Tallest Jawa
Active Member
2010 Custom Comm Winner Build Story
First of all, let me apologize for the lack of pictures. As it was I had to use a cell phone for the final pictures used in the contest. I know pictures are more fun than words, but as with the rest of this contest, I will do what I can and hope that some people will get joy out of it.
I was very happy to see a contest with very few rules. Here was a place where people could do whatever they wanted. If you have a full metal shop and build robots for NASA, here was a place you could show your talents. On the other hand, if you were a "True Artist" and could sculpt a working automobile out of nothing but mud, you too could shine. Me? I'm a Jawa. I find junk and coble it together then SELL IT. (That's not a box of old centrifuge tubes. With a little paint, an old belt, and some tape, it is an ammo belt!)
When this contest was first mentioned it got me excited. On the one hand I have never entered a contest here before. (I joined this group to help out in the paper props area. I'm a graphic artist, not a builder.) On the other hand just a few weeks back I had run into the perfect object to turn into a comm unit. It was like the Great Hubba Gourd in the Sky was sending a message. "Build it, and they will come." (Or maybe that was in a movie.)
I was in an old junk shop and found this old flash unit. Again, sorry about the "no pics" thing, but here are some pics from the web of similar models:
Open Closed
It seemed to me that this was crying to be Trek prop. I guess it is not surprising given that this was made at about the same time as TOS, so they share design ideals. I had to get it, and the fact that I had to buy some other stuff in the same lot in order to get it was a small price to pay. Score!
My idea for it was to be a pre-TOS unit. It is a large version for extreme conditions (caves, bad atmosphere, etc.). Think of it like a phaser rifle instead of a pistol. It even had an antenna booster (i.e. the dish), cool!
The first thing I had to do to it was probably the hardest. I had to remove all the stuff (leather? paper? metal?) from the front and buff it to a full shine. This was harder than I would have liked and involved some surprising chemicals, some disassembly, and a lot of elbow grease. (Boy you Real World prop builders sure work hard. And Ctrl-Z doesn't seem to work!)
Next I had to fix the exterior of the unit. This thing is 50 - 60 years old, and it was used, not just stored away. There were some small chips and burns (burns?!) to deal with (mostly smooth out). The biggest part of this phase was ironically the opposite of the first part. Now I had to find a way to re-attach that outer cover (leather?) that was coming off all over. Dental tools and glue did the trick.
Next I had to deal with the inside. I really wanted to keep the plug from the center. It looked neat and had a cool built in cord holder. I saw it as an Uhura-like ear plug for use in loud environments. This fit right in with the over all idea of a super-comm for use in less than ideal situations. Sadly, in the end, I could find no way to keep it. I covered it with, of all things, a metallic sticker that is supposed to be a planet. It came from a pack of dollar store-like Star Wars rip-off stickers. (The rest of the stickers look pretty funny. There's not-a-trooper, and not-a-jedi, but the best is Not-2-D2 with three legs.) Next I used some putty to affix a hard drive part (we Jawas call them "droid rings" and sell them as jewelry). Then I added some gems to give it that old TOS gemstones-as-controllers look.
Now I was making this thing to be used on a costume so I needed a way to clip it on a belt. Also it needed to be strong. I am rough on costumes, so I can't just glue a cell phone clip to the back and call it done. I had to find a way to use real hardware. The answer came in the form of a tripod from an old mini-telescope / spotting scope. The two were not compatible as they were, but with a little jiggery, I was able to use the folded tripod as a belt clip. It was bigger than I would like, but look at the bright side, now my comm has feet! Cool, now I can use it as a pattern enhancer for the transporter.
That is all there is to it. The real trick to this build was finding the right starting point. But I guess that is the way it is in the real prop world, too.
Flash + greeblies = lightsaber
Old gun + greeblies = Greedo Killer
Camera + greeblies = Macro Binoculars
Flash + greeblies = Custom Comm Contest Winner
I can live with that.
You can see pics of the finished product here, here, and here.
Thank you to all the people who voted for me. Thank you to NakedMoleRat for putting on the contest. Thank you to my fellow contestants, you made this a real challenge, and you all did great work. Thank you to RPF for giving all this a chance. Happy New Year everyone!
