Julien’s Upcoming Hero Phaser & Communicator Auction

I would bet that they sent the Conscience / Lenore / Riley to Wah first as a sort of pathfinder, because it was the least desirable of the four heroes with its short emitter, just in case they did not like the modifications he did; they would still have 3 of the best heroes on hand. After they got the modified phaser back, kind of a proof of what they would look like, then they sent the other 3. It's all speculation of course but it seems a logical progression. You would not want to risk all of your $7000* dollar props!

* Herb Solo mentioned this figure in a letter to Ernie Scanlon from 9-28-66 where he writes " . . . have you ever heard how much our phaser pistols cost us for STAR TREK? Would you believe a minimum of $7000.00? And would you believe that they were not insertable after completion?"

Makes sense.
 
Yes, since a tight shot of a prop like that is known as an insert shot.

Exactly. And hero props are often specifically designed for insert shots.

The shots of the TMOST phaser in "Court Martial" and "The Gamesters of Triskellion" are good examples of inserts. Special closeups, often shot after the main filming of a scene. They're INSERTED into the primary footage.
 
Exactly. And hero props are often specifically designed for insert shots.

The shots of the TMOST phaser in "Court Martial" and "The Gamesters of Triskellion" are good examples of inserts. Special closeups, often shot after the main filming of a scene. They're INSERTED into the primary footage.
Yes, as well as shots like the classic insert of a letter that an actor is supposed to be reading. Those are all inserts.
 
Hitchcock did great inserts...

1847919-photo-u93.jpeg
 
And, of course, inserts often just feature stand-ins holding the props and wearing the costumes.

For example, the insert close-up of Spock mind-melding with McCoy in THE WRATH OF KHAN features someone else's hand touching DeForest Kelley. Leonard Nimoy was upset when he saw it, because he would have arranged his fingers on Kelley's face in a very specific way.
 
Just to change the focus a bit I really liked the pics made available of the Beta hero comm and decided to finish off a little comm
that was sitting around for a while. I actually like how it turned out. I didn't have a Minerva stop watch but did have an old Apollo
stop watch so I used it.

Outstanding build, Gary!
 
And, of course, inserts often just feature stand-ins holding the props and wearing the costumes.

For example, the insert close-up of Spock mind-melding with McCoy in THE WRATH OF KHAN features someone else's hand touching DeForest Kelley. Leonard Nimoy was upset when he saw it, because he would have arranged his fingers on Kelley's face in a very specific way.
Yeah, and they're often not even shot by the main unit. Sometimes they break off a splinter unit (a couple of guys and a camera), or farm that out to the second unit if there is one.
 
Yeah, and they're often not even shot by the main unit. Sometimes they break off a splinter unit (a couple of guys and a camera), or farm that out to the second unit if there is one.

Exactly. The principals aren't usually needed for them, so inserts are lower-priority than main-unit shooting.
 
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I'm curious what this little detail might be. I never picked it up in the Jein.

TMOSTdet100.jpg


Also, and I feel really late to the party on this one, but being a fiberglass shell, I don't see any fibers in the P2. This one or the Jein. It looks more like just some kind of JB Weld type epoxy resin to me.
 
Yeah, the black and white pistols had three screws, which definitely seems like overkill, so Wah was eliminating the one screw in the middle already. I agree he must have realized the rear fin clip was enough to hold it all together.
Well with the rear fins he added there was no need for the third screw as they could clamp the rear of the body together if they were cut correctly.
 
I'm curious what this little detail might be. I never picked it up in the Jein.

View attachment 1843890

Also, and I feel really late to the party on this one, but being a fiberglass shell, I don't see any fibers in the P2. This one or the Jein. It looks more like just some kind of JB Weld type epoxy resin to me.
Looks like a ground wire.

The shells are probably one layer of sheet fiberglass, which if the builders know what they are doing should be more than enough.
 
I'm curious what this little detail might be. I never picked it up in the Jein.

View attachment 1843890

Also, and I feel really late to the party on this one, but being a fiberglass shell, I don't see any fibers in the P2. This one or the Jein. It looks more like just some kind of JB Weld type epoxy resin to me.
Could be an anchor for a hook or screw that was just abandoned.
 
Well with the rear fins he added there was no need for the third screw as they could clamp the rear of the body together if they were cut correctly.

I alluded to this when we were talking about the midgrades, but Wah sacrificed the cleaner lines of the scribed rear fins in order to build the chunkier clip/fins and eliminate a screw.

Aside from the added details somewhat detracting from the sleekness and austerity of the initial design (while being more visually interesting), every change he made was an improvement.
 
I alluded to this when we were talking about the midgrades, but Wah sacrificed the cleaner lines of the scribed rear fins in order to build the chunkier clip/fins and eliminate a screw.

Aside from the added details somewhat detracting from the sleekness and austerity of the initial design (while being more visually interesting), every change he made was an improvement.

I wonder if, on some level, that's why I really like the midgrades and prefer them over the hero; they essentially have the extra detail and color scheme of the hero but keep the cleaner lines with the painted rear fins and side rail...
 
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