MIB: Agent K's Cellphone and Switchblade

I wish I could take credit for that but the truth is I mostly funded it lol. Zombie Killer and Skylu 3D Design were the main guys that pulled that off. That being said it's still my favorite thing I own! I talked to Skylu about modeling a version that's a couple solid piece sort of like the ICONS was going to be that way maybe a few members could get their hands on one but we never spoke any further about it after that. Would be a great thing to print mold and cast in resin to have plated though. Even though I own this one that has all the bells and whistles I still wish I could find some photos of the ICONS prototype. I've only seen a single photo of it.
That's so cool you were able to pull the whole thing together. No one made such a detailed one before, so you're first to the party.

The ICONS one was pretty cool. You're in luck with a pic. My wife and I got to tour ICONS when they were in business, and I took a pic of her holding the Tri-Barrel. These were the days before cell phones and digital pics, so I took it with real film! Lol. The quality isn't great, but I tried to crop in close.
 

Attachments

  • Icons Tri-Barrel.jpg
    Icons Tri-Barrel.jpg
    119.8 KB · Views: 107
That's so cool you were able to pull the whole thing together. No one made such a detailed one before, so you're first to the party.

The ICONS one was pretty cool. You're in luck with a pic. My wife and I got to tour ICONS when they were in business, and I took a pic of her holding the Tri-Barrel. These were the days before cell phones and digital pics, so I took it with real film! Lol. The quality isn't great, but I tried to crop in close.
Holy crap that's incredible! Thanks a ton of the pic, really cool seeing that! I've owned a bunch of the rubber castings of the Tri-Barrel but they were always in such bad condition. I owned a fiberglass cast which was a huge improvement and I think Zombie Killer is still retooling that one. Maybe if there was enough interest eventually I could try and fund the model for the Tri. Since the files for mine were made using measurements from an original casting as reference I'm assuming that's as close as possible to the real thing. Do you remember much about the ICONS version? Was it just a solid chromed piece? It looks like the mold lines were on the mag and chromed as well in the one picture I have. I remember the barrel nozzles were also different than the original prop.
 
That's cool you owned castings. If you took measurements from the casting for your build, it would be very accurate. I would love to get in on a run of your Tri-Barrel! That would be amazing! If I remember correctly from your original thread, you had all parts 3D printed then plated? What company did the 3D printing for you? Were the prints super clean without much need for sanding?

I remember the ICONS version very well. We developed a couple friendships there, and I would visit them every time I was in California on business. I think the Tri-Barrel was the first prop I would want to see when I was there. Lol. The prototype from the pic was one solid piece. The slide didn't move. It was plated resin, but the plating job was terrible. They said the plating would improve once it went into production, and the slide would work. They planned to make it really cool. Sad it never came to fruition, but your version is probably the best one out there. Not sure their version would've been close. :)
 
That's so cool you were able to pull the whole thing together. No one made such a detailed one before, so you're first to the party.

The ICONS one was pretty cool. You're in luck with a pic. My wife and I got to tour ICONS when they were in business, and I took a pic of her holding the Tri-Barrel. These were the days before cell phones and digital pics, so I took it with real film! Lol. The quality isn't great, but I tried to crop in close.
Yeah, Skylu essentially printed and finished every single part of the gun and a couple cracked in shipping so I had to refinish a few spots. Hit a huge problem though, because when I sent the parts to be plated they said since it's a 3D print the parts were causing problems. I guess they had to redo them a few times to get the plating to take, and even then it's not perfect but good enough for me. Also, since there was so many layers of plating it made the clearance less and less so the parts had to be altered to fit together. That being said it's a beast now so I'm glad I did it haha. Never going to plate another 3D print though. If I somehow did the Tri-Barrel I'd mold it in resin for sure. Hoping the Pulsar gets finished before the short film but I'm waiting on a couple parts for that one still. Would be a hell of a lot easier to plate though being a fiberglass casting.

Still nothing from Hedi. Might try and give her a call Monday.
 
Yeah, Skylu essentially printed and finished every single part of the gun and a couple cracked in shipping so I had to refinish a few spots. Hit a huge problem though, because when I sent the parts to be plated they said since it's a 3D print the parts were causing problems. I guess they had to redo them a few times to get the plating to take, and even then it's not perfect but good enough for me. Also, since there was so many layers of plating it made the clearance less and less so the parts had to be altered to fit together. That being said it's a beast now so I'm glad I did it haha. Never going to plate another 3D print though. If I somehow did the Tri-Barrel I'd mold it in resin for sure. Hoping the Pulsar gets finished before the short film but I'm waiting on a couple parts for that one still. Would be a hell of a lot easier to plate though being a fiberglass casting.

Still nothing from Hedi. Might try and give her a call Monday.
Wow. That's a complicated and involved process. It was totally worth it though. It came out amazing. Hope it becomes a run someday.

