Star Trek Into Darkness replicas

QuasiOdo

exactly.... I don't get the chrome. Again.... would the military or police have any weapon that reflects light? no. Would any weapon in general be made to reflect light? no. So, I don't get it. But, the men says chrome..... the man gets chrome. LOL The man gets whatever he wants when he's paying the bills. lol Anyway, I do understand where you're coming from and I'm right there with you. To be honest, a friend of mine and I worked on several designs. I'm talking somewhere around 14 various phasers in different configurations and colors. Trust me.... we worked hard on it. I felt very strongly that we did our very best on the phaser. However, in the end.... it was never really up to us. There's so many hands in the pot and people higher than me that makes the calls and pulls the strings. We're just along for the ride. When you read my article and see the pics, move past the obvious.... the chrome. I want you to pay closer attention to the design changes I made and the improvements and the electronics and animatronics. For the tear down, read the section on the theory behind the "phaser" that I came up with. I think I came up with a solid theory to explain how a phaser works and the fans have something more to walk away with. At least I hope the enjoy it knowing I just didn't build another prop. I actually did some research. That's what I would like the fans to look at. Yes, the phaser does look the same. That's not going to change and I doubt it will for the next one... if they decide to run with it. It's clear that its here to stay.
 
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On page 109 in "The Art of the Film." And I now DO see how the re-work resembles the illustration. Much better. And CHROME weapons? That's the kind of nonsense that bugs me... and, like, everyone. Really interested to see your submitted designs. Thanks!

Is there a Into Darkness concept art book yet or any concept art? I haven't found any.
 
KCPStudio will you have to 3D Print all the run of the phasers you'll be doing up, just to have the channels for wiring?

I'd love to see some screenshots of your 3D model in progression to demonstrate your approach to making the phaser.

A phaser just like the hero movie prop has my wallet open for sure!
 
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Haven't gotten to see the new movie yet but I've already got a shopping list going thanks to this thread lol.

@ KCPstudio, love the design work man. Excellent job!
 
redshirt

If I can't mold and cast, i'll have to print. Lol and its not just for the wire channels as I explained... there is also the internal cavities that you cannot core. When i designed this thing, the last thing I had in mind was a licensed run on the tail end. Its a very complex piece that I designed to get the shots we needed. The life of these phasers was never intended to be used for anything else.
 
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I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but are there any pictures of the helicopter ship thing? It's the one that Khan attacks the Starfleet conference room with.
 
@redshirt

If I can't mold and cast, i'll have to print. Lol and its not just for the wire channels as I explained... there is also the internal cavities that you cannot core. When i designed this thing, the last thing I had in mind was a licensed run on the tail end. Its a very complex piece that I designed to get the shots we needed. The life of these phasers was never intended to be used for anything else.
Interesting idea putting it together as a puzzle assembly. I have always thought that the way electric razors are produced (no visible means of assembly) would be be the best way to recreate Sci Fi film props, no screws in your face. Those are injection molded, perhaps those techniques could be applied to this project for mass production. If there is a will there is a way to do it.
 
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most of my techniques are based on plastic injection processes. However, when I 3d print, I go crazy cause I know I will be 3d printing everything. I also do it to keep people from pulling molds off my stuff. The cavities are complex and shaped in such a way that would prevent pulling cores out... even with a multi-piece mold. If I wanted to keep the phaser completely original to the production ones I made, they would have to be printed. Inside the prop there are many undercuts/shapes and cavities where electronics, lenses, even ball bearing races fit like a glove. That's right.... I have ball bearings and races for the spinner hub and the power setting wheel in the back. Then there is the lens assembly which fits into a form fitting pocket inside the prop. The wall thicknesses are around .100 in some areas and have tunnels printed into the walls to run my wiring. You will not be pulling molds off of that kind of part. The outside of this prop looks simple and you would think the inside is one big open space.... it is not. LOL And it's all intentional for a reason. I could go on because there's more but I'll leave that for later. I know you say, now.... if there's a will there's a way. LOL However, I intentionally designed the prop so that you CAN NOT pull a mold off of certain sections and keep its functionality. I had to make a **** load of these things. It was cheaper and easier to print everything so I could do some complex stuff. The puzzle design was to get rid of any screws/bolts that were all over the 2009 heros.

