tubes for a second time.

When Adam is in the zone, he attacks - yes, best word - attacks the piece with all the delicate physical subtlety and finesse of a heavy metal roadie rushing in to replace a bad patch cable. Jackson Pollock would be proud. 🤣🤣🤣

I wonder how Movies make workshops look legitimate. I imagine someday someone will have to make Adams shop for a show, and they will have to weather and wear everything to make it look like it's real. A true paradox will be born that day. XD

We are not deservig of adam, honestly how did we end up with a tv star thats an actual down to earth person that shows us all the amazing things we would struggle to find elsewhere. You inspire me every video I watch. I dont know how many of these comments adam actually reads but if you read mine, I'd like you to know youve made a big difference in my life and I cant thank you enough

The Right Stuff is my fav telling of the space race - not sure about the historical accuracy but it still holds up as a good movie! Got a stick of Beeman’s? ✈️

Variegation, thanks man. That's a good word! and as always I was entertained

just pausing at 13 mins in to comment as I had a thought. but one of the magic things I've seen with quite a few of these types of "weathered" items. you saying how you will never get every spot weathered. I think adds to the realism. the amount of times I've seen real antique objects pulled from sheds and such with spots on them that look completely untouched by time while the rest of it looks like it's been... well. stored in a regular shed. is kinda crazy. that's just a thing that happens and it makes the whole picture feel more real to me.

If you’re interested in amazing suits to build, the Captain Power series (it was better than the name implies) from the 80’s had amazing suits of armor, and was the first TV show to have actors interact with cgi characters.

Much of the NASA space suits were made at ILC in Dover, Delaware.

Seeing you and Kevin in the suits for the G4 relaunch was really awesome. Kevin is crazy talented and naturally funny in a special way wish G4 could have come back the way it was. I guess we have to let some things go.

I love the knowledge that Adam is agnostic about black tea. Somehow this just tickles me (13:19 to 13:26)

Exactly the same thing happened to a film changing tent I had. Very, very similar outcome. Also happened to a silver bounce panel. Disappointing and costly to replace!

Was recently looking for a blanket to have in my car that I can pull out and throw on the grass for the 1yr old to hang out idk why I never thought about a bedroll, just bought the v2 glad I caught that last 30 seconds of video, can’t wait to try it out

I'm sure Adam takes it into account but didn't mention it. Extra aging should be applied around touch points. Even if your hands are clean, oils are transferred to the fabric. The oils yellows and attracts dirt.

Great music slice... Weathering IS Jazz

Love ya, man. Keep rockin on

Ever time Adam shows or talks about his spacesuits I think of the Robert A Heinlein story "Have Spacesuit Will Travel."

I used to have a leather bomber jacket. That jacket lasted me over 12 years, and had a lot of character by the end. There was axle grease on one side, chicken grease on the other, plus my own hair oil on the collar. Plus a couple of small rips and tears that happened over those 12 years. Broke my heart when i had to retire that jacket. It eventually just was in too bad a shape to continue to wear. And repairing a leather coat is more expensive than buying a new one. Which is sad, but it is what it is.

Well said as always Adam. Great info

2 questions, what was the original OG mercury suit material, and what was the fabric you all settled on as a replacement that is going to hold up instead of sluffing off like the last replica?

Same thing happened with my self-made BSG Viper flightsuit. Unfortunately, like you said, t’is just a thing with vinyls.

I've seen certain brands of model AFV kits that do the same thing; whatever that stuff is, it doesn't need to be hit with much UV light to deteriorate; the plasticiser can come off the core polymer leaving it brittle and crackly and greasy, and worse, is also a solvent for polystyrene, so it will damage the plastic parts. This has been known to happen to brand new kits in the box.

just came from the lav mic video, and how you say its more meaningful to connect with the audience via the onboard mic on the iPhone. I can assure you that you are 10000% correct Adam! when you lean into the cam, it does make a world of difference to me feeling like im really there!

That's an example of a new favorite term I learned: inherent vice!

Whenever the talk turns to vintage NASA patches my stomach rolls. As a child in the mid to late sixties I would visit my uncle in Holyoke MA who owned what I think was called Interall. They made patches for NASA and they always had overruns for quality control. I would be allowed to pick a few patches to take home. My dad had a plastic ice bucket with an Apollo 8 mission patch on it. etc... literally dozens of "real" NASA patches passed through our hands and later into obscurity..

So sorry. You two have been a big part of my evenings. Peaceful videos. Thank you.

Love the suit builds it’s a shame regarding the deterioration of the suit does weathering effect the properties of the suit as your using tea which is a biodegradable liquid?..