That's strange Heidi didn't respond yet. She was always quick with communication. Her website used to be huge with tons of pics. Now it's sparse and even the secure site certificate has expired. I wonder if Covid and lockdowns over the last couple years drove her out of business. :(
 
This might've been posted before, but I just discovered it. I remember Rick Gamez saying he had 2 assistants during the building of all the original props for MiB. One of his assistants posted this video on October 2020. Some of the best close-ups of the props I've seen so far. Also a tutorial on how the brain aliens in the Tri-Barrel were made. Enjoy!

 
I finally found a couple good pics of the original Microtech HALO on a magazine. According to the article in the magazine, the original HALO was Microtech's first knife. It definitely looks like the knife they used in MiB. It's an OTF (Out The Front) knife, but it's not "double action." It pops out, but you have to manually reset it. I thought this was interesting. Most current OTF knives today are double action.
 

Attachments

  • Original Microtech Halo 01.png
    Original Microtech Halo 01.png
    977.4 KB · Views: 79
  • Original Microtech Halo 02.jpg
    Original Microtech Halo 02.jpg
    89.3 KB · Views: 96
  • Original Microtech Halo 03.jpg
    Original Microtech Halo 03.jpg
    71.1 KB · Views: 85
Whoa! Definitely a good find! I tried calling Heidi yesterday and left a message but haven't heard back. I'm assuming either her business closed down or she's retired now. Unfortunately that's going to make it hard to get a good replica of the knife now. I guess if worst comes to worst we can always have a nice 3D model made of it. I did that with the Deatomizer and lots of other stuff and have usually always had good results.
 
That's a bummer about Heidi. Maybe she'll respond to your message, but I was thinking the same thing. Business closed or retired.

The 3D model route would work. I'm working with a 3D CAD designer on some other projects and sent him pics of the knife. Turns out he's a huge MiB fan and wants to take on the project. The 3D designer of your Deatomizer is amazing also. He would do a great job.

I watched several YouTube videos on OTF knives and how they work. Here's a great video explaining it:


We could find a similar OTF knife and have the handle designed around the profile. This OTF from Ravencrest Tactical is similar to the HALO:


This site also has some great OTF knives that are super inexpensive and are similar to the HALO (halfway down the page).


A more difficult route: If we can't find a knife close enough to the HALO, we could take apart an inexpensive OTF and trace the knife inside. Then have it designed and waterjet cut to replace the one inside. We would need to sharpen and temper it, but knife makers on YouTube show how. :)
 
Was able to snag one of the Elite J2s to add to my MiB collection! Here it is with a chrome plated kit I bought long before any prop replica companies made them. Also a shot of the Cricket, Deatomizer, and Tri-Barrel ;) Just have to get the cell phone, knife, and a few of the other little props to round it out.

994080FE-AB0A-4EBB-BCE7-6212B9636A61.jpeg

C824C2E3-ABEB-4BF7-8FDE-CACA27E95C66.jpeg

67417C10-86F2-4013-A35C-B768C8DD639C.jpeg
 
Hey everyone, I know I’m late to the party on this thread, but I figured I’d just throw this in because I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else mention it.
I remember reading somewhere that Tommy Lee Jones hated the communicator prop because it was super fragile and would almost fall apart every time he had to use it in a scene. I saw a pic of it once and it was actually held together with a tiny hinge and very small screws. I’ll have to see if I can find the pics, but as I recall, the actual prop looked pretty rickety, lol!
All that being said, I’d still want one for my collection!
Here’s a pic of my collection for no reason at all…
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1592.jpeg
    IMG_1592.jpeg
    2.3 MB · Views: 45
Heidi doesn't work commissions. She sells what she has, if anything. I e-mailed her last week asking if she can replicate the Microtech knife. I would mail it to her then she applies her metal on it then send it back to me for a fee but she won't do it. Real shame too.
 
Heidi doesn't work commissions. She sells what she has, if anything. I e-mailed her last week asking if she can replicate the Microtech knife. I would mail it to her then she applies her metal on it then send it back to me for a fee but she won't do it. Real shame too.

Bummer. She used to do commissions. She did several MiB commissions for me, but that was several years back. She even signed COAs back then. She’s such an amazingly talented artist! :)
 
I'm glad I got in while she was still making them for fans. I wonder why it all changed? :)
Maybe she's kinda retired? Completely unrelated but there was this one person who would make dog and cat coffee mugs. Real unique & she would always sell out in seconds. She retired last month because she doesn't have the energy to make mugs by hand & she feels old even though she's not that old but it's all reasonable explanations as to why she stopped. Her community is still huge too & everyone loves her but she won't make anymore. My guess it's a similar case with Heidi.
 
Maybe she's kinda retired? Completely unrelated but there was this one person who would make dog and cat coffee mugs. Real unique & she would always sell out in seconds. She retired last month because she doesn't have the energy to make mugs by hand & she feels old even though she's not that old but it's all reasonable explanations as to why she stopped. Her community is still huge too & everyone loves her but she won't make anymore. My guess it's a similar case with Heidi.
You're probably right. She's been making jewelry for a long time. Maybe time to hang it up and relax? I'm bummed, though. I wanted to commission the Jeebs necklace she made for the film. :)
 

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top