So I got my Airtronics Avenger today. Time to start researching how to make a Holo-imager! I've posted about this on the TrekPropZone but am hoping for any additional input from the RPF community.
It appears to be assembled primarily from found items. I am working on sourcing most of them (the lenses are light collimators from LED flashlights, for example). However, there are several items I haven't yet been able to identify. Any and all help would be most appreciated!
Does anybody know who made the originals?
There are two separate versons, so I am thinking of casting up the body first and then applying different greeblies to make each one.
There is the "In the Flesh" version used by Chakotay:
And the "Latent Image" version used by the Doctor:
Strip grating
The Latent Image imager has a green glowing strip that has a cover on it that is some kind of ridged tubular grating. It looks like painted styrene of some sort, either from a kit bash or stryene provider but I looked through the Plastruct catalog and wasn't able to find anything analagous.
Mysterious hinge/clasp thing
Latent Image button
This appears to be a rectangular metal shank button from a textile. However, I have spent hours and hours searching button websites and haven't found one. I'm thinking of maybe getting this part 3D printed.
Metal bent arm part from Latent Image version
This part looks super familiar but I can't quite place it. I was thinking maybe a hard drive read/write head, but those don't usually have the bend.
Star Trek III tricorder buttons
These buttons are the same type used in Trek III tricorders, though I forget what they're called.
UPDATE: these are called Greyhill buttons. Still haven't found a source for them though.
Viewfinder
Obviously a found item from sort of optical instrument or camera, but there aren't any good shots of it, so it's hard to guess.
Known items
The lenses appear to be LED flashlight collimators, found easily on eBay. I don't see any with the beading pattern shown here in the appropriate size (around 50mm), however, so I'm suspecting that the pattern may have been added by the prop-makers with a ball-shaped end-mill in a milling machine. If so, this also suggests to me that they were using an acrylic/plastic lens rather than a glass one. It is an odd size 49.5mm and seems to fit perfectly, which is puzzling.
The aluminum part around the smaller lens was clearly made on the metalworking lathe. I'm working on drawing up plans for making this now.
The middle strip in the Latent Image version is just a custom PCB graphic. I can easily get one of these made.
It appears to be assembled primarily from found items. I am working on sourcing most of them (the lenses are light collimators from LED flashlights, for example). However, there are several items I haven't yet been able to identify. Any and all help would be most appreciated!
Does anybody know who made the originals?
There are two separate versons, so I am thinking of casting up the body first and then applying different greeblies to make each one.
There is the "In the Flesh" version used by Chakotay:
And the "Latent Image" version used by the Doctor:
Strip grating
The Latent Image imager has a green glowing strip that has a cover on it that is some kind of ridged tubular grating. It looks like painted styrene of some sort, either from a kit bash or stryene provider but I looked through the Plastruct catalog and wasn't able to find anything analagous.
Mysterious hinge/clasp thing
Latent Image button
This appears to be a rectangular metal shank button from a textile. However, I have spent hours and hours searching button websites and haven't found one. I'm thinking of maybe getting this part 3D printed.
Metal bent arm part from Latent Image version
This part looks super familiar but I can't quite place it. I was thinking maybe a hard drive read/write head, but those don't usually have the bend.
Star Trek III tricorder buttons
These buttons are the same type used in Trek III tricorders, though I forget what they're called.
UPDATE: these are called Greyhill buttons. Still haven't found a source for them though.
Viewfinder
Obviously a found item from sort of optical instrument or camera, but there aren't any good shots of it, so it's hard to guess.
Known items
The lenses appear to be LED flashlight collimators, found easily on eBay. I don't see any with the beading pattern shown here in the appropriate size (around 50mm), however, so I'm suspecting that the pattern may have been added by the prop-makers with a ball-shaped end-mill in a milling machine. If so, this also suggests to me that they were using an acrylic/plastic lens rather than a glass one. It is an odd size 49.5mm and seems to fit perfectly, which is puzzling.
The aluminum part around the smaller lens was clearly made on the metalworking lathe. I'm working on drawing up plans for making this now.
The middle strip in the Latent Image version is just a custom PCB graphic. I can easily get one of these made.
