I am looking for an office chair that has been made or converted from
an actual Ejection Seat. I recall seeing such an item several years
ago on one of those "Toys for Boys" websites but I can no longer find
it. It must be well made and totally transformed so that its suitable
for day to day usage, and it must "look the part" - still retaining
the image of an ejection seat with loads of nice colored handles and
stuff like that! I am looking for something of quality and so my
budget is up to $2,500.00 for the seat including shipping to the UK, I
am not interested in anything amateurish - it must be a quality
product.
If you answer PLEASE supply me with direct URL to where I can see one
for sale, rather than giving me a list of generic URLs "that I can
try". For someone with excellent search abilities I would have
thgought it an easy thing to find IF it is available anywhere. I've
spent hours in Google but havent been able to find such an item, but I
am not a pro! |
Request for Question Clarification by
huntsman-ga
on
17 Jul 2002 19:52 PDT
draco,
An executive chair like this would give a whole new meaning to the
phrase "I'm sorry, but Mr. Draco is out of the office."
You mention that you saw this ejection seat office chair on a "Toys
for Boys" Web site a few years ago. If you will follow my trail for a
few moments, I may have found evidence of what you actually saw.
There is an older Web shopping mall site called "OptiMall":
OptiMall
http://www.optimall.org/
If you follow these links from OptiMall's home page:
Gifts & Flowers > Sovietski Collection > Equipment
you will see several pieces of "Sovietski Collection" equipment which
definitely looks like big boy stuff. Among these items is a photo and
description of an old American T-33 ejection seat. Use the following
link to jump right to the seat's page on OptiMall:
Sovietski's T-33 Ejection Seat (with image)
http://www.iversonsoftware.com/gifts-flowers/collectibles/cj/sovietski-collection/equipment.htm
Underneath the seat's description is a "More Info/Find Others" button.
If you click this button, it takes you directly to a "This product may
have been discontinued" notice on the Sovietski Collection's current
online catalog:
Sovietski Collection
http://secure.sovietski.com/cgi-bin/Sovietski.storefront/EN/Product/200662?AID=5521716&PID=1045297
The ejection seat is discontinued and is no longer available at
Sovietski, although it seems clear that it was available in the past.
Now, if you go to the current Sovietski Collection home page and look
at their offerings, I think you will agree that they qualify as a
"Toys for Boys" Web site:
Sovietski Collection
http://secure.sovietski.com/cgi-bin/Sovietski.storefront
Putting all this together, might it be possible that you saw the
ejection seat in the Sovietski Collection a few years ago, and
remembered as an office chair?
From a retail standpoint, there is one problem with trying to sell a
ready-made ejection seat chair. The low-slung, wide-framed design of
aircraft ejection seats makes it difficult for them to be converted
into seating that looks (or works) anything like a standard
post-mounted office chair on casters.
Another problem is that used ejection seats are difficult (although
not impossible) to find. Since these get hard use, old ones may be
scrapped, or may be so worn out that it takes considerable time and
money to refurbish them.
Lastly, there's just not a big market for custom chairs like this.
New ejection seats, being military equipment, simply aren't available
to the general public. Even if they were, they would probably cost
more than most people's homes.
I too have searched extensively, but have not yet been able to find a
ready-made ejection seat chair. However, if you are willing to
consider some other alternatives, I will post what I have found as an
Answer, but only if you agree.
Otherwise, other researchers may want to try their hand at this.
Sincerely,
huntsman
|
Clarification of Question by
draco-ga
on
18 Jul 2002 04:06 PDT
Hello Huntsman
Thanks for your researches.
The seat I originally saw was not the Sovietski one, despite it being
several years ago and my memory not what it was (at my age I have
trouble remembering the day of the week) I do have a very clear
picture in my mind of the one I originally saw. I think it was from a
B52 Bomber and it had been fully converted to use for the office, with
all the facilities, upholstery, swivel, castors etc that one finds on
any good chair. I also seem to recall that it was done in a red
fabric, and was not a one-off but a small product line. The site I saw
it on specialised in "up-market" stuff for men, what I would call
"Toys for Boys" but much cooler and better quality stuff than the
usual novelty items. So, to respond to that aspect of your request for
clarification, the original seat I saw was fully converted.
The next aspect is alternatives, and the two obvious ones to me are
either to create such an office chair myself from an ejection seat or
to buy a chair that has some of the coolness but is not formed from an
actual ejection seat. I have found numerous ejection seats for sale
ranging from scrap to new condition that I could modify into an office
chair but there are two main problems with that approach - firstly
cost, a good condition seat with the handles intact etc will run about
$2000 in the current market, plus shipping to the UK, plus conversion,
ultimately this would result in a prohibitively expensive seat and
also I have no guarantee of what it will actually turn out like. The
second problem is timing, this project would take months and I have a
need to obtain a seat much quicker than that.
So the other alternative is a possible solution - a cool looking seat
thaat has nothing to do with ejection seats. There are some nice seats
out there such as the Aeron chair and that would be a fast and easy
solution for me, but somehow it just isnt what I am seeking. But if
you have found something you think suitable then by all means suggest
it.
I've spoken with a couple of flight enthusiast friends, and they
instantly knew what I was talking about with the converted ejection
seats, in fact they seem quite common-place to enthusiasts, yet they
were unable to actually find one!
I just know there is one out there for me, maybe not from a dealer,
maybe its a one-off built by an enthusiast (there is one URL that pops
up in searches of a seat converted by a guy from a B52 ejection seat
but its not to my taste), but there just HAS to be something for me to
buy!
The search continues!
|
Request for Question Clarification by
huntsman-ga
on
19 Jul 2002 00:00 PDT
draco,
Thanks for your extensive response.
It sounds like it's time to consult the experts.
Many of the things I was going to suggest have been brought up in the
comments below, and revolved mainly around the idea of a
custom-built-seat.
I have emailed a request for any information about an ejection seat
office chair to the following aviation gift shops, "toys for boys"
stores, ejection seat manufacturers, enthusiasts, and seat suppliers
(including some of those noted in the comments):
http://www.aeroselect.com/
http://www.airsource1.com/
http://www.aviationgifts.com/
http://www.aviation-gifts.co.uk/
http://www.aviationnow.com/
http://www.avshop.com/
http://www.ejectionseat.com/
http://www.flightstore.co.uk/
http://www.fly-bluesky.com/
http://www.historicaviation.com/
http://www.itsrussian.com/
http://www.lcflight.com/
http://www.martin-baker.co.uk/
http://www.oregonaero.com/
http://www.paramountzone.com/
http://www.rpidesigns.com/
http://www.seatstar.com/
http://www.sharperimage.com/us/
http://showcase.netins.net/web/herker/ejection/eject.html
http://www.sovietski.com/
http://www.thespacestore.com/
http://www.weberair.com/
Hopefully someone knows about this elusive chair. I will let you know
if I receive any positive leads.
Thanks,
huntsman
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