Chinese MF-1A Gas Mask

Hello, so this is going to be a review of sorts and a video on the Chinese MF-1A gas mask and you might already recognise the general shape of it and design because it is the standard kind of Soviet SHM or Shum helmet mask, most commonly known as the GP-5, but a variant. So you'll have known if you've watched my videos before that I've talked about the Chinese TF-1 a bit and that is basically sort of very similar to a GP-5, just sort of modern plastics and rubbers rather than the old sort of Soviet style ones but otherwise it's a very similar mask and as you can see from this, this is also a very similar mask to the GP-5 in terms of design and everything. The literal only difference being plastics down here rather than the metal and this one has triangular lenses which give you a better field of view rather than the original sort of Soviet small circular lenses. However this mask does have a problem and this isn't exclusive to this mask supposedly, it's just sort of an issue with production quality and I'll demonstrate that in the video so unfortunately I won't be able to test this and get it working in this particular video but the mask itself is fine other than one small thing I should be able to change but I don't know if I've got all the right tools and sort of bits to do it in today's video. So this is the TF-1, as you can see it is just like I said literally a helmet style mask, it's a lot TF-1s really, MF-1A, and this came for some reason with some free earplugs, thanks I guess, and here is the thing that says about the production on it. So I can't read Chinese but you can see on there it says MF-1A and this looks like it was actually made in 2019 at some point, not sure exactly when in 2019 but it's a modern one, so you know. The interesting thing with China is you can obviously go on Wish, sort of AliExpress, sometimes sort of Chinese sellers on eBay and buy brand new Chinese gas masks which are sort of in the 10 to 20 pound region, sometimes £30 for the sort of better models, but you know that's not bad at all is it for a brand new mask if you think what Western brand new masks will cost, not surplus ones. So that is good, but there is one problem with this and I'll just show that now. So here is the XL valve, sorry intake valve assembly on this, and you'll notice this is like some sort of glue stuff around it. Now the issue was the hype was explaining to me that a lot of these are made in factories sort of in prisons using prison labour, and the issue is the prisoners obviously do not give a ---- about putting good quality control into the masks. So while it's very hard to screw up a GP5 style mask design because they are so simple, the issue is where these valves glue in, if they've done a bad job on the gluing like this one, the valve won't be airtight. So in theory if you scraped all the glue off this, re-glued it in yourself or got some replacement valves and put it in, it would be absolutely fine. But I'll stick this back in and just demonstrate the mask because I can do that. So let me just get a filter out of this one. Now I can't remember if these are actually normalised threads on these or if they're 40mm NATO or GOST, but this filter seems to screw in no problem whatsoever. So anyway I'll put the mask on, there's no voice diaphragm so you won't hear me very well. So there you go, there's the MF1A on. As you can see you're already very familiar with the design if you know Soviet style masks. This is very good in terms of field of view, obviously when your eyes are against that you've got much less field of view than the GP5, and overall yeah it's pretty good. That said unfortunately, you know, the filter assembly bit means it doesn't work well, but as you can see in terms of exhale valve, pretty much identical to GP5s and TF1s, and obviously if you look at how the air comes into the mask, identical KISO tube system to the GP5, it is literally just a Shum style mask with a bit of plastic there rather than metal and triangular lenses. So as far as I'm aware from what people have said, the best helmet style masks currently available are the modern Russian Shum 2012s I believe they're called, which is basically, imagine the same rubber hood, but it's got a very good voice diaphragm on, a lot more similar to the GP7s than the GP5Ms, and it's got sort of big triangular lenses on it. But sadly I've not really found anyone in Russia willing to send it to the UK yet, at least not for reasonable money. I'm sure I will eventually. But yeah, the MF1s I use are, you know, pretty good for what they are, assuming you get one that's in good condition where they've glued it properly, if not you can fix that yourself, and I will fix this on myself at some point when I get the right kinds of glues and whatever to do it. But you know, it's an interesting thing, and the fact you can get these for, I think this cost me about £11, brand new, and it was delivered within a week of buying it, which is amazing from China. I think I ordered it one Thursday, it came the next Thursday when it came to the UK, they put on a 48 hour courier service which was really good, it's free postage. So there you go, so it's very worth, you know, definitely checking out AliExpress and things like that, or Chinese Gas Masks if you're looking for them, because they are very well priced on there, some of them. But yeah, not much else to say on it really. You know, unfortunately I will do a proper testing video on this once I've got this bit sorted with the valve, but at the moment every time I try it with banana oil or whatever you can always smell it coming through, because what's happening is it's getting around the side of the sort of screw thread where there's, you know, making it solid. But otherwise, you know, if you just wanted a mask for a costume prop or something, even if it was in this condition it would be fine, but otherwise it's absolutely perfect. But you know, it's getting to the stage now where some masks like this are actually cheaper than buying GP5s, and obviously I would definitely recommend this over a GP5 assuming this bit wasn't causing a problem, because it's essentially, you know, a brand new mask. But there you go, if you're interested in what was on the bag, we'll just get this out, because what I was going to try and do as well is maybe glue this sort of 40mm washer in. But most of the bag is in Chinese, but obviously you can see some stuff on there. So this is made by Bangu Protective, if that's how it's pronounced. And then yeah, there's some numbers on the bags and everything, but yeah, looks like it will actually be a good mask if I fix the valve on it. But as said, you know, it's amazing that you can start getting these masks for like roughly £10.