"Things..." episode 019.

019: Make your own space helmet.

To paraphrase my friend Andrew, when you're making a space suit for a sci-fi movie, "the helmet is the trick."

If you're looking for materials for a "bubble-style" helmet, please allow me to save you a bit of time. Go to ComplexPlastics.com and place your order. Complex Plastics, Inc., manufactures clear acrylic spheres in a variety of sizes. For Interplanetary, we're using spheres with a 14" diameter, pre-cut with a 10" hole at the bottom.

I believe we paid around $95 per sphere. One caveat -- ordering from Complex ain't like ordering from Amazon -- expect a few weeks turnaround time from order 'til delivery.

One more helmet tip -- if you want it tinted, sunglasses-style, spray the inside of the sphere with a couple of cans of "clear transparent black" model paint. Our tinted helmet doesn't look super smooth on the inside (and it's not as easy to see through as a pair of Ray-Bans), but it looks pretty dang cool from the outside.