Recasting a Sci-Fi Icon; The Classic Star Trek Communicator
- Thread starter jlong
- Start date
Aluminum
Colour
Armour
Neighbour
Labour
...and I'm in Canada! We love the fact ya'll can't spell!
...the moment this KIT is...
or
...the moment THESE kits ARE...
or
...the moment THESE kits ARE...
W0Wh0 A sneak peek at the pre-release convention flyer. Hats off to the designers. I can not wait!!!!
So I get free Communicator right? :confused
Yeah Doug, I wonder who could have been at the stick when that
little blooper happened?
...Actually we both missed it. I think we must have been distracted by that (finally) decent photo of the Comm:lol
Aluminum
Colour
Armour
Neighbour
Labour
...and I'm in Canada! We love the fact ya'll can't spell!
So strange, I checked two dictionaries and both spellings of aluminium are correct. In fact, as I type, Firefox wants to correct it to aluminum.
Also, what's with the whole gray/grey thing?
Oh yeah, the artwork looks great, too!!!!
mr.predicta
Well-Known Member
Spectacular!!!
phez
Sr Member
Last time I talked to him he was working on the final box art for the Comm kits and a few other jobs at the same time (doesn't it suck when peoples real day jobs get in the way of our prop collecting :lol ). I know the studio had him working on a job for the Air and Space Museum Star Trek display, photo below (I think that exibit may be running now?). I think it is a sneak peak of an upcomming Exploration set.
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Hi guys. As you can probably imagine, I've been busy working away on these Comm kits for everyone. Well, we're almost there. In fact I should have the shells formed, and the instructions finished within the next two weeks. Then we'll just be waiting on the boxes to come in. The way things look right now, I should have kits available in about three weeks. In the mean time, I thought I'd share some progress pix.
Here are all of the "antenna" wires-formed, and ready to go!
...A few thousand screws. Even this detail had to be perfect. Fortunately I was able to get the very same style brass machine screws as were used on the original props.
Here are the control panels. We were able to do them in the exact same, super-thin gauge aluminium as the originals. I'm not sure how Wah managed to do them out of this gauge material by hand, but we had to laser cut them. Boy did they turn out cool.
Bag O' solid brass axles.
And of course the all important, perforated brass antenna. These just had to be done exactly right. I've never really seen this part nailed on a replica before, and I was determined to make this a part I could really be proud of. The funny thing about this part, is that it's quite a bit different than most people think. In fact, once you get your kits, you'll likely look at the antenna and say, "is this right?" Then (not unlike the Hand Phaser kit) you'll build it, take some pictures, and go "WOW that totally is what this thing is supposed to look like!" BTW, for anyone who is worried about soldering the antenna to the wire, I am going to share a little trick with you that makes this a breeze. Seriously, it only takes a couple of minutes to do a beautiful job on this, and you'll never be intimidated by the thought of soldering your own Communicator again. Speaking of which, there were a couple of little "handmade" variants seen on the original props, and I will show you what they are, and how you can easily customize the look of your antenna a bit if you choose to.Below are a couple more pix of the antennas.
Here are some pictures that I posted a few weeks ago over on accuprop. I got so busy that these never made it over here.
I thought long and hard as to whether or not I should put the screw holes in the mid-plates, but decided not to limit the builder by doing so. Some of the originals have the shells more-or-less centered, while others were oriented toward the bottom of the mid-plate. Also, by letting you put the screws where you want, it gives you the opportunity to place the axle and hinge assembly in the position you like best. This too varied on the screen-used props (see below.) Also, I will likely include a photocopy of the original mid-plate for those who may want to copy all of the less idyllic features - i.e. extra screw holes etc.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures, and I'll keep you posted as to exactly when these are ready to ship!
Thanks!
John Long
www.saucersoverhollywood.com
Here are all of the "antenna" wires-formed, and ready to go!
...A few thousand screws. Even this detail had to be perfect. Fortunately I was able to get the very same style brass machine screws as were used on the original props.
Here are the control panels. We were able to do them in the exact same, super-thin gauge aluminium as the originals. I'm not sure how Wah managed to do them out of this gauge material by hand, but we had to laser cut them. Boy did they turn out cool.
Bag O' solid brass axles.
And of course the all important, perforated brass antenna. These just had to be done exactly right. I've never really seen this part nailed on a replica before, and I was determined to make this a part I could really be proud of. The funny thing about this part, is that it's quite a bit different than most people think. In fact, once you get your kits, you'll likely look at the antenna and say, "is this right?" Then (not unlike the Hand Phaser kit) you'll build it, take some pictures, and go "WOW that totally is what this thing is supposed to look like!" BTW, for anyone who is worried about soldering the antenna to the wire, I am going to share a little trick with you that makes this a breeze. Seriously, it only takes a couple of minutes to do a beautiful job on this, and you'll never be intimidated by the thought of soldering your own Communicator again. Speaking of which, there were a couple of little "handmade" variants seen on the original props, and I will show you what they are, and how you can easily customize the look of your antenna a bit if you choose to.Below are a couple more pix of the antennas.
Here are some pictures that I posted a few weeks ago over on accuprop. I got so busy that these never made it over here.
I thought long and hard as to whether or not I should put the screw holes in the mid-plates, but decided not to limit the builder by doing so. Some of the originals have the shells more-or-less centered, while others were oriented toward the bottom of the mid-plate. Also, by letting you put the screws where you want, it gives you the opportunity to place the axle and hinge assembly in the position you like best. This too varied on the screen-used props (see below.) Also, I will likely include a photocopy of the original mid-plate for those who may want to copy all of the less idyllic features - i.e. extra screw holes etc.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures, and I'll keep you posted as to exactly when these are ready to ship!
Thanks!
John Long
www.saucersoverhollywood.com
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