The Middleman - BTRS Scanner (WIP)

[robinhood jw]

My costume for Denver Comic Con this year is The Middleman.

If you haven't seen this show, you really should. It's an action/comedy series that ran for half a season a few years ago on abc family. It was written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach based on his comic book series. It's the story of the sidekick to a superhero, and is jam-packed with fun geeky references.

The Middleman and Wendy (the sidekick protagonist) work for a mysterious organization nicknamed O2STK. (Organization Too Secret To Know) They provide them with weapons and gadgets and such.

The 'look' of the show is a cool blend of mixed vintage technology and sleek space age for a great retro-scifi feel. The middleman's uniform coat is vaguely WW2 looking, but he carries a silver ray-gun and a scanner that detects things "beyond the realm of science" - the BTRS Scanner.

My original plan had been to make the "Middle Gun", but I realized I wasn't going to have time around a bunch of other projects this spring.

I decided on the BTRS scanner as a less involved, but still cool and identifiably Middleman prop instead.

I did some research on the scanner and read that it was based on some kind of ammeter. Searching on Ebay and some creative googling brought more specific information. It's a Columbia brand lineman's tong test ammeter from the mid-1900s.

I found some great closeup photos online on a web page with an interview with Javier. He held onto a bunch of the props when the show wrapped, and he had them all on a table at his house for the interviewer to see and photograph. Score!

There are two different scanners used on the show; one by The Middleman, and one by Wendy. Both have only a few modifications to take it from ammeter to BTRS scanner - an illuminated screen with cross-hairs and a toggle switch. The tongs never open on the show, because of the way the screen is mounted, they're acting as more of a "frame" for the screen.

The one Wendy uses has smaller more rounded tongs and screen. The Middleman uses one with larger, more rectangular tongs, and a larger screen. They both have the exact same handle and dial.

On ebay, the base ammeter can go for up to $400 for functioning ones of the larger variety. I looked at a lot of them for sale and studied the photos. I realized that the dial part comes off, and so do the tongs. The smaller ones are more commonly available, and are less expensive. Also, some non-functioning ones appear occasionally far cheaper. I bought a "Wendy" style one for about $45, and planned to modify it into a "Middleman" one.

I took some measurements off the smaller one I bought, and compared it to some photos I found online of the larger one, to get an idea of the scale and proportion of the larger tongs relative to the handle and dial. I drew it up with CAD and printed it to-scale.

Here you can see the print, and the disassembled ammeter.

I traced the shape onto a regular pine 1x6, cut it out and sanded it smooth. I went back and tweeked the shape to fit the inside of the handle better. Drilling and coping out some more wood, and shaping it with a chisel and dremel to fit around the back of the dial.

I painted it black and sanded it smooth again. I ended up giving it 3 or 4 coats of the black paint to get it nice and smooth.

I'm actually quite a bit farther along, but haven't shot any more photos for a while. I'll post more in a few days when I get time to shoot some new photos.

 

[robinhood jw]

I shot some more photos last night of my current progress

I test fit it onto the handle, and realized that the back of the handle case has great-looking wear around the corners with a bunch of chips in the paint. The problem is that it made my new tongs look too perfect - like they didn't match. I used some silver paint to add fake wear on the corners and edges of my tongs.

I bought a big clunky toggle switch, a large red LED, and a button battery holder from Radio Shack.

It's hard to see exactly in the photos of the show prop, but the switch is mounted to the right side of the scanner, in some kind of silver colored square. This may be a slight difference between the larger and smaller base ammeter models - that the larger version may have a better spot along the side to mount the switch. I had to make my best guess and improvise a little. I drilled a hole in the side of my wood frame to accept the back end of the toggle switch. There will be a cover plate later (the silver colored square).

I carved out a spot on the back of the wood tongs/frame to mount the battery holder, and drilled some holes to run wires to the switch, and also to mount the tongs/frame to the ammeter case/handle.

I bought a piece of 1/8" thick plexiglass on ebay to make the screen out of. I traced the opening of my frame onto paper and added 1/8" all around. I diverged slightly from the show prop in order to mount the screen. I can't figure out how they did it without just glueing it onto the face of the tongs, and I don't trust that that'll hold while getting jostled around all day at a con. I made my template for the plexiglass wider at the lower corners so it would fit under the screws that hold the tongs/frame to the case.

I cut the plexiglass out by hand with a jeweler's saw and sanded the edges smooth up to about 400 grit. I left the protective plastic over the face of the plexiglass while I was working to keep it from getting scratched. I cut out the cross hairs from my to-scale print and glued them to the film on the face of the plexiglass screen. I trimmed out the paper and plastic for the cross-hairs with an x-acto and a compass. The show prop looks like the cross-hairs had been etched or scratched into the face of the plexiglass. After I cut away the film and paper, I tried to scratch it up with some steel wool, but it wasn't really working that well. I considered going at it with a dremel which proably would have worked, but would have taken a long time. Instead, I misted it over with some white spray paint.

I drilled the screw holes in the frame and matching ones in the bottom corners of the screen.

Here's how it looked before peeling off the protective plastic.

Thankfully, I'm mostly down to assembly at this point. (fingers crossed for no major problems)

 

[robinhood jw]

I made some more progress last night.

I mounted the LED to the top of the base/handle.

I pulled the masking off the screen.

I finished my soldering and I mounted the tongs/frame to the base/handle. I set the screen in place for a mock-up photo.

The lack of responses are telling me that there aren't many people out there who remember and love The Middleman as much as I do. It's OK. Go watch it. Thank me later.

 

[robinhood jw]

I finally completed the BTRS Scanner.

A little more close up.

The back:

And yes, it lights up.

Thanks for everyone who viewed the thread. Do yourself a favor and check out The Middleman. (I think most of the episodes are available on youtube now.)

 

[robinhood jw]

Just for completeness, here's a couple of photos of me in the full Middleman costume with the BTRS Scanner prop.

At Denver Comic Con 2014

On Tattooine

(Actually this was Far Away Creation's booth at DCC - thanks Cal!)

 

[The Wolf]

Somehow I had missed this before.
that is a great prop from a great show and you did a great job on your replica.
Just great!

Wolf

 

[jackwabbit]

Old thread, I know, but I'm actually making a Middle Man costume now and came across it via Google. I'd be interested in any other Middle Man props out there, and this is very helpful for making my own possible prop. Thanks.