I recently restored the 'rubber' arms on a Mattel Major Matt Mason Moon Suit kindly donated by Wotan Bill and blogged it.
I just had one final thing to add. The air pipe and pump seen here in this carded example on FigureRealm.Com [with perished arms]
The pumped air inflates Matt's hollow rubber moon arms so they can move around and do jobs.
I didn't want mine to work, just look complete for the cabinet with its air pump visible.
Making the arms had cost me nothing except an hour's time, so a little money could go on this unusual device. I started by sourcing a wine pipe on Ebay for 99p including postage.
Alas, it was too wide for the small hole provided in the suit ,so I then bought a gift bag for 10p in a Charity shop with thin and hollow plastic handles. Bingo!
Much harder was the pump itself. I searched for bellows online - wine supplies, aquarium supplies - and eventually found that painters use almost identical ones to puff powder paint onto paper. Who knew!
Looking so much like Mattel's original I had to go for for these. They come in packs of six. £4 including postage on FB! Most Mattel pumps are yellow but I have seen clear ones like this, so job done!
Here we go, with a total outlay of £5.09 on the pipe and pump, here's the Mattel Moon Suit Pak fully restored and ready for major operations once again [Matt couldn't be found so a stand-in obliged].
Hope you like it.
PS. I've only just realised that the protruding belt at the base pf the suit is for putting Matt's chromed tools in! How cool is that!
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For Looey.
Eureka! I filled it with yellow paint! 😀
The figures sneakers make it!
ReplyDeleteha ha, for zero-gravity basketball!
DeleteIve recently refitted a suit with new arms, which I was quite please with, but i think youve done a much more authentic job here! Brilliant! Lego Minifig tools are a good substitute, just need a quick splash of chrome pen. Bill
ReplyDeleteThat's very kind Bill but I bet your arms are excellent.
DeleteThat is soooo excellent Woodsy! Well done! I really do like the MMM series of toys, but have had to make a conscious decision just not to try and get any. There's no room at the inn :-)
ReplyDeleteMuch appreciated Ed!
DeleteThat is brilliant. I think I have seen those paint bellows in the shops, without knowing what they were for. I did find a short video on You Tube which shows how they are intended to be used. Your version is much better.
ReplyDeleteYes, they were a chance find Paul. The power of the internet bringing people and things together.
DeleteThx for nostalgia. I owned the damned thing and never knew about the tool belt!
ReplyDeleteHa ha! Neither did I Baron!
DeleteHmmm, the pump really needs to be yellow, but painting polythene is one of the nastiest challenges in the modelmaking book!
ReplyDeleteI use ESP spray to key the surface and auto upholstery spray vinyl paints, although they have a very limited range of colours. The somewhat expensive Graffitti spray acrylics have a great range, I even have the perfect lemon yellow for you. Sadly being on the other side of the planet means I can't just drop around to help you fix it!
I've cheated Looey. See the update!
Delete