Let's get building our fiberglass phasers with a easy start.
This will be the beginning of your replica of an original phaser pistol.
The results will be the closest there is to owning a real prop phaser used in Star Trek production.
First, please let me take you back in time to the prop party, and having the real comm and phasers there, and the guys were all happy to get to see them. They were incredible.
But, while driving home, I felt that I was perfectly fine with my replica, and that next to the original, my phaser was very close, and that made me see that I don't need an original phaser of my own, as long as I had a very close replica. So with a happy feeling in my heart, I continued on my way knowing I'd build a better replica now that I saw a real one.
That was a good day. I realized certain aspescts of my collecting, and Star Trek dreams were within reach.
That's the cool thing, so here we begin to build several V3 phasers to be just like the originals.
I decided to build 5 B&W mids with the pistol bodies held together with 3 screws, and the P1 locked in place with the original type release I use in my phasers.
One of these B&W pistols is going to TM, one I am keeping.
Later an owner of one of these phaser pistols can open it up with an ordinary screwdriver, and add working features, sounds, laser, batteries, hero stuff, so I'm not going to glue it together.
I decided to glue the grip and P1 together into their respective shells. The reason for this, is that another P1 could be built for this pistol, or the P1 can be cut open later and reworked, as can the grip, to hold batteries. For now they will be midgrade, and glued.
So now that you understand my goals in this build, and my desire to build as accurate as possible these replicas, lets get started.
First I used acetone on a terry cloth rag to clean all the parts.
Later these phasers will get their brushed on finish, but I shot the parts with primer right after cleaning.
Here they are drying.
The primer has to be light so the details on the pistol are not filled with paint. If this happens, use a paper towel to soak up and dry up the details.
Preserve the rear fins and the body ridges.
Ignore pinholes and fiberglass defects at this point, but you can see all of them now that you have primer on it.
Sanding was very easy, using 80 on a flat table. 2=3 minutes, tops, while checking per phaser.
Remember that the front of the right pistol side has to hang off the table when sanding that cover side.
The main body side, (left side) can be slid on the paper flat. This is because the cover side meets on center above the nozzle.
I started with the P1 sanding, and like previously mentioned, I want my P1 to be most like the originals, so I did sand the back a little thinner in profile. I just use extra weight on the back of the shells, checking as I sanded.
Next I sanded the grip flat on the 80 and that was real quick as well.
Now I got out the 5 minute epoxy. This stuff works great to join glass shells.
After I glued up the P1 and grip, I scraped off all extra epoxy, and cleaned up any misalignment by scraping with a utility knife as well. Later it'll be sanded, but it's easier to scrape off before it's rock solid.
Next I sanded and prepared the pistol halves. As noted, the right, cover side will be held on with screws, so after carefully sanding, again trying for a thinner body, since seeing the original I can take off a little bit more.
The screws will go into the main body from the cover side in 3 locations.. Front side, trigger box side, and under the rear fins on the side as well.
So I prepared the main body for the screws by adding solid filled sections of epoxy for the screws to go into.
To contain the epoxy pool, I used masking tape carefully squeezed into place.
First I prepared the body by using a utility knife to cut lots of score marks to anchor the epoxy.
I'll continue with this thread on building our fantastic replicas, influenced entirely, by the original phasers.
Thanks.
Ron
This will be the beginning of your replica of an original phaser pistol.
The results will be the closest there is to owning a real prop phaser used in Star Trek production.
First, please let me take you back in time to the prop party, and having the real comm and phasers there, and the guys were all happy to get to see them. They were incredible.
But, while driving home, I felt that I was perfectly fine with my replica, and that next to the original, my phaser was very close, and that made me see that I don't need an original phaser of my own, as long as I had a very close replica. So with a happy feeling in my heart, I continued on my way knowing I'd build a better replica now that I saw a real one.
That was a good day. I realized certain aspescts of my collecting, and Star Trek dreams were within reach.
That's the cool thing, so here we begin to build several V3 phasers to be just like the originals.
I decided to build 5 B&W mids with the pistol bodies held together with 3 screws, and the P1 locked in place with the original type release I use in my phasers.
One of these B&W pistols is going to TM, one I am keeping.
Later an owner of one of these phaser pistols can open it up with an ordinary screwdriver, and add working features, sounds, laser, batteries, hero stuff, so I'm not going to glue it together.
I decided to glue the grip and P1 together into their respective shells. The reason for this, is that another P1 could be built for this pistol, or the P1 can be cut open later and reworked, as can the grip, to hold batteries. For now they will be midgrade, and glued.
So now that you understand my goals in this build, and my desire to build as accurate as possible these replicas, lets get started.
First I used acetone on a terry cloth rag to clean all the parts.
Later these phasers will get their brushed on finish, but I shot the parts with primer right after cleaning.
Here they are drying.
The primer has to be light so the details on the pistol are not filled with paint. If this happens, use a paper towel to soak up and dry up the details.
Preserve the rear fins and the body ridges.
Ignore pinholes and fiberglass defects at this point, but you can see all of them now that you have primer on it.
Sanding was very easy, using 80 on a flat table. 2=3 minutes, tops, while checking per phaser.
Remember that the front of the right pistol side has to hang off the table when sanding that cover side.
The main body side, (left side) can be slid on the paper flat. This is because the cover side meets on center above the nozzle.
I started with the P1 sanding, and like previously mentioned, I want my P1 to be most like the originals, so I did sand the back a little thinner in profile. I just use extra weight on the back of the shells, checking as I sanded.
Next I sanded the grip flat on the 80 and that was real quick as well.
Now I got out the 5 minute epoxy. This stuff works great to join glass shells.
After I glued up the P1 and grip, I scraped off all extra epoxy, and cleaned up any misalignment by scraping with a utility knife as well. Later it'll be sanded, but it's easier to scrape off before it's rock solid.
Next I sanded and prepared the pistol halves. As noted, the right, cover side will be held on with screws, so after carefully sanding, again trying for a thinner body, since seeing the original I can take off a little bit more.
The screws will go into the main body from the cover side in 3 locations.. Front side, trigger box side, and under the rear fins on the side as well.
So I prepared the main body for the screws by adding solid filled sections of epoxy for the screws to go into.
To contain the epoxy pool, I used masking tape carefully squeezed into place.
First I prepared the body by using a utility knife to cut lots of score marks to anchor the epoxy.
I'll continue with this thread on building our fantastic replicas, influenced entirely, by the original phasers.
Thanks.
Ron
