building a LAN-party gentex kit: question to oxygen mask airflow and visor colours

[slamtofakie]

hi everybody,

i´m just taking considerations to construkt a kit consisting of a flight helmet ( gentex, army surplus, from ebay, helo or jet, dunno yet ) and maybe also a suitable oxygen mask to be worn by my younger brothers on network parties, while playing half-life, counterstrike, unreal tournament or other dumb waste of time.

i think it would be quite a good idea to try this out, i haven´t seen
a things like this before. guess that would look awesome.
:cool:

well, the helmet is not the problem, i´d either get an

sph-4 (helo),

or, to make things more complicated and to maximize the style factor and functionality a

HGU-56 (jet) or something like that

probably buy an additional visor, i´ll have to try out which one works best in the before mentioned environment
(LAN-party, to speak broadly:a dark room and a flickering screen).

well, i have three questions to you guys:

* to how much extent does a standardized dark gentex visor
endarken the vision ? alot or not that much ? do you think
one could use the dark visor in case the screen brightness is
set to an accordingly high level ?

* in what conditions does one use yellow and green visors.?
i´d use the clear in foggy or darker conditions and the
darker lenses in brighter / sunshine conditions.
that´s clear.
but the yellow or green ones ? the yellow goggles seem to
amplify the contrast of the image (i´ve read ), but what is that
good for , ecactly ? as to the green glasses, i got no idea....


* how powerful is the fan that propelles the air/oxygen through your air hose--> through your inlwet valve--> and finally into your mask --> mouth/nose ?

i thought of a standardised computer fan (which is used to exhaust the air from the computer chassis , 80*80mm large, 12 V, 3-pin plug, 4,2 Watts ), but i just gave it a little try and the breathing system seems to be heavily underpowered.
i guess i need a bigger fan, but don´t know wether a bigger pc-fan will be sufficing, or if i´ll have to construct something different, with a really big fan, as used on desks for example.

if anybody´d have any answers on stock to the visor and the fan question, i´d be very glad

have a great day,

Markus

[seafuryfan]

You've made my day Markus - if ever there was a post to bring a smile to my face, this is it

Good luck in your helmet-wearing-during-computer-touranment enquiries!!! (ROFL) :D

Jet jockeys - get on the case!

[Yeller_Gait]

Markus,

Can I suggest that you stick with your small computer fan that you have tried,

1 it will save you money
2 a little asphyxiation might just add that little bit extra "je ne sais quoi" to your enjoyment while you (sorry, your brothers) play your games
3 have you thought of trying to procure an AR5 outfit, that may well suit your requirements

[Secret Squire]

yeah, just imagine how 'cool' you (sorry brothers) would look wearing this particular garment...must be great fun to sit infront of a computer wearing one! :oh:

http://www.martaviation.com/NBC%20Hood.htm

:bored:

[L J R]

I obviously led a sheltered childhood, 'caus I'm missing something here!

.

[Miserable Old Git]

????

I am dumbstruck, struck dumb. I had no idea things had got so bad in the real world.

Think I might stay in the RAF after all

MOG

[DaveyBoy]

Just for you, we tried it...

http://www.davehiggins.org.uk/cgi-perl/display.pl?user=dave&num=4184&shrink=2

...and can report that the screen was perfectly visible through the visor in a dark room.

Afraid that the force of the Oxy / Airmix supply is generally down to the pressure difference between the cylinder and the cabin, and the regulator supplies a different overpressure at different altitudes, so you couldn't really recreate it accurately. To be honest I'd say that, er, keeping your body supplied with oxygen is possibly more important than trying to recreate the aircraft in that much detail ;-)

Alternatively, you could use the money to pay for some flying lessons instead... ;-)

Dave

[slamtofakie]

@ seafuryfan: thanx

@ gait: yeah, but bad respiration means bad concentration means bad reactivity

@ squire : reminds me of darth vader this thing...
or of the chemical emergency alarm training we used to have while i served with the german paratroopers...
bad idea, jogging in full battle gear with this thing on your face.....
bad idea... my friends all unscrewed their filters a little bit to get more oxygen into their nicotine-covered lungs :)

@ L R J : i had a great childhood, despite the little downs and my many (9) brothers and sisters.
i´m not a war pig, i´m a decent guy. but i think this´d be a great thing to try out...... people are spending big bucks to wear a silly stormtrooper, luke skywalker, darth vader or whatknowI- outfit at their LAN-parties. so why not trying a sph-4 or a modified HGU with a breathing system ? :)

@ miserable old git: have a nice time in the RAF. as before mentioned, i´m not a war lusty blistered guy swallowing every article about the gulf warz 2 thing f.ex.
i am just used to givin things a try before i turn em down.....

