Great hearing about your experiences back in the day! These early conventions were indeed memorable. As to the sand cast aluminum phasers, those were made by Jim Kirk, Starfleet Command. A copy of Brad's phaser, one which I still have to this day. The hand phaser portion was vacuum formed plastic, removable, and the phaser contained no electronics. Brad's phasers are made from polyester resin with an aluminum tubed handle... for the entire production run. The hand phaser was not removable on the functioning units as it was epoxied in place.
Hmm.
The one my friend and I saw clearly had a full complement of electronics and wires everywhere inside.
Is it possible that Brad purchased and used one of Star Fleet Command’s copies of his PHASER and stuffed it with his electronics?
Was Brad aware of what Star Fleet Command props company was doing with his PHASER prop design and had some sort of agreement?
My parents actually purchase a non-functioning communucator prop and non-functioning PHASER II pistol, for my 14 or 15th B-Day, from Star Fleet Command, when the company first appeared in Starlog and I ordered their catalogue of “screen accurate” Star Trek props.
I still have these. The Phaser does not look like Brad’s. It is NOT even made of metal. It feels like some sort of plastic/fibreglas.
Definitely NOT resin feeling or has the weight/heft of resin.
These are still nice, if not completely 100% accurate.
The metal grid cover on my Star Fleet Command communuctor prop was either plated or sprayed gold and the plating is wearing off.
Also, the drilled holes in metal grid cover, I found out over time, are smaller than those on the real, screened used props.
So, it is harder to see through to the inside of the communicator, through these holes, when the grid cover is closed.
Also, the cover is not as wide on its width, and does not really match any if the screen used cimmunicator props or any of my other communicator prop replicas.
On my PHASER II pistol from SFC props, the P1 is not removable and uses thin reflective tape for the P1 side rails.
The striping tape is thinner and not a thick in material, as is found on Mr. Nelson’s PHASER pistol.
I don't even think P1 side rail tape is even made from aluminium. It is just a very thin silvery reflective tape, similar to the silver heating system duct tape, you can still readily find at any hardware store/superstore.
Also, my SFC non-working prop PHASER has a different style, different looking top rear dial than the one Mr. Nelson used for his PHASER pistol prop design.
It was definitely Brad Nelson at this small, local Trek convention/event. ( he clearly introduced himself to my friend and I ) and the one and only PHASER prop he had with him was one with all of working electronic sounds and lights and the main P2 body and handle/grip were made of aluminium, No doubts about these details.
I even remember that Grace Lee Whitney had been paid to attend, as a guest star/speaker at this convention and we sat and listened to her in a small meeting room, at one point, during the 3-day run of this convention, taking place in a small, one level hotel, where this convention was being held.
My best friend and I were super impressed with the extreme high quality and materials used in this prop.
Yes, the P1 did feel like it had been made from some sort of plastic or resin material and it was partially hollowed out, on the bottom, to act as a cover, to cover all the electronics and wires inside of that cavity.
Brad showed us how to lift out the smaller P1 hand PHASER ( cover ) that revealed all the internal electronics inside of a hollowed out cavity in the P2 pistol body. The material thickness walls of this prop, in the hollowed cavity in the P1 area of the P2 pistol body were left bare metal/aluminium, and not painted, like the rest of the prop, I felt this area and knew immediately that it was some sort of metal ( it was sort of bare, rough feeling metal ), more than likely, aluminium from the feel of the material edges.
The PHASER powered up from the thin P1 dial and controlled the sound volume. The battery power level indicator worked. The center power light on the P1 lit up, but I cannot remember of it lit up blue, red or green, when the PHASER was powered up.
The top rear control dial on the PHASER 2 pistol body controlled the strobing light bulb in the front emitter nozzle.
All shiny parts on this PHASER look to be all aluminium parts, as well.
The PHASER Brad had at this small convention WAS a P2 body and grip made of sand casted aluminium.
And that PHASER, also, had that early, ridiculous looking reflective rainbow sticker automotive tape material for the P1 heat aspirator plate/grille.
That rainbow sticker, to my friend and I, always look more decorative looking than someting that looked functional, like on the orignal ST-TOS small P1 hand PHASERS.
No mistakes in my memory about any of this.
It was Mr. Nelson with a casted aluminium body PHASER pistol!
That is what my best friend and I strongly remember from those days and “took away“ from that one small, local Trek convention.
This memory stuck with us, for what seems our entire lifetime of being Star Trek fans!
Did Brad have plans, at that time, and considered making his PHASERS from casted aluminium?
Was that one of the reasons he was charging $150 for his working PHASER 2 pistol props?
The one my best friend and I saw WAS one of Brad's PHASER pistol design made in aluminium.
It was painted, but had that rough, “textured”, sand casted finish to all the aluminium pieces, Even the handle/grip!
The P2 pistol body and handle were painted a light blue ( almost robin’s egg blue ) with a black small P1 hand PHASER.
My BF and I share a very clear memory about this day.
