Star Trek TOS Fiberglass Midgrade Phaser Build

[Tripper]

I’ve had some very early shanko shells sitting in a box for nearly 16 years and thought it was finally time to do something with them. Many thanks Nicksdad for the excellent metal parts and the grip. Shanko’s early shells had a lot of inaccuracies to them so I reshaped as much as I could. Flattened out the top of the forehead, thinned out the bulge around the sides below and beneath the side rails, flattened the slope above the trigger, and slimmed down the whole thing to match the west coast mid grade photos. The P1 had to be reshaped as well. The area beneath and aft of the thumbwheel/power meter got flattened out to match the slope the screen used mids had. The whole thing got a semi-flat black undercoat, then the P1 is Zynolyte Dark Grey, the P2 is Krylon Shadow Grey, and the grip is Rustoleum Dark Bronze misted over dull aluminum. All 3 of my old cans of shadow grey nearly exploded on me for some reason. Luckily enough, buying a new can off amazon worked out, looks like the color hasn’t changed. Dull aluminum for the silver bits with a black wash over the whole phaser including the metal. I went for the authentic screen used look but tried to keep it tame for the most part. Steel wool was used to cut down the top coat along the edges. I wasn’t precious about protecting the previous coats or when using glue. It got messy while I was building it and it just seemed to add more character. A lot of the weathering you see was from the black wash mixing in with the slight tackiness from the clear expoxy that found its way into places it shouldn’t be, but it felt right. Sealed it all in with a light semi-gloss clear coat. I bought some mil-spec fabric velcro for the P1 that seemed to have a tighter grouping to it and felt more like the authentic vintage velcro. Over all a really fun build! I’ve got all the parts now for a hero so I’ll get around to that hopefully this year. Here are a handful of shots from my phone-

 

[nivektunk]

She's beautiful. I'm always cruising EBay for a set of those shells. No luck yet.
Cheers,
Kevin

 

[Captain Dunsel]

I’ve had some very early shanko shells sitting in a box for nearly 16 years and thought it was finally time to do something with them. Many thanks Nicksdad for the excellent metal parts and the grip. Shanko’s early shells had a lot of inaccuracies to them so I reshaped as much as I could. Flattened out the top of the forehead, thinned out the bulge around the sides below and beneath the side rails, flattened the slope above the trigger, and slimmed down the whole thing to match the west coast mid grade photos. The P1 had to be reshaped as well. The area beneath and aft of the thumbwheel/power meter got flattened out to match the slope the screen used mids had. The whole thing got a semi-flat black undercoat, then the P1 is Zynolyte Dark Grey, the P2 is Krylon Shadow Grey, and the grip is Rustoleum Dark Bronze misted over dull aluminum. All 3 of my old cans of shadow grey nearly exploded on me for some reason. Luckily enough, buying a new can off amazon worked out, looks like the color hasn’t changed. Dull aluminum for the silver bits with a black wash over the whole phaser including the metal. I went for the authentic screen used look but tried to keep it tame for the most part. Steel wool was used to cut down the top coat along the edges. I wasn’t precious about protecting the previous coats or when using glue. It got messy while I was building it and it just seemed to add more character. A lot of the weathering you see was from the black wash mixing in with the slight tackiness from the clear expoxy that found its way into places it shouldn’t be, but it felt right. Sealed it all in with a light semi-gloss clear coat. I bought some mil-spec fabric velcro for the P1 that seemed to have a tighter grouping to it and felt more like the authentic vintage velcro. Over all a really fun build! I’ve got all the parts now for a hero so I’ll get around to that hopefully this year. Here are a handful of shots from my phone-


View attachment 1785940
View attachment 1785941View attachment 1785942View attachment 1785943View attachment 1785944View attachment 1785951

An outstanding Midgrade build—very nicely done!

 

[AdmiralBaxter]

Nice build, the handle is a bit dark

 

[spoudastis]

Nice work!

 

[Tripper]

Thanks!

 

[KUROK]

Great job and really looks the part!

 

[comm510]

Vry nice.

 

[dsvintage]

What kind of clear did you use? Looks great, has a vintage look to it!

 

[Tripper]

What kind of clear did you use? Looks great, has a vintage look to it!

Thanks, I used a Deft lacquer semi gloss

 

[WinstonWolf359]

Wow! Really nice work!