First of all, let me apologize for the lack of pictures. As it was I had to use a cell phone for the final pictures used in the contest. I know pictures are more fun than words, but as with the rest of this contest, I will do what I can and hope that some people will get joy out of it.
I was very happy to see a contest with very few rules. Here was a place where people could do whatever they wanted. If you have a full metal shop and build robots for NASA, here was a place you could show your talents. On the other hand, if you were a "True Artist" and could sculpt a working automobile out of nothing but mud, you too could shine. Me? I'm a Jawa. I find junk and coble it together then SELL IT. (That's not a box of old centrifuge tubes. With a little paint, an old belt, and some tape, it is an ammo belt!)
When this contest was first mentioned it got me excited. On the one hand I have never entered a contest here before. (I joined this group to help out in the paper props area. I'm a graphic artist, not a builder.) On the other hand just a few weeks back I had run into the perfect object to turn into a comm unit. It was like the Great Hubba Gourd in the Sky was sending a message. "Build it, and they will come." (Or maybe that was in a movie.)
I was in an old junk shop and found this old flash unit. Again, sorry about the "no pics" thing, but here are some pics from the web of similar models:
Open Closed
It seemed to me that this was crying to be Trek prop. I guess it is not surprising given that this was made at about the same time as TOS, so they share design ideals. I had to get it, and the fact that I had to buy some other stuff in the same lot in order to get it was a small price to pay. Score!
My idea for it was to be a pre-TOS unit. It is a large version for extreme conditions (caves, bad atmosphere, etc.). Think of it like a phaser rifle instead of a pistol. It even had an antenna booster (i.e. the dish), cool!
The first thing I had to do to it was probably the hardest. I had to remove all the stuff (leather? paper? metal?) from the front and buff it to a full shine. This was harder than I would have liked and involved some surprising chemicals, some disassembly, and a lot of elbow grease. (Boy you Real World prop builders sure work hard. And Ctrl-Z doesn't seem to work!)
Next I had to fix the exterior of the unit. This thing is 50 - 60 years old, and it was used, not just stored away. There were some small chips and burns (burns?!) to deal with (mostly smooth out). The biggest part of this phase was ironically the opposite of the first part. Now I had to find a way to re-attach that outer cover (leather?) that was coming off all over. Dental tools and glue did the trick.
Next I had to deal with the inside. I really wanted to keep the plug from the center. It looked neat and had a cool built in cord holder. I saw it as an Uhura-like ear plug for use in loud environments. This fit right in with the over all idea of a super-comm for use in less than ideal situations. Sadly, in the end, I could find no way to keep it. I covered it with, of all things, a metallic sticker that is supposed to be a planet. It came from a pack of dollar store-like Star Wars rip-off stickers. (The rest of the stickers look pretty funny. There's not-a-trooper, and not-a-jedi, but the best is Not-2-D2 with three legs.) Next I used some putty to affix a hard drive part (we Jawas call them "droid rings" and sell them as jewelry). Then I added some gems to give it that old TOS gemstones-as-controllers look.
Now I was making this thing to be used on a costume so I needed a way to clip it on a belt. Also it needed to be strong. I am rough on costumes, so I can't just glue a cell phone clip to the back and call it done. I had to find a way to use real hardware. The answer came in the form of a tripod from an old mini-telescope / spotting scope. The two were not compatible as they were, but with a little jiggery, I was able to use the folded tripod as a belt clip. It was bigger than I would like, but look at the bright side, now my comm has feet! Cool, now I can use it as a pattern enhancer for the transporter.
That is all there is to it. The real trick to this build was finding the right starting point. But I guess that is the way it is in the real prop world, too.
Flash + greeblies = lightsaber
Old gun + greeblies = Greedo Killer
Camera + greeblies = Macro Binoculars
Flash + greeblies = Custom Comm Contest Winner
I can live with that.
You can see pics of the finished product here, here, and here.
Thank you to all the people who voted for me. Thank you to NakedMoleRat for putting on the contest. Thank you to my fellow contestants, you made this a real challenge, and you all did great work. Thank you to RPF for giving all this a chance. Happy New Year everyone!
