Star Trek TMP Dr Chapel Medical Scanner

norbauer

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I'm working on a scratch build of one of my favorite Trek props, from almost certainly my favorite scene in all of Star Trek. It seemed like a good way to ramp up my skills for some much more ambitious builds I have coming up soon.

TMP scanner.png

Here is a photo of the somewhat battered prop when it went up for auction:
7457699_1_l.jpg

@HMS Mike also has a good photo.

For anyone who wants to do the same build, I've made detailed dimensioned plans. I'm working from measurements on the original, so I'm fairly confident that my proportions are accurate.

tmpblueprints.png

The plans can be downloaded here (I'll keep this updated as I make improvements while the build progresses). They include a template for cutting out the styrene parts for the body.

I started out by machining the nozzle. This is aluminum turned and sanded on the engine lathe, then polished by hand. The trick to getting the taper is to set your compound slide to 18 degrees and your tool holder to parallel to the chuck face.

tmpnozzle.png

The original body was wood, but I prefer the smoother look I'll get from styrene. I built templates in Illustrator, printed them out and then scored and broke the stryrene. I affixed the printed template to the styrene with spray glue, which I subsequently removed with warm water and a bit of sanding.

tmptemplates.png

I have mostly assembled the relevant parts, but I'm waiting for a piece of tubing to arrive so I can make a tubular hole for the nozzle to go into. This should make any subsequent casting easier, should I desire to make copies of the body. If I were making a one-off piece, just cutting the hole in piece F1 with a 1/2" drill bit would have sufficed.

tmpbody.png

Puttying and sanding are next, while I'm waiting for materials from McMaster-Carr (namely, the tubing for the nozzle holder and the aluminum bars for the side and top strips).

Then I'll grind the aluminum bars for the controls and side strips and this thing will nearly be done! A super easy build.
 

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This is a great project. On the original you can see a little wood peeking through on the corner. It's amazing what you can get away with even on the big screen!
 
I heard it was made from one they had in storage from the original series. They did a cleanup and repaint as I recall but don't quote me.

That makes sense. It is clearly the same general shape as the TOS anabolic protoplaser, schematics of which are presented in The Starfleet Technical Manual.
 
Anymore progress???
Thanks

Thanks for checking in! The tube and aluminum arrived from McMaster-Carr the other day. I'll be taking them down to the machine shop this weekend and turning them into something worth showing by next week hopefully. :) I also went over to Reynolds Advanced Materials and picked up a couple gallons of casting materials. I think I might try to make some copies for friends (or trades) if it turns out well.
 
Finished milling and polishing the button bar and making an ABS tube to hold the nozzle head. Up next, body work (putty and sanding) and the aluminum side strips.

button-bar-1-of-2.jpgbutton-bar-2-of-2.jpg

I got this shape by mounting a flat bar at an angle in the vise on a Bridgeport mill and taking several horizontal passes off in, in increments of 10 thousandths of an inch at at time. (Annoyingly, this particular machine at the shop uses only Imperial measurements.)

button-bar-milling-1.jpg

I tried to taper to a bit too thin on the first attempt, which didn't go so well.

button-bar-milling-2.jpg

But I think I nailed it on the second try.

button-bar-8789.jpg
 
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Sure. Here is a photo with the body sanded and primed and the machined pieces just held in place to show how things go together.

untitled-8921.jpg

Now I'm just waiting for my vacuum chamber to arrive and I'm going to attempt making some molds. :) The current styrene build feels a little hollow and I'm looking forward to having a solid resin piece.
 
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Wow, this thread brings back memories.
I used to own both of those tools from TMP many many years ago.
I don't think they were originally used in TOS because they were surprisingly small and there was no sign of any paint on them other than the original gray they were painted.
 
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