My Star Trek III Communicators

[bcstanding]

I have acquired two STIII comms, which appear to be from the same maker. I've been told these came from a "run that never was" on the ASAP. I am trying to contact who I think the maker is to confirm it (and see if they are willing to do a run of them)!

Here are some quick and dirty pics. I'll take better ones later. The one with the dark blue resin is glued together. I will likely make the one with the light blue resin into a working hero (if I can figure out how to get a comm chirp working by opening the brass antenna).

I may try and sculpt a new piece to turn it into a Trek V communicator, but I don't know what material to use. Any suggestions?

They feel really small to me but they look fairly accurate. Anybody know the correct dimensions so I can see how accurate these are?

 

[Gatekeeper]

Nice comms! IIRC, Billeggler over at ASAP was in charge of that project... something about the metal grids that halted it...? Don't remember.
I'll see if I can find my Coyle ST:III dummy and a couple of unfinished bodies for size comparison.

 

[B-Movie Zombie]

The thread about the Star Trek V Communicator might help you --

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=41461&highlight=star+trek

 

[bcstanding]

Yeah, I was about to post these pics in that Trek V thread but I didn't know if it would be off topic..?

There is a thread on the ASAP that makes it seem that ozstars did these comm bodies and Billeggler took charge of creating the brass lids. Ozstars apparently has health problems and hasn't logged into any prop boards in a very long while. I'm trying to contact him through email to confirm weather or not these are his.

 

[racprops]

Interesting those LOOK just like my model right down to the stop tabs I aqdded to the center section to catch the grill and to the use of a two part top with the blue cast alone and painted and then added to the black upper section.

And to the use of a one part grill. Both one run and a once planed run used a three part grill so it is not those either.

Not that I am complaining: for with out a license from Paramount I can not do ANYTHING Trek.

BUT I might be interested in Talking a Deal with the guy behind these if it is not the guys from Federation Surplus, which I think it is not.

Rich

 

[Gatekeeper]

Thanks for the reminder, bcstanding. Haven't been on ASAP since the Yuku move, so I had forgotten parts of the story.
I spoke to ozstars almost exactly two years ago. He was badly injured in a car accident, and his prop- and modelbuilding suffered from this to the point where he actually doubted whether he could build anything anymore. Hopefully he has recovered - Andy is one of the true gentlemen of the hobby...
Haven't gotten around to recover my Trek stuff yet - it's been packed away due to several house moves during the recent years...

 

[bcstanding]

Thanks for the info!

Here are some more details - all the resin parts are unpainted, however, on the one with the light blue resin, the area behind the triangle/rectangle "LED" is painted red and green, and the two pieces are molded to look like a separate triangle and rectangle but they aren't actually separate.

Also, you can't really see it from the pics, but the "midplate" is a narrow strip of gold tape that sits between the top and bottom halves of the comm body.

 

[racprops]

Is the gold ...gold tape??

Still sounds like one of my early ones, and I also painted the edge with gold paint.

On mine 90% were the center plate was cast as part of the upper section.

AND I did a few runs of dummies models with fake LEDs in them.

Rich

 

[Mechamaniac]

Nice! Bring on the Trek III props! Oh, how I want one of those sweet pre-lit Trek III phasers on Rod.com. I wonder if they're ever going to offer electronics kits for them.

 

[bcstanding]

I'll get better pics of them tonight. The gold tape is barely visible in the pic that shows the disassembled body - you can see where I peeled it off the back of the light blue resin (where it stops the grill from opening any further). There isn't really a midplate, the gold tape is just stuck on the seam between the top and bottom body halves (which are glued together but appear to have been cast as separate pieces).

 

[NakedMoleRat]

If it IS Billeglar, run far away. I made a deal to trade a STTMP wrist comm on a run of 15 I did. He got HIS comm, I NEVER got mine! Five years later and still NOTHING! Run fast and far if you ever deal with him!

 

[Sporak]

Did you get them from Jason?
If so I made them...
I was experimenting with pouring items in color a while back...
Is the white molded in color too?

They would be BillEggler Lids.

Here's a set I made for myself in Division colors...
To explain the blue one...used by the sci vessel.

I always thought these were cast from an original...
If they're yours Rich I appologize.

 

[racprops]

IF they have two part tops, their mine.

The real ones were one part tops.

And again no problem.

Rich

 

[bcstanding]

Yep, these are 2 part tops and the white appears to be molded in white. Here are some more pics.

For size comparison, the III comm is about 2 1/4 x 3 3/4 (roughly). Was the original prop really that small? Here it is next to a Trek V walkie-talkie comm, sorry for the blurriness:

Here is the faux midplate (gold tape stuck on the side, there isn't really a gap or a midplate between the top and bottom body halves):

Closer shot of it open

Both III comms were obviously taken from the same mold - up close, you can easily see minor flaws in the casts of each that are exactly the same. I bought the comm with the dark blue resin from blufive and the other from Treadwell. Thanks for the heads up on Billeglar. From the ASAP thread, it appears he made the blueprints for the grill publicly available and just did a run of 25. Sporak, that's a cool idea molding those in different colors. I'd seen those before but I couldn't remember where. Did yours have a midplate or just gold tape stuck on either top or bottom half at the center line?

 

[greatwazoo42]

I have one made from a kit by Aaron Mac who usually used the name Pooshan on the boards he joins. He'd said he worked with Rich Coyle (Hi! Rich! Long time!) and learned the Fu of the Trek Prop from him. Aaron's is pretty close to those. I'll see if I have a picture of the one in my collection and post it for reference.

Edit: found a shot with it sitting with a STTE Comm and a custom STV I had made.

 

[AJK001]

I've got 2 Star Trek III Comm's. One of them is from Starland that I got about 10 years ago with Lights and Sound, it even has a brass midplate. The other I got last year off of Ebay and it has lights only and a gold painted stipe for the midplate. I believe it came from the run done on ASAP, but I'm not really sure.

I have pictures of both of them somewhere and will try and find them and post them.

I've been looking for a ST V Comm forever and I always seem to miss out on them. Someone was supposed to do a run of ST III and maybe ST V Comms last year, but the deal fell through.

 

[AJK001]

Here are some pictures of my Starland Star Trek III Comm. On the middle picture, you can see the switch on the side that activates the Lights and Sound. Starland realeased an updated version that did away with the switch and used a rare earth magnet to switch them on and off whenever the grid was opened. I was able to post larger pictures, so you can see the details a lot better now.

 

[racprops]

Well it looks like all are based on my old runs.

I did not want to Name Arron but yes he was one of the ones that did a great run, as his had a three part grill, the side rails added as were the ST 3 units from ILM for the film.

PS on ST 4/5/6 my one part grills were used as were them on the old Universal Studios Star Trek Show...

Rich

 

[AJK001]

Here are a couple of pictures of the Star Trek III Communicator that I got off of Ebay last year. It has lights only, that are turned on using a button on the back of the Comm. The grill appears to be the same as the one that Greatwazoo42 pictured above. It has a painted gold stripe for the midplate. I do not know who made it, but someone told me it was from the run done on ASAP a few years back. I don't know if this is the case or not.

 

[robn1]

I'm just itchin' to scratch build one of these.
Does anyone have definitive measurements?
I've seen lots of great pics, but not much size reference.

Rob