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#50848 Boomerang Phaser

Posted by 'E' on 14 March 2010 - 11:59 AM in Props

These Playmates phasers really don't look too shabby when they are painted with the correct colors (according to rodd.com).  I also redid the power meter using green Scotch plastic tape.








#50568 Star Trek (2009) Phaser

Posted by 'E' on 01 March 2010 - 09:20 PM in Props

Hey guys. Here's a quickie project I was working on in some of my spare time. I always hated the Playmates phaser from the new movie. I finally got around to repainting it and here are the results. Everything works the same, it just looks nicer now cool.gif






#50187 Toy Fair

Posted by 'E' on 15 February 2010 - 11:42 AM in AA / DST

I'm not a fan of the Klingon disruptor. I'll buy one, but I won't be anticipating it. The price looks a bit high, too. Especially since it's not a "two for one" like the Federations phasers that have the removable P1's. Maybe we'll get a Klingon comm out of this as well or a "P1" as seen in The Voyage Home.

I do, however, like that BOP. Having the landing gear is a nice touch, too. I hope the wings are able to move up and down as well.

What's happened to the TWOK comm?? The silence is deafening!



#50148 New Star Trek Edition blog at art asylum's web site

Posted by 'E' on 13 February 2010 - 10:02 AM in AA / DST

Whatever happened to the TWOK communicator that was supposed to be out in early 2010?  I haven't heard anything about it in ages.



#50051 Playmates First Contact Phaser Repaint

Posted by 'E' on 10 February 2010 - 07:34 PM in Props

Then I put Humpty-Dumpty back together again. Only problem I had what the red button. The several coats of paint made it a tight fit. So I took a nail file and took a couple swipes on each side of the trigger hole in the phaser body ... then it fit great. I also reattached the speaker to its proper home on the lower shell. Here's some final shots.







I wanted to some how do the power bar as well. I didn't want to paint it since it has a lot of indentations and that can get sloppy. I thought about trying to find red and green translucent tape but the ladies at Michael's say there's no such thing. Suggestions?



#50050 Playmates First Contact Phaser Repaint

Posted by 'E' on 10 February 2010 - 07:33 PM in Props

I've been trying to find an affordable Master Replicas First Contact phaser for a while now but haven't had any luck. I keep getting sniped right at the end on eBay. I've had this Playmates phaser hanging around for a while and thought I'd try a repaint. I wish I was in on the board room meeting when Playmates made this phaser ...

"Hey Bob, I know the phaser is dark gray and has a red trigger button in the movie but I'm in a powder blue and silver mood today ..."

"That sounds perfect, Bill!"

(all pics but final ones are from my iPhone ... sorry!)

I decided to tear into it to see what I was working with. I figured the more pieces I could get the easier it would be. I unscrewed the bottom shell to reveal the electronics. I also removed the small piece on the underside of the emitter to reveal the light bulb.



The first thing I see is the speaker. Nothing was holding it in and I was able to remove it easily. I later discovered that is supposed to be attached to the lower shell be a few screws. It must've come loose over the years. I also popped out the light bulb very easily.
http://i649.photobuc...u216/erikduncan
/Playmates%20First%20Contact%20Phaser/IMG_0505.jpg


Next I popped out the light bulb electronics. They were attached to those two round pegs near the emitter. It just slid off the pegs easy peezy. I also removed the button electronics. The little box was attached with two screws. When it popped out it revealed all buttons that just come out, too.



Next I unscrewed the battery pack and it just slid right out. The last thing that was physically attached to the phaser body was the power bar electronics. It had two screws and I was able to pop it out without a problem.


Here's all the electronics removed. They are all attached and one big piece. I handled with care since I have no idea how to solder thing back together again laugh.gif



Here's the pieces that are left over that can be painted. I decided to only paint the phaser body and the smaller shell. The other pieces were already black and looked ok. I figured if in ain't broke don't fix it. cool.gif I also left the white buttons alone.



Next I primed the shells and trigger button. I used Duplicolor primer. When dry and painted the trigger button red with Testors red enamel paint (a few coats). Then I painted the shells with Plasticote medium charcoal gray (code 1004) and wet sanded between coats. Not sure if it's the exact color used, but it looks pretty good to me. All painted pieces where then set aside for the majority of the day to dry nicely.



#49845 DST's TNG Trek-Tek

Posted by 'E' on 02 February 2010 - 11:02 PM in AA / DST

I want a Dustbuster!!  And I see I'm the only one, LOL.