@ davey boy: many thanks for the information on the dark visor thing. this will make things less costly for most single visor helmets are provided with a dark lens.
as to your explanations about the airflow system, i have to say that i don´t wanna reproduce the existing system with a steel bottle of oxygen and all this stuff, or writing half an examination on oxygen pressure balance issues, i just wanna connect this hose to a fan, and that´s it.... :)
i don´t care if it´s a good copy, it just has to work and look stunning... :)


if i´ll manage to build this thang, there will be pics, I promise :)
may take some time

cheers to everybody

M

[solotk]

Slam

I had to wear the entire rig, Suit, boots, Lifejacket,G-Pants Helmet, mask , gloves at the Koln Messe to demonstrate a flight sim some years ago.

Chuck Yeagers air combat I think it was. Entire rig came from Flying Equipment stores at RAF Gutersloh as then was. No problems with the visors, had the mask and hose on as well, Enough oxygen getting through the hose, but wouldn't like to be wearing it for any legth of time without a pressure feed. Mind you, when it got intense, you sweat, and the temperature in the messe didn't help much either.

Did a similar thing at the first Schonefeld airshow, that was a bit more difficult, as I had got outside an entire yellow handbag the night before, and felt very pukey and alles uber der platz :bored:

Ahhhhhhh Die Koenig unter den bieren

Errrrrrr hope that helps.....

[slamtofakie]

as to the helmet:

i just shot this one on american ebay....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&category=26440&item=2420857803

seems to be not that bad of a deal....
but i hope there aren´t much more scratches on the backside....
but will serve me well....

i guess i´ll better forget about the oxygen mask thing, at least temporarily.....

@solotk: hi :)

i even heard about this game some years before....
jip, those were the days i was young enough to sit in front of the screen and to blast away :rolleyes:

do rebels from secret rebelairbase really ever get sick or drunk :)

watch out

cheers

M

[Huron Topp]

I do know that you can suck a few ales up your oxy tube no problem, although the ALSE guys aren't too impressed with that trick.

[slamtofakie]

brits and beer.....

always the sam ole story ;)

but i have made very bad experience concerning the military and
drinking games.....

should i tell you what these fxxxxxers forced to swallow us after our basic military training ? the last day we had blank shoulders, before we got our first stripe ( gefreiter) ?

they made a soup of EVERYTHING possible and impossible they could get hold of in the kitchen, mixed it, and called it "fitness drink"....

i still hear em say "guys, it´s all just food, just food".....

of course it was all just food, but give you that mixture....

i was the only one not to puke out of 10 guys, we had to swallow two rim-filled cups each one (that´s what i call a real rim-job... :E )


you can try this at home, but don´t tell me i didn´t warn you afore:

- beer
- coke
-water
-milk
-apple juice
- orange juice
- mustard
- ketchup
- disgusting fish ( about twenty hunks of about one inch in diameter each, wobbling around in mucous broth...) :yuk:
- honey
- confiture
- bubblegum
- bread ( also hunks, )
- farina

i tell you, that was really nasty......

M

[Huron Topp]

errmmm, ahem...Iwas being facetious.

[Floppy Link]

what's a LAN party ?
:confused:

[Fg Off Max Stout]

Absolutely speechless. I thought some spotters showed undue dedication but this takes it to a new dimension. Incredible.

[Runaway Gun]

seems to be not that bad of a deal....
but i hope there aren´t much more scratches on the backside....
but will serve me well....


