FC Phaser Rifle (Square Barrel)

After finding an old 1:1 blueprint in amongst my big pile of blueprints, and after cleaning it up and redrawing it I've decided one of my upcoming personal projects will be the square-barrel Phaser Rifle from FC:



I think it's a fairly accurate representation of the screen-used originals, and the style of the FC Phaser Rifle I prefer most. I find the square barrel just makes it look more bad-***** somehow, lol.

Anyway, given the rarity of this version and the fact I simply never have the funds to afford a proper casting, I figured this was the only viable way for me to actually have one for my collection.

I managed to find a rough resin casting of the scope in with some old prop odds-n-ends in one of my storage totes. I'll likely use that as a reference for scratch-building a cleaner, hollowed-out version of the scope.

The plan is to build the base out of 1/4" Sintra (PVC) board, with varying thicknesses of sheet styrene for the panel detailing. That will leave the interior hollow so I can try and get some electronics in there

To make things easier on myself, I intend to have a few key panels attached by magnets in order to gain access to the interior.

I was planning on simply building it up to match the screen-used originals, but am debating whether or not to incorporate the opening power chamber as seen on the chromed NEM version of this rifle. I will also be including the Frequency Modulator that Picard plays around with, scratch-built like the rest of it will be.

Since I'll be having to scratch-build everything anyway, I figure why not add in all the "bells and whistles"?

EDIT: Just finished the polished draft for the NEM-style power cell:



I wanted to incorporate it into the design without outwardly affecting the look of the rifle.

After all, I still want it to look 100% like the FC Type-III-A and not at all like the NEM version.

The fact that I'm scratch-building the rifle itself will make it easier to fabricate and then insert the cavity the power cell will sit in.

Really wanting to see this take shape. :thumbsup

Will be watching with great interest. I have been contemplating building my FC EVA rifle cast recently.

Look forward to updates!

I've been looking around for a couple of days now - I have my heart set on getting a square barrel phaser rifle myself (STFC version, of course) - I'd love to go the extra mile and add in the removeable section Picard was playing with during the Ahab/Moby Dick scene:



I know I can buy one from Hanzo, but it's just solid resin, and I'd like to have a couple lights here and there. Mainly, the flashlight.

So my question is this: has anyone made a CAD version of this? Do you perhaps have some more detailed blueprints that show the angles of the barrel and such a little better, along with dimensions? The company I work at has a bunch of 3D printers that we're allowed to use at no cost (we might need to supply the plastic reels ourselves, but I'm fine with that.) I'd have to split the model into 5-6 parts to make it printable, and glue them together...but this seems like a good option, I think? It'd certainly allow me to hollow out sections for electronics and run wires as I see fit.

I honestly couldn't say if anyone's ever done up a CAD version of the FC Type-III-A Phaser Rifle. If someone has, I've never seen it.

All I have in the way of blueprints is what you see above, with the exception of the Phase Modulator (drew up a blueprint for that, just haven't posted a pic). I have no skill or experience with computer drafting nor do I have any software for that, so I don't have anything more than I've shown here.

I'm kind of old-school in that I like doing up 1:1 scale pen-to-paper templates for my scratch-builds, and typically only draw up what I need, which doesn't necessarily include all angles of the piece I'm building. I'm good at extrapolating the rest from various reference pics and what not.

I could provide you with the basic dimensions (L, W, H) for the Phaser Rifle and the various little bits, but that'd be it.

I'd love any dimensions you can give. As far as the model goes, one option I've considered is buying the Hanzo resin model here and scanning it in. I've got a kinect sensor and can grab some software that will let me more or less generate a 3D model off of an existing object. That way, I'd get a reasonably accurate 3B phaser I could build, and at the time time I'd be able to take the model generated and modify it from 3B to 3A.

From looking at pictures, the only difference is the barrel; I could load up the 3D model and modify it some, and then hollow it out. For extra close ups, I THINK the sci fi museum here in Seattle has a 3A phaser (I know they have a 3B) on loan from Paul Allen.

Thanks!

Is that an off shot of Arsenal models? if so you may want to do a little research here about that company..

The rifle measures 33" long by 2" wide and 7 1/4" tall without the scope, 9" tall with the scope. I found some discrepancies with the overall length at the "Star Trek Auction Listings Archive" website (www.startrekpropcollector.com/trekauctions/) from 33" to 36", and so settled on the majority of the auctions which indicate it measures 33".

The scope itself measures 8 1/2" long by 1 3/4" wide and 1 1/2" tall, with the Phase Modulator being 3 5/8" long by 1 1/2" wide and 3/4" tall. The NEM-style power cell measures 1 7/8" long by 1 7/16" wide and 1 1/4" tall, with the two light-up acrylic rods being 1 1/2" long with a 3/8" outer diameter. Hope that helps you in your own efforts :cool

sean said:

Is that an off shot of Arsenal models? if so you may want to do a little research here about that company..

Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. That rifle's listed under the "Arsenal Models" section of the site, so I assume it's the same one. I'd suggest doing a little digging into Arsenal Models to find out what kind of company they are before you settle on buying one of those kits.

Thanks for the measurements, Eric! I figured I should ask before doing one of my other options then: It's been a while since I used any CAD program (solidworks back in college...) but I know I can load 2D blueprints into a program and extrapolate them to a 3D model I could then play with and do cuts on. Would you mind if I took your blueprints and did that? I'd be more than happy to post any CAD models I generate (assuming I have any CAD mojo left....)

Who knows, maybe I can convince someone at my company to help, too given I work at a pretty large software company...someone is bound to be a trekkie and be better than me with CAD

As for the resin kit, a quick search here on rpf is enough to make me not touch them. Thanks for the warning.

Sure, go right ahead. It'd be great to see it done up in CAD, would make it easier for others to work from if anyone else chose to pursue such an undertaking. Look forward to seeing what you come up with, dude.

I'm in the middle of wrapping up a run of nine hero TMP Wrist Comms and a couple PADD builds, so I haven't done anything with this build yet. Once I've cleared some stuff off my plate I should be able to really dig into this.

Would it help if I measured the EVA rifle cast I have? Pretty sure it came from a good source. You could at least sorta verify against that pic I posted of all three rifles. I can dig it out this weekend and see what I get.?.

RampantAndroid said:

I'd love any dimensions you can give. As far as the model goes, one option I've considered is buying the Hanzo resin model here and scanning it in. I've got a kinect sensor and can grab some software that will let me more or less generate a 3D model off of an existing object. That way, I'd get a reasonably accurate 3B phaser I could build, and at the time time I'd be able to take the model generated and modify it from 3B to 3A.

From looking at pictures, the only difference is the barrel; I could load up the 3D model and modify it some, and then hollow it out. For extra close ups, I THINK the sci fi museum here in Seattle has a 3A phaser (I know they have a 3B) on loan from Paul Allen.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

You would be correct, The only difference is the barrel, otherwise everything else is the same. If you need help let me know,I have a real one