To design plastic injection molds would be in the 80K to 125K range, at the very least, for something like this and STILL WILL NOT work. The mid section alone would have to be redesigned and that's not practical. The cost would be way out there in tooling alone. I think for the majority of QMx's prop collectors, the stunt phaser QMx is producing will take care of that market. I asked QMx if they could bring to market my hero phasers... if I do a run of the heros I produced for the film. They said they would love to. I'm going to make them exactly as I did for the film. I'm going to do a beautiful COA and sign it. I never thought of doing a run of phasers on the tail end.... and if I had.... I would have definitely designed the prop with that in mind.
 
To get a sturdy finely printed 3D piece do you output to a Stereolithography machine (laser layers in a plastic polymer)?
 
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What you are talking about will be priced out of reach of most people myself included. I was hoping to get one. I am still interested in seeing how and what the new phaser looks like.
 
What KCPStudio is talking about is a hand made high end "hero" movie prop. Not a replica. I've bought movie props before and paid well for them, but they sold again for more. The "exact-to-the-movie" build is not for everyone's budget, but I guarantee you it will be worth it as a collectible and an investment. I'm guessing the run will be small and will end shortly after it's offered, selling out. After that the price will go up for any resale, especially because of the unique process of the build and because it's made by the original person involved in the builds. This phaser prop sounds like an excellent opportunity for those who will pay to own this.
 
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You have to remember one important thing.... there is a replica being offered from the film..... that's the QMx release. They improved their replica by giving it a spring loaded mechanism and they have upgraded the colors to match mine. You guys will not have to hack the phaser and it will have upgraded colors. That's the phaser being produced for you guys. It will have a very attractive price point for a replica. I was never going to produce a phaser for sale. It was a last minute thought on my part to do a run and offer it up. I have no time or desire to redesign the prop to accommodate plastic injection processes because the phaser would no longer be a hero prop but another replica and there is already being one produced. I understand your frustration but i either do the run or don't do the run. You also have to keep in mind that out of all the prop fabricators out there, i am the only one, that I know of or at least one of very few, that is building their props from films for the public in licensed runs and building them exactly the way I did for the film. These are hand made and there's no way we can compete with over seas manufacturers. It was a difficult decision to make concerning whether to do the run or not because I knew there would be fans upset that it would be out of their price range. This is a factor no matter what is produced for retail. My phaser is not in the majority target market..... QMx's phaser is. Plus, QMx did also provide background phasers for the film so that should be worth something as we. The only difference between the phaser they provided production and the retail version is that the one they made for the film had a manual magnetic stop spinner like I had on my tear down and the retail version they added a spring loaded mechanism. I truly apologize if once my hero is out and if its out of your price range. We all need to remember that this is still in the infancy stage and nothing is etched in stone. I will definitely keep your concerns in mind as the time approaches to produce my heros and I will take another look. I just want everyone to understand.... a replica has been produced for you guys and thats the QMx version. In fact, the QMx version was perfect because not only were they able to get it in the film as a background piece, the design was perfect to produce a low coat run. My hero were never designed for that. Mine were designed to be close up animatronic heros to get specific shots during filming. They did that.
 
As for what the new phaser looks like? Like I said, I'm doing an article and have invited friends that were also other prop fabricators on the film to join in on the article. This was a thought on my part and we are working on that now. We will be including never before seen pics of the props..... build process to finish. You have to be patient as this is something we are doing while still fully working on other films at the moment.
 
redshirt

I use various processes. I have SLA machines as well as polyjet. A STL file (Stereolithography) is made and sent to different kinds of 3d printing technologies out there. For most of my builds I use my 3d systems Vipers, 3500, and 7000 machines. When I need that extra detail I use my Objet (polyjet) and the parts are extremely beautiful. I also made metal super heros of the phaser and half of the prop is aluminum.
 
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I want to be sure to get your "Hero" servo phaser. Is QMx taking preorders or email signups for this 2014 phaser?