Errrmm, yeah, you gotta watch for those scratches on the backside......
:ooh:

[Runaway Gun]

I also highly recommend adding a second fan in parallel to the first (as a pre-accelerator) which could be useful for supplying sufficient airflow to your G-suit. Although this may overload your computer, it could be a bonus, giving a realistic "smoke and fumes in the cockpit" emergency scenario. Best then to relocate the computer next to your window. Keep your window open, regardless of the loss of pressurisation that this will result in. But be aware that flying during big thunderstorms, your monitor may get wet, and you also risk the chance of lightning strike. Turn the Brightness control way, way up, and make sure your CPU is earthed. I don't know if leather flying gloves will stop your fingers being fused to your joystick (cow's get fried when hit by lighning don't they?) so consider the use of some rubber gloves. Also be aware of the risk of birdstrike, so keep both of your helmet visors down. Last but not least - don't drink and fly. :ok:

[FFP]

I detect a hint of sarcasm in your post Runaway. Remember that whilst playful banter is always welcome to ridicule and belittle LAN party gentex kit is to step out on dodgy ground . .. . . . . .:p

I`ve found that the best way to re create those first ACM sorties is to record a tape of "Pull Harder ! Watch the Hard Deck ! Shoot him you poof ! Go now ! Go now ! Too late . . .. " and play it continously through your modified Mk10. Aahh the memories . . .

[Runaway Gun]

You don't have to record a tape, I have heaps of old HUD tapes full of such comments and more;

Lead, lead, lead, c'mon no, lag, lag get out of plane, roll, maintain SA, watch the G watch it now pull to the buffet, harder, Oh god, jink jink, where's ya flares, he's in the sun, Two's blind errr..., no visual, tally one oops airliner....blind... ummm BALLISTIC !! Pull up, pull up. Oops, what's the flaps limiting speed? Knock it off....

Sounds like a porno, especially with the grunting, sweating and heavy breathing. Now there's an idea for realism..... :D

[FFP]

Sounds familiar Runaway . . ..

Northern or Southern Hemis ?!?!?! ;)

[Dan Winterland]

During a party a mate's wife mentioned (while she was very drunk) that the funniest thing she'd seen in a long time was her hubby wearing g pants - and nothing else! I'm not quite sure why he was just wearing g pants, but I don't think he was about to play Microsoft Flight Sim 2002;)

[BEagle]

A mate's wife. Hmm - of course it was, eh Dan? Oooh yes....

I once heard that some F4 driver had been seen carting his AR5 off to his car. "Taking it home to show the wife what we have to put up with during TACEVALs, eh?" he was asked. "Err, no. She...errr, rather likes me to wear it in the bedroom", he replied!

[Stuff]

how powerful is the fan that propelles the air/oxygen through your air hose--> through your inlwet valve--> and finally into your mask --> mouth/nose ?

If all you are looking to do is breathe through the mask just disconnect the hose and leave it dangling. That's what you have to do in the Tucano sim because it doesn't have an oxy system unlike the aircraft and it works fine

[Mal Drop]

Allow me to help as I have some experience in these matters garnered during those hot summer days in the Sudan…

For the sake of nothing more than a certain element of style that will certainly impress the ladies at such a soirée as you describe, dispense with the banality of the gentex visor and opt for a cashmere scarf draped casually around the collar that could be rearranged in a trice to shield the eyes from anything unseemly. Alternatively, you could face in another direction…

I have never much cared for the gewgaws of green or yellow visors, preferring to have a transparent reservoir filled with Chartreuse of the appropriate hue and secured to the forehead, when filtration is no longer required, a swift suck on a well placed straw will return your vision to normality (for about 15 minutes as I recall).

The power of the fan you seek is 7 (although in the good old days it used to be just a gnat’s short of 9, damn that EU and it’s namby-pamby ways). I have found that the air-cooling system from a 1967 VW microbus, such as one might find abandoned about 46 miles west of Marrakesh on the old camel trail toward the garden of unearthly delight that is the coastal settlement of Essaouira, does the trick quite well. Simply pass the exhaust through a couple of hookahs (nasty business when I first misheard those instructions, I still wake up sweating) and you will have enough breathable air to blow a gerbil clean off a ping-pong table. Worth doing just for the look on the little blighter’s face!

