SHOWOFF: Trek Engineering Prop - ODN Scanner

[Robot Monster]

Wow I know it's been said but it's just a great tutorial. You covered so much and did it so very well. This is so useful and answers so many questions. I think it's time to clear out a space in the basement and so some kind of prop thing for myself.

Inspiring.....

 

[Macklin]

Ah, I think I see it now.

That's clay you're using to fill the mold and make the hollowed out area to cast. I wasn't clear on the material used.

 

[Deric]

Excellent work. This is worth archiving for so many reasons.

1. Build of this prop

2. How to hollow cast

3. Casting in silicone

4. Setting the bar that all other how-to's should follow

-Deric

 

[TK648]

Here is a vid showing how to make a mold for thin walled parts

I am posting this only to help others understand the method
that was used to make this fantastic trek prop one of our members made

This is a quicktime vid and you should be able to save it

If I made a mistake by posting this vid link
Please let me know and I will remove it

TK648

Thin Walled Parts Mold

 

[BlindSquirrel]

I add my "Wow." to the pack. That is stunning.

My questions:

1. Were the electronics part of a kit or did you build it from scratch?

2. How did you build the ribbed Greeblies on the handle?

3. After such a clean buld with the styrene, is there an advantage (besides multiple copies) to casting it in resin?

Thanks for the great tutorial. I learned a lot. :thumbsup

 

[Jedi Lawja]

2. The styrene was ribbed when he bought it. You can buy sheet styrene with many different patterns. From ribbed to grids (side-walk) to other textures.

Jay

 

[trekprops.de]

Jep, Jay is right. I used ribbed styrene from Evergreen. The accurate part # is 4529.

1. Were the electronics part of a kit or did you build it from scratch?

I bought the electronics as a finished kit online from a big electronics retailer here in Germany, but then modded everything about it except the chip with the circuit on it. Everything else (LEDs, battery holder, trigger switch) was replaced according to my needs.

3. After such a clean build with the styrene, is there an advantage (besides multiple copies) to casting it in resin?

Hmm, i guess not. :angel I think the electronics could have also easily been installed into the styrene build, so no advantage there. However, casting in resin is the method that is (or was) primarily used during the production of the show, so in terms of accuracy, that's IMHO the way to go. I know that the original "ODN Scanner" was scratch-built from styrene and was one-of-a-kind though, so that's kinda ironic... :rolleyes

After all, i would say that the possibility to do multiple copies was the reason to do the resin casting for me. That way, there is always the option to cast up a new set of parts in case you screw something... Additionally, i knew from the start that i might want to do different versions of this prop, so thats another reason.

 

[HMS Mike]

Hi Terkprops.de,

As the person that made that prop org. for the show, well done. The only differance I can see is I think the detail in the front is a little differant, I will try and find some photo's to check for you. The org. of this prop was made the same way that you made yours. If I remember correctly we made two of these at differant times, but both were made in styrene biuld up.

Once again great job,


HMS Mike

 

[SurferGeek]

Originally posted by HMS Mike@Jan 2 2006, 11:45 AM
Hi Terkprops.de,

As the person that made that prop org. for the show, well done. The only differance I can see is I think the detail in the front is a little differant, I will try and find some photo's to check for you. The org. of this prop was made the same way that you made yours. If I remember correctly we made two of these at differant times, but both were made in styrene biuld up.

Once again great job,


HMS Mike

[snapback]1148776[/snapback]​

Now if that isn't a "Seal of Approval"... :thumbsup

Outstanding scratchbuild of a great obscure Trek prop, shows some great skills and I love looking at tutorials, even if I lack the skills to do it myself.

Looking forward to seeing some good pictures of the original.

 

[trekprops.de]

Originally posted by HMS Mike@Jan 2 2006, 07:45 PM
As the person that made that prop org. for the show, well done. The only differance I can see is I think the detail in the front is a little differant, I will try and find some photo's to check for you. The org. of this prop was made the same way that you made yours. If I remember correctly we made two of these at differant times, but both were made in styrene biuld up.

Once again great job,

[snapback]1148776[/snapback]​

WOW, thank you very much Mr. Moore. I'm totally amazed by getting this kind of praise from the artist who made the original of my replica. :eek Makes me very proud indeed. B)

Yes, I noticed, that there was a second scanner in the later seasons of "Voyager". I thought however, that this was a redressed version of the first one... Very nice to get this bit of info.

I'm VERY much looking forward to seeing these photos.

Thank you again.

 

[Pilot]

Mike has spoken, and the words are Good. :lol

To echo everyone else, I'd like to congratulate you on an *extremely* well presented tutorial/showoff thread. In particular, the information (and pictures.)about the hollow casting is going to be extremely valuable to me for future projects.

I have the entire first page of the thread saved locally with pictures so I can reference it next time I have a project. Simply outstanding work. Thanks for sharing this.

-Rick

 

[trekprops.de]

I'm really happy that my work is actually of some use to other prop-makers, because that was the whole point of doing this.

Oh, and Rick, you might wanna save the first page of this thread again, because I just have updated the last part (buildup) and extended it with some more text I wrote for the ODN Scanner buildup tutorial on my website (www.trekprops.de/tutorials/odn_scanner_3_english). Each step is now accompanied by some more detailled explanations and tips. Enjoy.

 

[trekkieb47]

I really need to get one of these.

 

[superjedi]

That was simply the best tutorial/build-up thread I've ever read. I'm a little misty here. . . *sniff*

FANTASTIC work....
Eric

 

[yodaman]

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