Julien’s Upcoming Hero Phaser & Communicator Auction
- Thread starter ghostryder
- Start date
With what appears to be the excellent internal condition of the P1, I wonder if it would still light up?Once the phaser arrives home with its new owner, you can bet they will gently clean the contacts and insert a battery, just to satisfy their curiosity!
At the very least, I noticed in Don’s video that the emitter didn’t extend when the thumbwheel was engaged.
Ask Captain Dunsel what happens when you drop a phaser. Can you even imagine with this?
I’ve actually had to repair and repaint my replica TMOST phaser, a few times. And not even because of heavy use or wear. A year or two back, the P1 thumbwheel axel assembly actually disengaged from the inner shell. Whether that was because the epoxy failed under the stress of using the wheel, or I didn’t pot it in place well enough, I can’t say.
And, just the other night, inspired by all of this discussion, I pulled out the prop to examine it, and there was a small chip in the lower P2 shell, just in front of the handle. I had to fill it with Apoxie Sculpt, sand it smooth, and repaint the shell.
With all that in mind, it’s something of a miracle that the real props are in as good condition as they are, given the rigors of filming and decades of storage and passing hands and whatnot.
AdmiralBaxter
Sr Member
See to the guys that build the working heros I have great respect.
I have my midgrade and it's had more than a few falls and amazingly the dang thing stays in one piece
When one has actually built a hero, one quickly realizes why the filmmakers needed to build the by the end of the first season. The heroes look great and have that cool functionality, but, at all times, you’re quietly terrified that you’ll drop it, or that one of the internal mechanisms will break or get misaligned or whatever.
The early crapazoids did the job of being stunt/dummy props, but the show really, really needed good-looking dummies which were lightweight and low-maintenance.
AdmiralBaxter
Sr Member
I can understand that without even building a hero because there can be dozens of things that go wrong...
The crapozoids were more of a "quick fix" to fill the void while the midgrade were being built.
I know most aren't as fond of the midgrade like I am, yet I find them to be an equal part prop and art.... They sure found a good balance with them.
Agreed!
AdmiralBaxter
Sr Member
Even with as much fondness and research I do into the midgrades
I get the most pleasure from building Tricorders is the spirit of the originals and I use the DST's in that effort even though they are not accurate they make a good starting point they build into very nice tribute props.
I have yet to build two identical tricorders, it's almost strange because they kind of speak to me as I build them.
As we’ve seen with all three iconic TOS props, each one had its unique quirks and variations in detail. We fans tend to have a sort of perfect image of the fictional items in our heads, but in many ways that’s just an amalgamation of the different props seen throughout the show.
And the DST/HMS tricorders, while not perfectly accurate, are still excellent. I built up a Rodd.com kit before I got a more accurate one.
AdmiralBaxter
Sr Member
I just have a giant soft spot for the DST as it has a rather rich heritage that starts with the fans... It's all love
Yep…
How To Destroy Your Prized Props
Well, this is not a good sign for the new year… Did I come across an original, screen-used Star Trek Phaser One that was taken home by a Paramount employee, and abused by their children? Nope…this is what happens when you are transporting props in a neglectful way. In this case, I was...
www.therpf.com
In some ways, the discovery of the TMOST phaser is the culmination of a decades-long journey. I’m not a first-generation fan, but I well know from years of osmosis that those early fans coveted accurate Exploration Set replicas. The Brad Nelson convention props and the others to follow in the 70s/80s/90s (Jim Kirk, HMS, etc.) filled that need.
This was an era when merchandise was scarce, home media was virtually non-existent, and fans had to rely upon reruns, film clips, slides, and sources like the Franz Joseph plans to try and build accurate replicas.
The Jein phaser’s discovery and documentation was a Big Deal, with the inner workings and features of the hero props becoming widely known for the first time. And it’s just snowballed from there, with landmarks along the way like the Master Replicas collectable prop, the John Long P1 kit, the inexpensive AA/DST toys (which could be modded into great replicas), fans like the late, great Pielock and Sporak building amazing replicas and/or kits, etc.
But, speaking for several generations of fans, I don’t think the discovery of a near-intact TMOST hero is a day any of us ever thought we’d see. I just regret that some of our best and brightest didn’t live to see it, and that it’s come at a time when the STAR TREK franchise is in ruins and slowly fading from cultural relevancy and memory.
…and when forgeries sell for more than the real thing. Something I’m kinda glad those we’ve lost didn’t live to see.
Yep…
How To Destroy Your Prized Props
Well, this is not a good sign for the new year… Did I come across an original, screen-used Star Trek Phaser One that was taken home by a Paramount employee, and abused by their children? Nope…this is what happens when you are transporting props in a neglectful way. In this case, I was...
Man, I’d blocked this out of my memory. The pain!
Did you ever get this rebuilt?Yep…
How To Destroy Your Prized Props
Well, this is not a good sign for the new year… Did I come across an original, screen-used Star Trek Phaser One that was taken home by a Paramount employee, and abused by their children? Nope…this is what happens when you are transporting props in a neglectful way. In this case, I was...
The collected parts remain in a bag…it’s very hard to get the motivation to repair the thing.
Someday…
AdmiralBaxter
Sr Member
I was born in 70' and when I was brought home from the hospital Star Trek was most likely what was on TV that day as my family lived in the L.A. area so there was no shortage of reruns..... There definitely wasn't much of anything Trek in stores other than the Mego toys and the early Novels....
I remember being 10 and my Dad had me helping him do autobody work (yep I'm that kid who learned how to pull dents, mix & apply Bondo....) by the age of 12 I had done my first complete autobody repair ..... in my Dad's custom paint and body shop. Dad came up to me an showed me a flyer for a Star Trek Convention I told him about at least a dozen times. Then he gave me a $100 bucks for doing my first autobody repair and that Friday I went to my first Star Trek convention... I didn't get any prop replicas that day, bunch of blue prints a uniform top and tons of pictures......
But yeah.... We definitely are at a point in the history of TOS props few can imagine.....
I do wish the great Sporak was around... I got to know him a tiny bit he was an amazing person.....
As far as Star Trek the franchise goes, naw it's not in ruins... It's at the point where it's being reborn in order to remain relevant... Sure there are aspects I don't like...
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I did a few scratch build Tricorder back in the early 2000's some even made them into fan films, in which I had to fight to get them back from the production as they thought I was donating them to their production which is one of a few reasons the STNV episode "Enemy Starfleet!" ended up using a lot of DST stuff as props .....
Now when I do scratch build Tricorders they have almost always go to private collectors with no association with the prop hobby. I've done a few for various small sci-fi and cultural museums..... Yet I'm at that point I build to relax and when I build I just find myself upgrading DST's to various degree's or I'll refurbish older fan builds, sometimes I just order a 3D print and take a paint brush and get down doing my thing....
Oooopps didn't mean to ramble like this....
Chrisisall
Master Member
Wanna just sell it... to me...?
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