Thank you Adam. I don't recall if I have recommended a remarkable upload on KZfaq for the spacesuit enthusiast. 'The Spacewalker' - (Time of the First Ones/ Age of Pioneers). Uploaded by Ayush Cinemaxstudio, an account of Alexi Leonov's career, directed by Dmitriy Kiseler et al (2017). Wikipedia is useful for the background story. Unfortunately it was incorrectly titled as 'The Martian Full Movie In HD Quality'. But if you haven't seen it - it is one of the most epic recreation films made on the international circuit. It is so well directed it doesn't need subtitles, and there is no glorification of smoking - except the amazing reentry sequence. -Andrew Mackenna, Christchurch, New Zealand

Great video sir

First off.. The Master Stemstress Christine Knobel! I bow to you! Must pay Homage to the Master Stemstress! Also, Adam? I'm surprised you don't have like a Tub for cattle. Those Metal Tin Tubs from Tractor Supply?

"50 shades of grime - guidebook to weathering" by A. Savage :D

How often do you move the buckles and D-rings, to vary the wear and color on the straps?

no weathering beats the real thing, so if the thing im working with can take it i just put it in the most inconvinient spots while im working on other stuff, so when im handling and pushing or kicking it around to get it out of they way it weathers itself to perfection.

I can't think of the Mercury suit without thinking of the photo of the Mercury 7 - with two of the astronauts wearing regular work boots painted silver. They didn't even move those two to the back row to cover it up. Of course, anyone who has researched it knows the Mercury astronauts never wore their flight-ready suits until launch day, to ensure they were not damaged.

I saw a model of the mother ship from Close Encounters at the Smithsonian years ago. I wondered why, but was grateful to be able to see it. I guess I reasoned that SciFi was a driver of science, and so the two are connected. Great Easter egg on that ship... a miniature C-3P0 and R2D2 were attached to the outer rim top side! SciFi congratulating itself!

Many plastics and rubber compounds are susceptible to oxidation disintegration from our normal atmosphere. Think in terms of a rubber band in a desk drawer that is not subjected to any light. The "dry rot" will inevitably appear as cracks as well as brittle. You need an oxygen free enclosure to reduce/prevent this decomposition. I would be more than honored to advise you of this technology privately if you wish.

such a fun and informative video. love the suit and the history behind it, you truly know how to tell a story. but, please tell us what material you used to replace the vinyl? I am super curious and thank you for all you do :).

If you regularly find yourself with high-quality replica clothes/wearable gear, I think it would be a groovy idea to have a patch that says "REPLICA" in large letters with the "Savage Industries" logo under it that you can have sewn on the inside of the jacket/pants/etc like a secondary clothing brand or something. That way, it will also survive trips to the laundry. :)

I feel you, the same thing happened to my Action Man (GI Joe in the US) Mercury space suit from the 80s.

Adam that looks great, thanks for the tip. Also What ever happen with the Martian Space suit?

I think you should keep your old mercury suits, make a lost astronaut cosplay with them. They already have a vib going with the vinyl peeling.

A spaceship is only fictional until it's built.

the deteriorated suits will be great for props

I get that the weathering is done to make it look how a suit that was fabricated in the sixties would look today, but it is not an origiinal suit, and he would have to reveal that fact to anyone he shows it to. So why not leave it as new? I think it looked magnificent just the w a y he received it from the maker.

Oh, no! I dropped everything to watch this video as soon as I found it!!!

What I’d more interested to find out is exactly what the suits looked like when they came back. The Mercury guys were never in space for very long during that mission set and they really didn’t do anything that could get their suits that dirty. The Apollo missions were a different story with the exception that they removed their flight suits while in space. I can see the Lunar suits getting dirty, simply because they were on the surface of the moon.

I'm gutted Adam didn't try it on, and then cruise the Mission on the one-wheel.

I'm with Adam in that the fabric likelly was not actually vinyl. The problem with vinyl is often to actually GET it to degrade away from UV light. No idea what kind of plastic it could be.

In some historical shots of Alan wearing his suit there is some type of over layer on the shoulders. Any ideas what they would be for?

My complaint about the Smithsonian collecting an x-wing from the force awakens would be why would they collect non-cannon works

Whatever happened to the The Martian suit he was planning. He did a video years back where he got to examine the screen used one and get reference pictures and measurements and the likes. Then after that I've never seen anything on it since...

Oh well I guess we can add the several *that's another build* references to the gargantuan list we've accumulated of builds that never materialise. One day.

I love anything to do with the Mercury program. John Glenn spoke at my graduation from high school in 1983 and both Alan Shepard and Charles Duke (Apollo 16) are alumni.

In my experience coffee has worked better for aging fabric. The oils in it adhere to the fibers better I I think. Also, allowing the grounds to sit on the fabric will create create deeper areas of color so it's not too even.

The Enterprise space shuttle did fly (well, glided.) It was used for landing tests. It just never went into orbit.

speaking of space suits did you ever finish the collaboration with frank on the matt damon martian movie space suit

Cool peice of kit👍👍

This makes me feel better about the vynil leather jacket I completely neglected peeling away.

Same thing happened to some old GI joes I had. B-17 crewman’s “leather” jacket fell apart like that.

Hello Mr Savage, hey do you use dry transfer decals?

Will the new suit deteriorate like the old ones or has the fabric improved?

Thank you for the Bob Ross tutorial. 🎨