Will the ones you make have metal parts same as the super heroes?
 
From QMx's Site at this page:

Creating the STID Phaser Replica | QMx Online

Creating the STID Phaser Replica
LOS ANGELES – May 20, 2013 – When QMx was asked to create new phasers for Star Trek Into Darkness, we knew exactly what we wanted to make: a phaser that switched intensity settings without CGI effects.

In the 2009 Star Trek movie, neither of the two hero phasers had a working power control. The spinner in 2009 hero prop used a clockwork mechanism to rotate and rotated only in one direction. The back-and-forth spin effect was added in post-production.

For Star Trek Into Darkness, we partnered with one of Hollywood’s most gifted armorers and prop fabricators, Kenneth Palkow of Kenney’s Custom Props LLC* to make:

Twelve hero props and five super heroes that each features a servo spinner that rotates in both directions at the push of a button. Each phaser also has a working power control with a light that changes from green to orange to red when the dial is turned. The super heroes have machined aluminum grips for maximum realism in closeups. The hero grips are metal-plated plastic.
Seven breakaway phasers that can be separated for easy storage and assembled by snapping the top sections and the grips together with the help of magnets. The breakaway phasers have working power controls, but no servo spinners.
Many non-electronic stunt phasers with spinners that can be turned manually and locked into place using magnets. The stunt phasers were created by QMx’s Artisan model and prop division, QMx FX Cinema Arts.
All phasers featured updated the finishes designed by Kenney to give them an even more realistic and serious look.

A screen-authentic hero phaser is in the works for 2014. But for 2013, we have something very special planned: Through special arrangement with Paramount Pictures and Amazon.com, replicas of the phasers QMx created for the film will be available in special Blu-ray gift packs this fall. These stunt phasers will feature the new finishes as well as a manual turning spinner.



*Kenney’s credits include Battlestar Galactica, Rise of the Planet of The Apes, Continuum, Elysium, Robocop (2014), Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters and Godzilla (2014)
 
The Starfleet Phaser Rifles, Vengeance Phaser Rifle (John Harrison drops this on Kronos and Spock picks it up), and Vengeance Phaser Pistol were made in-house by Studio Art and Technology, based on designs by John Eaves.

The Starfleet rifles were cool, the scopes on top are spring loaded and pop up, also when you depressed the trigger there was a little piece underneath that actuated back and forth exposing a lit "power core", none of that stuff was really shown very well in the film. The Vengeance rifle was not ever really seen in close up, which is a pity because there was a ton of detail- it wasn't ever tied to the Vengeance in the film, but if you saw it next to the pistol you'd see the lineage, and during production they were known as the "Bad Ship Phaser" and "Bad Ship Rifle", lol

I'm really impressed with how tight a lid Bad Robot kept on everything, we knew almost zero of the plot, including anything about John Harrison or even that there WAS a John Harrison. All we really knew was there was a "bad ship", that somebody's blood was somehow important, and there was a volcano, lol We basically found out stuff when everybody else did.

Also, we made McCoy's medical instruments(the ring scanner on the shuttle, hyposprays, blood extractor) the Torpedo eyepiece scanner, the spinning serum extractor (seen at the beginning before Mickey from Doctor Who puts the test tube and ring in the case) a ton of little gadgets I'm probably forgetting.

Oh, we did the "cold fusion" device Spock detonates in the volcano, and the nozzle on the fire hose Kirk throws into the helicoptery/hovery/whatever thingy.

Fun show. Glad to have been a part.
 
Stormleader

Yeah... I know. Bad Robot gave me very little. Obviously I knew the weapons I was building were federation phasers.... that was a no brainer. I did know that the alien weapon I made the hero masters for was listed only as "Knormian phaser" illustrated be John Eaves. As for the plot? I knew only enough that pertained to my props. Like I knew the scene my teardown phasers would be used in. I knew that Kirk would be pulling the parts out of a backpack. But as for the plot etc.... I knew as much as the average fan.

Great work on the rifles brother. I was going to hit Louis up and see if he would like to participate in my article but I'm not sure he would.
 
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