Show-off thread: TNG PADD

[Mr. Nagata]

I just wanted to show-off my new TNG padd. It's scratch-built from sheet PVC. The button is custom cut from aluminum. The whole thing is painted with Krylon Dove gray.

As I was researching this piece, I found that there was virtually no threads or info about the TNG style padds. Everyone seems to love that fugly Voyager version. I kid. It's cool in its own way, but I'm a big fan of TNG and it seems like the TNG props have fallen by the wayside. Most of the TNG Padd replicas I've seen aren't very accurate either. They're either too thin, or the details and edges are too sharp, or the details on the front are actually cut into the surface of the PADD. So I decided to make something that was a little closer to what was seen on screen. The picture shows the side and the back of the PADD as well.

There was a lot of variants of this PADD, but this was the one I was trying to copy:

 

[phase pistol]

:thumbsup

It's full of PADDdy goodness.

- k

 

[blufive]

Nice job, man. I love the TNG props.

 

[jhusel]

Very nice bud. You do really great work

Jhusel

 

[MattMunson]

Dude, another great trek prop. EXCELLENT work. All of your comments are correct, in that most TNG padd replicas get at least one detail wrong. The primary offender is the 'carved' brown detailing.

Truly excellent work.

Too bad my tricorder is better than yours.

 

[Jedi Lawja]

Sweet. Do you have a template you could post? I made a mini-version of that very PADD a couple years ago. Approx. 4" tall. Intended on making it a 'user manual' for a TNG Phaser but never got around to making the screen graphics. ;\

Jay

 

[trekprops.de]

Fantastic job.

 

[phase pistol]

Padd-tacular.


"The Chase"

"Conundrum"

- k

 

[Mr. Nagata]

Thanks everyone. I did make a template for cutting the pieces which I will post later. It's a fairly simple build-up.

Having scanned every episode of TNG now for prop images, I've seen about 3 or 4 versions of this small padd, and each one differs by the brown graphics on the front (which, having observed the actors using it, would seem to be some type of scroll padd like an ipod). The recessed line on one or two of them is painted black as well. Others are just dove gray. Several of them have that brown graphic on the back as well.

There's also a variant of the small padd that has a much larger screen, about twice as high, and all the buttons/brown graphic details are crunched on the bottom.

 

[phase pistol]

I was looking at early first-season TNG PADDs recently and found some interesting anomalies...

This one from "Lonely Among Us" has lights (the little green squares on the front), and check out the chunk on the back. The PADD also seems unusually thick as well.

We see this PADD early in the episode, it may or may not be the same prop.

Most of the "PADD" appearances in these early episodes feature props that are simply very thin sheets of colored plexi with graphics on the front, sometimes with the familiar oblong red Starfleet stickers on the back and or the front.

This thin PADD is usually held in one hand with a thick flashlight-stylus in the other hand... the actor usually scans the PADD and sometimes wall displays with the flashlight.

In later seasons Dr Crusher would still use a smaller version of the thin plexi PADD, but with a much thinner pencil-stylus.


- k

 

[SurferGeek]

Of all the props from TNG (as well as DS9 and Voyager) I think I love the PADDs the most. They are as common as a pad of paper and pop up in almost every scene. Gotta love 'em.

Here's a couple of that first season light up PADD that Karl capped above. This is from an Ebay auction many years ago.

Here's a "rare" shot of the insides of a PADD...

Nice little collection of some out of the ordinary PADDs.

Oh, and the lit PADD above is based directly off of Rick Sternbach's drawings for TNG PADDs.

 

[WinstonWolf359]

Neat. I've been wanting a TNG PADD for a long time, but I've never seen one done well before and like others already mentioned most of the PADD's out there are the VOY version, which I don't care for either.

Nice job.

 

[phase pistol]

:confused Those seem like very sharp TNG screencaps... are they from PAL-format DVDs or something?

My NTSC region-1 DVDs seem like they were mastered from VHS tapes. :lol

- k

 

[WinstonWolf359]

Yeah, those are nice screen caps.

The picture quality on TNG's first season really sucked something awful, even first run. Which is surprising since it was the most expensive show on TV for it's time. Of course looking at it now, it's hard to see where that money actually went, it sure wasn't towards the scripts... :unsure

 

[phase pistol]

Oh the spaceship effects shots in the early first season are astonishingly bad... the ships look like they came over at HALF-NTSC resolution... the images have stairstep jaggies, lines through 'em, it looks like they were chroma-keyed in off of video, for Sagan's sake.. :rolleyes

What did they use, an Amiga?

As to the scripts, well you know Roddenberry was still around in those days, and he rewrote everything. The actual science-fiction writers which he hired were pretty steamed about it, apparently. Just like on TOS.

- k

 

[SPDOmegaRanger]

Dam that padd kicks ass but lit up and non lit up awesome padd playskool