Tos Comm question

[augofett]

I´ve just bought JLong Comm kit, and I´d like to recreate the one kirk uses in Doomsday Machine. Wich one do you think it is according to HeroComm nomenclature (Alpha, Beta, etc)? It has small round screws, kind of flat grill, It´s not a hero. I think it may be Zeta

 

[robn1]

Even Herocomm doesn't know which one it is, too hard to tell. You can see some BD caps on Trekcore.
The screws are brass slotted oval heads, which aren't made anymore.

 

[MustangGTR1]

The screws can still be found, but you really have to look for it

 

[phase pistol]

"Gentlemen... I suggest you beam me aboard!" :lol

Doomsday is a great comm episode... too bad it's photographed so contrasty. Also those Trekcore screengrabs are really wacky with the color balance. :confused

Did the best I could. :cool

 

[MustangGTR1]

I also believe he used 2 different ones as well

 

[augofett]

Interesting...the screws seem different, being the left one smaller and vey close to what JLong included in the kit.
By the way, the shells are painted inside/outside?

 

[MustangGTR1]

They should be just black vac formed

 

[AJK001]

In his instructions JLong said it is best to paint them and then buff them out to get the best finish. But, it is up to you how you want them to look when you are done.

 

[Roger Ramjet]

If you want to get detailed info about this piece go here:

HeroComm - Portal

 

[AJK001]

He did go to Hero Comm and they did not have too much info on this particular Comm, which is why he is asking the RPF.

 

[Roger Ramjet]

Well since I have personally examined one of the existing originals, I can tell you the shells were not painted. Just wanted to point that out.

 

[AJK001]

That's great, I'm glad to hear that the original you examined was not painted, I was not trying to sound like an expert on the originals, which I'm not. I mentioned it because that was in the build instructions that came with the kits that the OP is building.

 

[DrMcoy]

it is, perhaps, worth pointing out that just because the ONE you examined was not painted doesn't mean that any of the others weren't.

just sayin'

t

 

[augofett]

J Long says in his instructions that the originals he examined were painted.Why should he lie about that?
I´ve examined herocomm, and there is a lot info there, but, as AJK001 says, I wanted to know RPF´s fellows opinion on the matter.

 

[AJK001]

There is no reason for him to lie and it does not gain him anything. There were at least 10 different Comm's used on the show and John had complete access to 2 of them when building this kit, so I'm sure he knows what he is talking about.

Is it possible that some of them were NOT painted, of course it is.

I have 4 builds from John's kits and all of them but one are painted and they look much better with the paint than without it. If done correctly, it gives them a look and feel that matches what was seen on screen and helps to even out any imperfections in the kydex.

As I said before, I'm not an expert on Comm's and I'm not talking about the originals, I'm just talking about the JLong kit and what the instructions that came with it said to do for the best build.

Good luck with your build. This kit will give you what is perhaps the best possible Comm that is available to the masses.

 

[feek61]

I painted my JLong and finished it just like the directions. I must say that there is NO way you could look at it and tell it's painted. It just looks like plastic.

If I remember correctly JLong talked about finding traces of paint on the mid-plate and glue. Could be that the studio did it after they were delivered or maybe it was done as a way to spruce up the aging props later in the series run. Who knows really; there is no telling.

 

[phez]

I spent a couple days studying the two original Comms that John used to make the kits while he had them. They had black paint smeared in with the glue that held the shells to the mid-plates in places (only where contact cement was used, the epoxy did not seem to smear the paint). You could not really tell from looking at the shells they were painted, It was likely only there to even out the sheen.

The back popped off of the assembled Comm and that one had the black in the glue also (it did not look like it had ever been apart <- actually I take this back, looking at the photos again you can see that the shells were glued first with what looks like Epoxy and then re-glued right over the Epoxy using industrial contact cement) so I think the paint was always there (no way to be sure but they would have had to be completely ripped apart to paint with no over spray.

=====================================================================
The one in the upper left scene is the one that is in the scifi museum. Notice there is no screw hole and there are groves in the lid hinge wheels (pretty sure Wah was originally going to try to wrap the wire over the hing wheels and solder them but decided to go with the drilled holes instead).

http://herocomm.com/ImageDatabase/CurrentCloseUps/Delta/Delta-Back2.jpg



Best guess by process of elimination is this one for the other one in the screen caps. It is the only one that has what looks like a skinny enough front shell. That is a weird one as it does not seem to exactly match any of them correctly unless it was re-Velcroed at some point. Look how much mid-plate is sticking out. (that ultra skinny is also in Turnabout Intruder and a bunch of the season 3 episodes)

X Alpha (Not Hero)
X Beta (Not Hero)
X Gamma (Front shell too thick)
X Delta (No Screws)
Epsilon (No Screws)
Zeta (Shells too think in the profile view)
Eta (Front shell way too thick)
Theta (Front shell too thick)
Iota DING DING DING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kappa (Front shell way to thick)

http://herocomm.com/ImageDatabase/1stSeason/Miri/12-24.jpg