 

[warpsled]

I’ve had some very early shanko shells sitting in a box for nearly 16 years and thought it was finally time to do something with them. Many thanks Nicksdad for the excellent metal parts and the grip. Shanko’s early shells had a lot of inaccuracies to them so I reshaped as much as I could. Flattened out the top of the forehead, thinned out the bulge around the sides below and beneath the side rails, flattened the slope above the trigger, and slimmed down the whole thing to match the west coast mid grade photos. The P1 had to be reshaped as well. The area beneath and aft of the thumbwheel/power meter got flattened out to match the slope the screen used mids had. The whole thing got a semi-flat black undercoat, then the P1 is Zynolyte Dark Grey, the P2 is Krylon Shadow Grey, and the grip is Rustoleum Dark Bronze misted over dull aluminum. All 3 of my old cans of shadow grey nearly exploded on me for some reason. Luckily enough, buying a new can off amazon worked out, looks like the color hasn’t changed. Dull aluminum for the silver bits with a black wash over the whole phaser including the metal. I went for the authentic screen used look but tried to keep it tame for the most part. Steel wool was used to cut down the top coat along the edges. I wasn’t precious about protecting the previous coats or when using glue. It got messy while I was building it and it just seemed to add more character. A lot of the weathering you see was from the black wash mixing in with the slight tackiness from the clear expoxy that found its way into places it shouldn’t be, but it felt right. Sealed it all in with a light semi-gloss clear coat. I bought some mil-spec fabric velcro for the P1 that seemed to have a tighter grouping to it and felt more like the authentic vintage velcro. Over all a really fun build! I’ve got all the parts now for a hero so I’ll get around to that hopefully this year. Here are a handful of shots from my phone-


View attachment 1785940
View attachment 1785941View attachment 1785942View attachment 1785943View attachment 1785944View attachment 1785951

Nice work that one.

 

[NakedMoleRat]

You could sell that at Christie’s!

 

[Tripper]

Ha! Thanks

 

[AdmiralBaxter]

I with all due, I don't get why people use dark bronze metallic on midgrade handles, the most accurate of the modern colors would be a dark grey metallic or a black handle if a person is making a season 1 midgrade as they were painted the same colors as the crapozoids.

Very nice craftsmanship!

 

[NakedMoleRat]

I with all due, I don't get why people use dark bronze metallic on midgrade handles, the most accurate of the modern colors would be a dark grey metallic or a black handle if a person is making a season 1 midgrade as they were painted the same colors as the crapozoids.

Very nice craftsmanship!

Because that’s what the color looked like on the Commodore 64’s monitor back in the day when it was officially ‘called’ lol

 

[Tripper]

I with all due, I don't get why people use dark bronze metallic on midgrade handles, the most accurate of the modern colors would be a dark grey metallic or a black handle if a person is making a season 1 midgrade as they were painted the same colors as the crapozoids.

Very nice craftsmanship!

Thanks! All of the known real midgrades in private hands are painted to match the heroes. In all my years of building I’ve never seen one with a black handle. In my original post I stated it’s actually dull aluminum with dark bronze misted over it to create a lighter shade. I agree, dark bronze metallic on its own comes out a bit dark. My build has a grip that is lighter than what’s on the Wand Co phaser for comparison.

 

[AdmiralBaxter]

Thanks! All of the known real midgrades in private hands are painted to match the heroes. In all my years of building I’ve never seen one with a black handle. In my original post I stated it’s actually dull aluminum with dark bronze misted over it to create a lighter shade. I agree, dark bronze metallic on its own comes out a bit dark. My build has a grip that is lighter than what’s on the Wand Co phaser for comparison.

Yes I know and have been fortunate to examine the west coast midgrade at length.

I had mentioned that the season 1 midgrades were painted to match the crapozoids initially. Yet they weren't really painted exactly like the heroes.

Here is my midgrade built based off of one of the screen used props I photographed & mixed the colors for

 

[Tripper]

Thanks! All of the known real midgrades in private hands are painted to match the heroes. In my original post I stated it’s actually dull aluminum with dark bronze misted over it to create a lighter shade. I agree, dark bronze metallic on its own comes out a bit dark. My build has a grip that is lighter than what’s on the Wand Co phaser for comparison.

Yes I know and have been fortunate to examine the west coast midgrade at length.

I had that the season 1 midgrades were painted to match the crapozoids initially. Yet they weren't really painted exactly like the heroes.

Here is my midgrade built based off of one of the screen used props I photographed & mixed the colors for

Handle color looks great on that one, what was used?

 

[AdmiralBaxter]

Handle color looks great on that one, what was used?

I mixed the colors by hand as I am rather old school

I checked my RAL guide (nothing came close). I will dig up my Pantone color guides to see what comes closest and give you the number