#49844 Nemesis Phaser / Stapleton Productions

Posted by 'E' on 02 February 2010 - 10:33 PM in Props

Next I glued the rubber grip to the top part of the handle. I have don't have anymore build pics because this is where I had a small problem and I couldn't cared less about pictures. So I was doing the buttons and I placed the rubber pad under the plate and glued the buttons on no problem. Once dry I went to glue the plate on. Well I must've had something on my thumbs (I'm guessing glue residue) because when I pressed on the plate it left marks all over the paint. Prior experiences have told me to just leave it alone otherwise it will probably get worse, especially when dealing with wet goopy glue. It's not horrible but I know it there. I guess now it more like a "battle used" phaser. Oh well, I guess it'll be a quirk that will make it unique, right? Still, it came out pretty nice.

Here are some final pictures.




....and the display.




#49843 Nemesis Phaser / Stapleton Productions

Posted by 'E' on 02 February 2010 - 10:30 PM in Props

I was able to finish it up yesterday.

Sure am glad I decided to give the emitter a good polish .... ewwwwwww.


I was able to get a few coats of paint on this morning (Duplicolor Medium Charcoal Metallic DSFM225) and a few coats of clear coat. I wet sanded between all coats except the clear coat. Looks really good I think. The color is photographing a lot darker than it really is for some reason.



I got the power meter in. I didn't even use and glue. It was a VERY tight fit.



I glued the emitter tip to the front cowling.



I attached the coils back to the main body.



Next I screwed the handle back on.



Then I glued the little round knobs to the underside of the front cowling.



#49783 Nemesis Phaser / Stapleton Productions

Posted by 'E' on 31 January 2010 - 11:12 AM in Props

Primer and Putty / Round 2 ...

The breezes let up the afternoon and I was able to get the primer on. It hung to dry in the garage for a few hours. At first I wasn't happy with the way it looked. I thought I could still see the seams. I proceeded to wet sand with 600 grit sandpaper and it really started to look good. I worked on the seams and they started to melt away. Nice! There's still one spot that needs a little putty touch up but for the most part it looks great.

I really wish I did this wet sanding with the Dustbuster phaser. I guess the next one will look even better!

Here are the pics ...




I even got the coils and the button cover done.



This is where I'm up to now. Next will be to start on the top coat of paint.



#49782 Nemesis Phaser / Stapleton Productions

Posted by 'E' on 31 January 2010 - 11:08 AM in Props

I sanded down the first coat of primer to see what touch up work would have to be done. As I said before I wasn't happy with the seams and knew I'd have to putty them again (see below).





I then re-puttied the seams and a few other minor imperfections on the main body and the front end. When the putty dried I wet sanded it back down to a nice smooth finish and then tapped dry with a paper towel. Here's what I ended up with.





Hopefully I got the seam this time. I guess I won't really know till the primer goes on again. Not sure if I'll be able to get that done today as it's a bit breezy here today. We'll see ...



#49781 Nemesis Phaser / Stapleton Productions

Posted by 'E' on 31 January 2010 - 11:04 AM in Props

I sanded down any other abnormalities I could find with 400 grit sandpaper.



Next I Used JB Weld to glue the bottom part to the main body. Once that dried I used putty to fill in the crevices. When the putty dried I sanded smooth the best I could. I haven't perfected my putty application yet, but it was all very smooth to the touch.




I stuck the button cover to the end of popsicle stick and primed that. Then I stuck the main body and front part the end of a coat hanger (the screw holes are the perfect size for that) and primed those, too . I love how primer shows all the little spots you missed. I'm definitely going to have to go back and touch up some pin holes and the seam between the upper and lower phaser bodies. I want that seam to be perfect!!





#49780 Nemesis Phaser / Stapleton Productions

Posted by 'E' on 31 January 2010 - 10:56 AM in Props

After my successful TNG Dustbuster build I decided to get started right away on another one. I chose Stapleton's Nemesis phaser that has the cowling the pulls forward to expose the phaser coils.

Posts 1-4 were all written as I was working on it last week.

Materials used so far (I'll add as I use it)...
Duplicolor gray sandable primer
JB Quick Weld
300, 400 and 600 grit sandpaper
black packing foam
blue painter's masking tape
Bondo glazing putty
Duplicolor Medium Charcoal Metallic spray paint (DSFM225 paintcode)
Duplicolor clear coat

Here's what it should look like when it's done (minus the electronics). This is a pic of FHC's Nemesis phaser.



This is how the kit looks before assembly.



