There are two variants of the mask “kit” that mirror the Ultratwin and Ultravue ancestry, the “Alpha” and “Beta” kit. The MSA Phalanx differs from its industrial counterparts in quite a few ways. There isn’t exactly much information on what happened to cause DEF TEC to get involved with MSA. Did MSA approach DEF TEC? Did DEF TEC see the product and make an offer to MSA? Whatever happened, one thing is clear. MSA began producing Phalanx’s with the DEF TEC logo stamped into the rubber at OEM time. DEF TEC would then turn around, and sell these gas masks to police stations. Slowly but surely, the Phalanx would make a stealthy entry into American police stations. While it never became the symbol of anonymous riot suppression that the Millennium would grow up to be, it still found itself embedded into the American unconscious, appearing on screen in movies such as Terminator 2. Note how the cheek pockets have been enlarged, with mounting points added for filters on the Ultratwin (left).Ī late production MSA Phalanx (left), MSA produced riot filter (bottom right), and a Nos Exa Group produced filter adapter (top right). From this, the MSA Ultratwin was born alongside an updated MSA Ultravue. Thus a new design was created that fit all of the specifications, as well as create a new mask. I personally suspect that at some point in the late 80’s or early 90’s, the injection molds on these masks wore out, and warranted an update. Image credit to GasMaskBunker who helped a lot in writing this, check out his Instagram while you are at it. These early masks did not display the pronounced cheek pockets that the Phalanx would later have, although the same general body is the same. The Ultravue was originally introduced as a mining respirator circa 1976. ![]() Both share the same face-piece, general structure, de-fogging vents, and exhaust valve. ![]() The MSA Phalanx likely finds its origins in the MSA Ultravue. For quite a long time, the only people I knew collecting these generally were film heads (especially Terminator fans), although that number has slowly increased with some availability of adapters. There exists a pretty solid demand for these, despite the lack of filters. The MSA Phalanx is a really strange mask.
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