Bloop
Sr Member
'Severance' is one of my current favorites, so when I saw this prop in the 2nd episode of season 2, I snapped a couple pics of my TV:
The colors in the first pic are way off because it's a pic of a screen, so it's a lot more blue than it was onscreen. I adjusted the second image on my phone so it matched the image onscreen better, then I took it into photoshop and didva white balance to try to get it closer to how it might look in real life - the show seems to be color graded with heavy blue tones.
I did a reverse image search in google and found out it's the Norelco Pocket Memo micro-cassette recorder from the 80s (model LGH 0085/54). There's a lot of used ones available for purchase online, so I bought a relatively inexpensive non-working one that was in pretty good-looking shape:
Disassembled, under room lighting and flash:
Even with the color adjustments to my screen pics, the real recorder is still not as blue as the prop in the show. I don't know how accurate my adjustments were, if I removed enough of the blue color grading, but I decided to go with a light blue paint for the body - Rust-oleum Painters Touch 2X Ultra Cover paint + primer in Satin French Blue (got it on sale for $5.00). It still could be too blue, but sonce the onscreen prop looks very blue, I think it's a decent match for displaying under normal lighting. And even though the silver parts of the recorder are actual aluminum metal, the prop appears to have those parts painted over (note the "orange peel" appearance in my screen pics). I assume their cassette recorder had a few nicks and dings, as mine did, so they opted to paint it to cover the flaws. So I'm also painting the aluminum with Rust-oleum Painters Touch metallic Aluminum (I already had a can anyway).
I filled the small dents and scratches with Bondo Glazing & Spot Putty, sanding with 400 and 600 grit sandpaper after it dried, and repeated until I was satisfied. I had also removed the strap (which isn't present on the screen prop). It screwed into the top of the recorder, so there was a threaded hole for the screw. It's impossible to tell if they filled it or not bevause that part isn't seen on screen, so I went with what I thought would look the best and filled the hole with Bondo. There's also a plug next to the screw hole. I don't know what purpose it serves, but you can see in later pics that I eventually removed it for sanding and painting:
I also wet sanded the speaker grate due to some scratches (and pushed out a small dent) - I'm not sure if they painted that part too. I was thinking of only painting the flat aluminum sections, but after sanding, ithe grate looks a little off from the screen shots, so I'l probably paint the whole section with the aluminum paint. I'm gling to try for a light coat of paint so the details don't get lost.
Next up, painting.
The colors in the first pic are way off because it's a pic of a screen, so it's a lot more blue than it was onscreen. I adjusted the second image on my phone so it matched the image onscreen better, then I took it into photoshop and didva white balance to try to get it closer to how it might look in real life - the show seems to be color graded with heavy blue tones.
I did a reverse image search in google and found out it's the Norelco Pocket Memo micro-cassette recorder from the 80s (model LGH 0085/54). There's a lot of used ones available for purchase online, so I bought a relatively inexpensive non-working one that was in pretty good-looking shape:
Disassembled, under room lighting and flash:
Even with the color adjustments to my screen pics, the real recorder is still not as blue as the prop in the show. I don't know how accurate my adjustments were, if I removed enough of the blue color grading, but I decided to go with a light blue paint for the body - Rust-oleum Painters Touch 2X Ultra Cover paint + primer in Satin French Blue (got it on sale for $5.00). It still could be too blue, but sonce the onscreen prop looks very blue, I think it's a decent match for displaying under normal lighting. And even though the silver parts of the recorder are actual aluminum metal, the prop appears to have those parts painted over (note the "orange peel" appearance in my screen pics). I assume their cassette recorder had a few nicks and dings, as mine did, so they opted to paint it to cover the flaws. So I'm also painting the aluminum with Rust-oleum Painters Touch metallic Aluminum (I already had a can anyway).
I filled the small dents and scratches with Bondo Glazing & Spot Putty, sanding with 400 and 600 grit sandpaper after it dried, and repeated until I was satisfied. I had also removed the strap (which isn't present on the screen prop). It screwed into the top of the recorder, so there was a threaded hole for the screw. It's impossible to tell if they filled it or not bevause that part isn't seen on screen, so I went with what I thought would look the best and filled the hole with Bondo. There's also a plug next to the screw hole. I don't know what purpose it serves, but you can see in later pics that I eventually removed it for sanding and painting:
I also wet sanded the speaker grate due to some scratches (and pushed out a small dent) - I'm not sure if they painted that part too. I was thinking of only painting the flat aluminum sections, but after sanding, ithe grate looks a little off from the screen shots, so I'l probably paint the whole section with the aluminum paint. I'm gling to try for a light coat of paint so the details don't get lost.
Next up, painting.
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I took the recorder apart several days before I started filling and sanding, and forgot which end the strap was on. Not a huge mistake, and I can undo it, but still, it's something I should've checked before I started. "Measure twice, cut once" and whatnot.
