Firefly screen used radio's inside

[robstyle]

Figured Id share since so many out there are hunting for replicas. These are a pair from the ship aquired from the art dept of the show. Story is, the art dept bough a box of them as surplus and placed them through out the entire ship set. They were on the deck, hallways, crew rooms, galley, engine bay.... Pretty much everywhere. It wasnt till recently I realised how much there is set dressing wise on the Firefly itself. If you notice, there are breathing masks at every hatch as well as hand held PAL radios. Just all around forward thinking by the art dept.

 

[Zombie_61]

That's one of the many things I appreciated about Firefly--the Art Department's attention to detail. Even though the show is set 500 years into Earth's future, they didn't forget to apply some common-sense to their set decoration, and didn't use props that were completely unrecognizable to the viewers.

 

[Lawgiver]

Very cool, any idea what the original surplus part was?

 

[Bronson BB]

I know I'm waking up a long dead thread here, but I'm in the market for a couple of these to wire up as working Con radios.

Anyone got a clue as to where I might get these obsolete Fire Fighter emergency beacon thingies?

 

[robstyle]

Bronson,
They never actualy lite up in teh show that I recall. If you put a battery in them, they do however light up and emite an irritaing siren sound. If your talking baout making them functioning radios, inside space is very limited as the casings are very heavy duty and thick. Id assume you would need to swap out any existing speaker of the donor radio for a micro sized one making room for the actual radio electronics and circut board.

 

[dr_slurpee]

GBCam and I would still like to resurrect our plans to offer hollow casts of the PAL. There would be plenty of room inside to fit a cheap 2 way radio...well assuming you gutted the radio and re-arranged things.

 

[robstyle]

here is one of them opened. Its a pain in the otter pop to get the door off without mangeling it due to the industrial waterproofing adhesive its sealed with. For an idea of how small the interior is, a 9v battery fits very snug in the upper section.

 

[Bronson BB]

Jeeze, that DOES look like it'll take a lot of chiseling to clear out.

Yeah, without actually having seen a PAL unit live and in person as yet, my plan has been to totally gut two of them and replace their insides with the guts from mini walkie-talkies. Maybe have the red LED light while the unit is on, or while sending or something. And place the speaker and mic in the existing speakers spot.

Actually, MAYBE since the LED never lit on the show, I'd place the mic in that hole. I dunno. My plans are fluid at this point.

The guts I'm thinking of would be getting scooped out of something like THIS.
Not that exact model, mind you. Just something along those lines. I really only wanna be able to use them within the environs of a Con. I expect I'd also even have to add an on/off/volume slider somewhere discrete.

Oh, also I'd get the belt hook doobie for the back.

 

[dr_slurpee]

Cleaning them out can be a pain, the sealant and glues used make it a chore. Once cleaned out they aren't too bad for space.

 

[Bronson BB]

If you ever do get this off the ground, I'd rather put guts in two of your empty shells than take a melon baller to anything more authentic...

Please keep me in mind.

GBCam and I would still like to resurrect our plans to offer hollow casts of the PAL. There would be plenty of room inside to fit a cheap 2 way radio...well assuming you gutted the radio and re-arranged things.

 

[Mechamaniac]

Grr, these are so simple looking, why haven't any fallen into silicone yet? :$


I can't believe these can't be had on Ebay either, they're decommissioned fireman's equipment, I can't imagine they'd be in short supply.

 

[robstyle]

I think the reason is people would want a hollow casting as opposed to a strait up solid peice.

Before I get another 25 pm's,
screen used PAL sales are on hold for a later date.
When it happens, im sure everyone will get a kick out of it.

 

[dr_slurpee]

Grr, these are so simple looking, why haven't any fallen into silicone yet? :$

Hollow casts were available for a short while quite some time ago, they didn't include the back covers though but were nice. They are a little tricky to cast what with the thin walls and grill for the speaker. They would have fallen into silicone, in fact they partially had, but Cam had some unfortunate incidents and sickness at the time and the project got indefinitely postponed. We're definitely wanting to still do it as soon as time permits though. Back plates and all.

If a plentiful source of real ones was available that would be sweet though.

 

[pennausamike]

Grr, these are so simple looking, why haven't any fallen into silicone yet? :$


I can't believe these can't be had on Ebay either, they're decommissioned fireman's equipment, I can't imagine they'd be in short supply.

I bought mine on eBay a coupla years back.

It was resin cast and completely solid.
I hollowed it out on a Bridgeport vertical mill and installed a button, LED and battery pack from Radio Shack so that the red light comes on when you push the talk button.

Thin aluminum is easy to make the back plate out of and because it was solid cast, there was plenty of material to drill and tap for screws.

 

[Bronson BB]

Yeah, I already got me a Wilco, but I just know I'd do bad, evil, vile things to it if I were to try to hollow it out.

Plus the whole, 'can't be bothered' thing of course.
I ain't gots the skillz nor the equipment.

A little bit of electronics and soldering, that I'm up for.

 

[Mechamaniac]

Can someone post a pic of the real deal switch on the top? I got a resin cast from a member here and I want to grind off the lump of resin where the switch should be and replace it with something at least close to the original that I can wire to a battery and and LED.

Thanks!

 

[jackdoud]

Can someone post a pic of the real deal switch on the top?

Going by these clips it doesn't look like there is an actual button:

though there's also no light on either one in that scene so mabey they weren't using "hero" versions. If someone knows the episode/scene that shows the "working" one I can take some caps, this is the only one with closeups that came to mind.

 

[Robot Monster]

That looks like a rubber waterproof switch to me. Look at the 2nd shot you can see the impression in the rubber.

 

[Kadajiroth]

That looks like a rubber waterproof switch to me. Look at he 2nd shot you can see the impression in the rubber.

Yeah, that's what it looks like to me too. I thought those kind of radios had 'em.

 

[dr_slurpee]

There's a 3 position rocker switch under a rubber covering.