"In Service" Cardassian PADD

[Eric Ardros]

This is something I've had in mind to do for a while, and only a handful of people were even aware of this project. Now that I've been able to finish up the templates and what not to work from, I felt it was time to post a thread for this:



I'd like to thank those who contributed information for both screen-accurate measurements and the close-ups needed to faithfully reproduce the circuitry pattern. Below is a series of pics showing my efforts thus far:

PLANNED CONSTRUCTION OF PADD




The plan is to make the body out of 1/8" thick sheet styrene, with an internal framework built in to support the four removable circuit boards. The circuit boards themselves will be made of 1/16" thick lexan, with adhesive transparencies applied showing the graphics. As usual, my good pal "ecl" will be the one making the graphics.

CARDASSIAN CIRCUIT BOARDS LAYOUT


CARDASSIAN CIRCUITRY DETAIL


I tried to reproduce the circuitry detail as faithfully as I could, though the pics I was using had some of the detail obscured. In areas where it was obvious the detail was simply mirrored, I did as such. Other areas I could tell didn't mirror details, though I couldn't make out what those details were supposed to be.

The top-right circuit board will have the circuits applied just as in the pic I've posted above. For the bottom-right one, the circuit will have to be flipped around to match what's seen in the Deep Space Nine Technical Manual exploded view. The black rectangles on both of those will be chrome tape/vinyl on the physical graphics.

For the top-left circuit board, there will be two layers of graphics; the complex circuitry on the front, and two thick orange lines on the back. When the physical graphics are made, each will be on its own adhesive transparency. For the bottom-left one, I think making the brown areas a metallic copper on the physical graphics would really add something to it, given it's the simplest of the four.

Oh, and the circuit pathways for both the green and orange circuit details will be thickened a bit to better match the silk-screening on the screen-used originals. I find what I drew just looks way too thin, but I wanted to be able to clearly differentiate between the various circuit pathways.

Here's where I'm currently at with it, with all of the surface details applied:



I'm now working on the four individual armatures that hold each circuit board.

I also managed to cut out a set of the circuit boards from the 1/16" thick lexan sheet I had left over from my TMP Wrist Comm run:




Though I was able to cut out a set of them, I found they took a lot more effort than I'd expected, and they didn't come out looking great. If nothing else, this set will serve as a test bed to ensure everything fits inside as it should.

It may be simpler to see about getting these cut at the plastics shop down the street from where I live.

 

[bikemancs]

I look forward to seeing how this works out. It's very cool to see the designing & building of the tech inside of the devices.

 

[Eric Ardros]

Yeah, it is pretty kewl seeing the internals of this particular prop, which from what I know has never been done before.

Makes for a very unique collection piece. There's a first time for everything though, as they say :cool

 

[Eric Ardros]

Have I got an update for you guys! On with the pics!




As you can see, I've managed to get most of the armatures for the clear circuit boards finished. Here's some close-ups:






I haven't finished the larger of the two bottom armatures yet, as I finally hit a snag with this build and have discovered that, despite how well I engineered all the pieces to go together, what I had envisioned for that part isn't working out as I'd expected.

Undeterred, I continued on with other aspects of the build, such as the framework attached to the back panel:





The point of which was to make the slotted openings the correct width so that the armatures sit nice and snug in the openings.

Here's one more pic showing how everything goes together:



Kewl, huh?

FYI, I'm going to the plastics shop later this week to get a quote on getting the clear circuit boards cut by them, as doing them by hand isn't up to my personal standards.

"ecl" and I have finalized the screen graphic as well as the small round graphic for detailing the back, so all that's left to do there is for him to send the image files to me in the correct format and I'll try printing out a set myself.

With his help, I found a place online where I was able to buy both the printable self-adhesive vinyl and protective matte laminate, so those should get to me in about a week or so.

If my printer's not up to the task (it's an old piece of junk), I may have to scout around town to see about getting them professionally printed. We'll just have wait and see what happens.

 

[kruleworld]

nice work.

 

[Eric Ardros]

Here's one of the final updates on this project:




Have all four armatures built now, just have to finish with the interior of the larger bottom one to fit the smaller one (shown below):



And here are close-ups of each of the armatures with their lexan circuit boards in place:









This is how it compares to the Deep Space Nine Technical Journal exploded view:

 

[Mike J.]

Is a PADD next?

 

[Eric Ardros]

Well, this is a PADD, lol. Do you mean the Federation-style PADD, as seen in the Deep Space Nine Technical Journal?

 

[Mike J.]

Yeah, that's what I meant, as seen next to your Cardassian illustration.

 

[Eric Ardros]

That one is on my projects list, as seen in this thread (Post #36) --> http://www.therpf.com/f11/post-your-projects-list-205171/index2.html#post3549478, though what with all the other projects I have on the go at the moment I probably won't get to it for a while. Working on the "In Service" Mk X, which is only in its early stages.