Anyway, good luck old fellow, I honestly have no idea what you’re going on about but you seem a decent sort, couldn’t lend us a fiver ‘till the weekend, only gone and logged on without me wallet see and it’s hellish hot, could just do with a swift one to banish a couple of demons, go on…

[Dan Winterland]

BEags, wasn't Mrs Winterland - honest! She much prefered the leg restraints ;)

I'm just wondering what my mate did with the hose loose end? :uhoh:

[BEagle]

Hopefully nothing involving gerbils and a lighted match?

On our Vulcan crew was a pratt who would always wander about with his Air Ventilated Suit hose dangling around like a horse's willy. So one day he was pinned down in thw scruffs' bar and someone poured a pint of beer down the hose - it came out of every suit orifice!

Errr - what did Mrs W do with the leg-stranglers then, eh Dan??

[StopStart]

I'd just like to take a moment to congratulate Mr M Drop on a fine piece of Pprunery. Made I titter somewhat.

Chartreuse and microbus though? Strangely reminiscent of the lyrics of C W McCall's much undermaligned "Convoy".....

Are they related? I think we should be told....

:E

[Tourist]

Mal Drop
Do I know you?
From very northern climes?

[moggie]

LAN = Computer parlance for "Local Area Network".

I assume that this means that we are talking about networked PC games where you play against live opposition (rather than the PC which Microsoft have programmed to have 20:20 hindsight and a superior aeroplane to yours!).

Sorry to allow a slightly serious note to slip into the thread.

It does remind me of a mate of mine at primary school who had somehow got hold of an old USAF flying helmet and mask (sort Sabre vintage type thing) and he used to connect the oxygen mask hose to an old washing up liquid bottle as his "oxygen tank".

Now, your average Fairy liquid bottle does not contain a great deal of oxygen and maybe the lack of said O2 accounted for some of his strange behaviour. I wonder if Mickey Dawson was ever aware of how much of his formative years were spent suffering from the effects of Hypoxia?

[Runaway Gun]

Oh my god Moggie,

Your brilliance at bringing me right down to rock bottom with the inclusion of such a serious thread, before surprising me with such a witty account of using a Fairy washing up bottle as an oxygen container is much appreciated. I have never before laughed so hard that I myself have suffered euphoria, tingly fingers, farting and difficulty speaking (some of my personal hypoxia favourites). Thanks for brightening up my day! :p

Tell me, is your mate Mickey still alive (and has he regained his colour)?

[WE Branch Fanatic]

Even though he is suffering the long term after effects of Hypoxiaa, he is renowned for his very soft hands. :D

I just had to say it!

[moggie]

When last I heard Mickey was alive and (reasonably) well and driving a tractor on a farm.

As an aside, one of the original Fairy Liquid kids (Natalie Ogle) went to my school - at the same time I did. Now, I see a common thread emerging...............

On the "suds" theme, did you know Michael Jackson is a West Ham fan? He walks around Neverland singing "I'm forever blowing Bubbles............"

[Huron Topp]

Apparently Mr. Fakie didn't like the answers here, so has asked his latest question over at Rotorheads.:ok: Some Mother's kids, I tell ya...

[Pass-A-Frozo]

Reminds me of the time a guy walked out of our accomodation building wearing his G suit during a fire alarm.

When questioned as to what the :mad: he was doing , he explained he was ...

"practicing putting it on in his room"

:rolleyes:

[Runaway Gun]

Frozo and Co,

Did you by any chance get a picture of your buddies doing this?

When I was in Pearce in 1992 there was a photograph in the Safety Equipo section of two stunning girls suiting up for a Macchi flight. Of course at the time the handful of female pilots in the RAAF were relatively famous, and these two were definitely NOT in this group. I believe that they were models 'hired' by a student pilot to accompany him to his Graduation Ball. One of the girls was famous for delivering her 'sic em Rex' line to her pet anteater, whilst wearing her Holeproof Antz Pantz. Does anybody remember this? :ok:

http://www.holeproof.com.au/products/memorable_images/image/REX.jpg