Miscellaneous Trek Stuff

[Shaw]

So, anyone who knows me is aware that I'm a big Trek fan. And that I've made a lot of artwork relating to Trek (mostly the original series). I'll most likely get around to making some threads highlighting pieces I've invested time and effort in, but there is also stuff that really doesn't need their own thread... so I'll put them here.

 

Today's topic... scratch built TOS Phaser.

 

A few years ago I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to build a kit from my childhood... the AMT Star Trek Exploration Set. Round 2 had recently re-released it, so I was hoping to find it at a price I could afford. All the ones I found online were out of my price range, so I decided I'd just make it from scratch with what I had around the apartment.

 

Because the original model kit seemed to be made at two-thirds scale, I decided that I'd make my version at that scale too. I didn't have a ton of references and also didn't have a working printer at the time, so I just sketched out some plans for the props and started building masters. I then made molds and made my little (imperfect) replicas.

 

A few weeks ago my wife found a small (6 oz) clear resin kit that she wanted me to try. I dug up my phaser molds and filled them with water, and it seemed to be about 3 oz... so I figured I'd build another phaser.

 

Here are the parts straight from the molds...

And here is the partial assembly with two previous phasers in the background...

 

This is how it looks now (about 95% finished)...

 

And here it is with the other elements of my Exploration Set (and my quarter studio scale Galileo)...

 

They make for a fun little set, even if the Tricorder and Communicators are still works in progress.

[southwestforests]

48 minutes ago, Shaw said:

the Tricorder and Communicators are still works

 

Oh, now I see it wasn't, "the Tricorder and Communicator work".

 

😉😄

[phantom]

Very nice.

 

[ikar]

Love the Phaser.  That would look great next to my E.M. pistol and Phase pistol from Star Trek Enterprise.

[Shaw]

Thanks guys!

It is funny to think that because I couldn't afford this...

 

I attempted to build this...

 

Even though I wasn't going for hyper accuracy, I did have a few goals in mind. I wanted the Tricorder to look like the leatherette version of the props, so I used vinyl fabric on the masters. I also wanted the communicator to have a texture similar to the props, but scaled down... I found something that I could spray on the master to get that.

There is still a ways to go on this, but I'm pretty happy with the results so far.

My wife said she is expecting to see me running around with the phasers going "pew-pew"... which is, of course, completely absurd. I would never do such a thing when she was home!
 

I do, every so often, build kits. This is one of my favorites from about 10 years ago... the USS Republic.

 

I (like a lot of people my age) built the AMT Enterprise model a ton of times as a kid. The last time I had taken a stab at it was in the mid 1990s, and in the intervening years I had come up with some ideas about how I might build the kit if I was to do it again. So in 2011 I decided to see what I could do with the model while using most of the kit's parts (even if modified).

I outlined the build here. The images above are how the model looks today. And here it is with my Enterprise a couple years ago (standing in for the Exeter).

 

My version is okay, but if you are really willing to put in the work, you can make an awesome Enterprise from that kit. The best one I've seen was crowe-t's from a few years back.

[Shaw]

Okay, so here is another kit (that is also a work in progress)... This is the pre-TMP refit Enterprise.

A bit of background on the studio model... When the Star Trek II television series was transitioned to The Motion Picture, all of the models were started over from scratch. Magicam (under the direction of Robert Abel and Associates) built the new Enterprise model, and when finished it was put into storage while waiting to go before the cameras. Unfortunately, the model was stored under a leaky air conditioner which damaged the upper primary hull (including the bridge/B/C deck structure).

Andrew Probert used this as an opportunity to redesign the damaged parts, and also sold Douglas Trumbull (who came on to replace Robert Abel and Associates) on the Enterprise self-illuminating.

A bit of background on my model... Back in 2007 I had started doing research on the Phase II Enterprise designed for the Star Trek II television series by Matt Jefferies. At the time I had major gaps in my data on the design and didn't want to fill in the missing elements with my own ideas (something I had seen a number of people do when making 3D models of the design). I set the project aside, but because there was some overlap in the history of the Phase II Enterprise and the original 33 inch Enterprise, I was still collecting data on the subject as I came across it.

In 2012 I got a call from Brick Price (who, along with Don Loos, had been building the Phase II studio model), which made me take another look at what I had on the Phase II Enterprise. I spent the next couple years building a study model intended to flesh out the design as Jefferies had intended it.

Because Gene Roddenberry had liked Jefferies' design, Magicam and Robert Abel and Associates were instructed to not diverge too much when making the new Enterprise for TMP. And when I finished my Phase II Enterprise, I really wanted to be able to compare and contrast that design with the original TMP Enterprise configuration.

So I played with the idea for nearly six years, scratch building some of the parts I'd need and reverse engineering the decal graphics. I didn't actually get around to buying the kit I'd need until 2020.

This is how the model looked after most of the major surgery and the painting was mostly done (I added a pre-existing photo of my Phase II Enterprise to the shot to compare and contrast to the two).

 

This is the model after I started in on the decals. This is my first attempt at wall papering, so I actually made spare decals in case I screwed up.

 

 

A bit further along... and I started to realize I had screwed up. I wasn't as careful when making the nacelle decals as I should have been, so I need to go back and rework them and print a new set.

 

This set of images show some of the underside details. This model was mostly a learning experience in working with something completely covered by decals... specially (as in my case) decals printed from a laser printer (baked on toner can be a bit brittle on decal film).

 

 

And that is about where I stopped. The model isn't actually glued together yet, but it looked nice enough that it has been sitting on its stand next to some of my other models.

Here are a few shots of how it looks today...

 

 

 

Hopefully I'll finish it someday.

 

[JohnEB]

Thanks, I love hearing the history of studio...or almost studio, models.

[spejic]

Your models are really excellent and the information was very interesting. Thanks.