My TNG Cricket Build

[Dave Porter]

Well, as I have never made a build thread, it was about time.

I bought a cricket kit from Myron about a year ago, and never got around to building it. But, when I met up with Gerry (gmprops) at the Toronto prop party, and got a new set of boards from him, I know I had to make it.

First, all the parts.

Myron's kit with Gerry's boards.

Using a Dollar store car, I was able to get the battery terminals from that for my phaser.

Then I needed to fix the emitter. This kit was Myron's earlier one, and it didn't have any space for Gerry's new LED, so a little time on the drill press fixed that.

I also painted the buttons and sealed them, to save me more troubles later in painting.

Now, I thought I took a pic of the 2 halves, but I guess I didn't, so here's Myron's pic of what is going on inside.

Mine looks similar inside to this pic.

And then I glued the 2 halves together. I sanded the groove to make it easier to Bondo.

All that's left to do is to bondo in the sides and emitter, smooth it out and paint it.

So there you are. My first build thread.

 

[Michael Bergeron]

Nice quick project! I need more of these.

A full set of phasers, tricorders, & PADDs are on my "one day" list!

 

[Robiwon]

Great first prop build! This is an excellent little kit and a blast to build. The board is excellent as well. The ramping power meter is just too cool! Looking forward to the completed phaser. What season color scheme are you going to do?

 

[Dave Porter]

Probably do the later season colour scheme, with the black on the emitter head.

Thanks for looking!

 

[andrewphung]

This is starting to look really great. I might need to follow in your footsteps with this build.

 

[Robiwon]

Well, for a little insperation, here is one of the two I did.

 

[Dave Porter]

That's the one I had planned to do.

Thanks for the pic. Good reference.

 

[Dave Porter]

And tonight, I was able to fill in the seams,

and tape up the cricket for a primer coat (and to see where I need some touchups in the filler)

 

[Robiwon]

Your moving along well on this. I used automotive DupliColor brand paints on mine. They gave me a nice hard finish that holds up to handling quite well. Trust me, when you get this done, your going to play with it a lot!

Your build is motivating me to finish my rebuild of my second Cricket with scooped out emitter!

 

[Dave Porter]

Good tip, thanks.

Which color is the best match?

 

[Caveneau]

Nice work.

 

[Robiwon]

When I get home from work today I'll post the names of the colors I used.

 

[Dave Porter]

Thanks.

I did get some today that looks good (to me, at least) but would be interested to know what you used.

 

[Michael Bergeron]

Gotta love the duplicolor paints. I used them on my STIII phaser and now try to use them for anything I can.

 

[Robiwon]

O.K. I dont have the cap for the silver, but I think it was called "Bright Silver" and was listed as a GM color. For the band and the thumb pad I used DupliColor "BGM0536 Gunmetal Metalic (83 WA8915) Replaces T177". I know the band is supposed to be a bronze color but I couldn't find anything suitable.

Here are a few more pics for you.

 

[Dave Porter]

I am using a different silver, but it still GM one. I like the look of it.

And I got a dark grey for the accent colour as well.

I have a base coat on so far, and am still fixing little issues, but hope to have it completed this weekend.

What type of black did you use for the emitter?

 

[Robiwon]

First, I shot the whole Phaser with DupliColor primer. For the emitter I think I just used House of Color (Walmart brand I think) gloss black. It was a pain masking off the vent windows on the emitter though. I used Tamiya yellow tape on it. I cut it into a narrow strip and then cut slices to fit the windows. Use a toothpick to peel the tape up when dry.

 

[Dave Porter]

I have some gloss black I was planning to use, so thanks for the info.

 

[Robiwon]

Any updates on your build?

 

[Dave Porter]

It's at the painting stage.

But, being so hot, it's not going too well. Just the back is giving me issues.