When the kit arrived the first thing I noticed was a giant sprue on the end of the handle. I didn't have a dremel or a file so I just attacked it with some 300 grit sandpaper.




Next I started to get the pieces ready for priming. I masked off all the metal areas and filled the holes with little pieces of foam.






#49763 TNG Dustbuster Phaser

Posted by 'E' on 30 January 2010 - 06:02 PM in Roddenberry.com

Sure, no problem. What section should I post in, though?



#49740 TNG Dustbuster Phaser

Posted by 'E' on 29 January 2010 - 08:42 PM in Roddenberry.com

Almost forgot to add the finishing touch I added the other week.




#49739 Do you want DST to make Trek Tek from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock?

Posted by 'E' on 29 January 2010 - 08:37 PM in AA / DST

Put me down for all three!



#49561 eFX To Produce Star Trek Prop Replicas

Posted by 'E' on 22 January 2010 - 06:51 AM in eFX

^^ That's great news!



#49365 TNG Dustbuster Phaser

Posted by 'E' on 13 January 2010 - 05:44 PM in Roddenberry.com

It actually looks like the one from the show!! smile.gif



That last shot is not easy to do by yourself!

Lastly I needed some way to display it. I went to Michael's (an arts/crafts store chain on this end of the country) and bought a display case. They just happened to be having a 40% off sale. Not bad for $15. It even came with little pedestals I used to set the phaser on.



So that's it! Aside from the minor touch ups here and there this one's in the bag. It looks pretty good on my office display shelf!



Well I have to say it was a fun experience. One I'll definitely do again. Maybe this will show some other noobs out there that you don't have to be a pro to do this. Hmmmmm...what shall I do next? Where can I get a SFS communicator kit? smile.gif



#49364 TNG Dustbuster Phaser

Posted by 'E' on 13 January 2010 - 05:44 PM in Roddenberry.com

I'm done!!!!!!

Here's today's work.

I attached the finished handle to the phaser body.


I then glued in all the buttons and power meter.


I didn't want to commit yet to gluing in the emitter yet since I haven't decided what do do yet with the minor silver paint leakage. So I found some stick foam pads and and attached them to the area that goes into the main body. It's got a nice snug fit and I can easily remove the emitter later for easier handling.


Then I sat back and enjoyed by handy work. I couldn't believe I actually built it. I was a complete disaster when it came to model building when I was a kid.








#49342 TNG Dustbuster Phaser

Posted by 'E' on 12 January 2010 - 09:57 PM in Roddenberry.com

I came across a few screen grabs from another site. Looks like I'm pretty dead on! smile.gif




#49335 TNG Dustbuster Phaser

Posted by 'E' on 12 January 2010 - 07:05 PM in Roddenberry.com

Thanks for the pics FHC! That looks like a nice piece.

There wasn't much work to do today since it's almost finished. I did manage to get a few things done, though smile.gif

I removed the tape from the phaser emitter. For most part it came off pretty easy. One or two put up a fight.



I finished the power meter by adding the two end bars.



I finished the main phaser body by painting this area dark gray. I masked off the area and then cut a rectangle (a bit larger than the painted area) in a zip lock freezer bag. I put the phaser body in the bag and matched up the whole I just cut and masked again. I sealed up the bag and sprayed away. This is the end result.



Lastly, I sprayed the emitter tip with silver. Once that was dry I sprayed again with translucent blue. It has a nice metallic blue look now. I'm not sure if it's too blue, though. Last night I happened to turn on the TNG episode "Conspiracy" (season 1 where the Federation gets invaded by little body controlling alien bug things) and it had some nice close ups of the emitter. The scenes were darker so I couldn't tell if it was more silver or blue. Oh well. Anyone know for sure? I can't find a descent pic online, either. I guess I could do another light spray of silver. Here's a pic of the what I ended up with.



I plan to just let everything sit now. I still have another day off tomorrow so I think I'm going to make the stand.



#49304 TNG Dustbuster Phaser

Posted by 'E' on 11 January 2010 - 08:26 PM in Roddenberry.com

Here's the power meter with the tape taken off. Now I just need to do the last two bars, one on each end.



#49301 TNG Dustbuster Phaser

Posted by 'E' on 11 January 2010 - 07:19 PM in Roddenberry.com

Sounds like I'll be skipping the clear coat. I'm very happy with my work so far so I really don't want to screw it up with blotchy clear coat.

Here's today's work. It looks like a lot but it really wasn't much at all.

This morning I put the some gloss Krylon Classic Gray on the main phaser body. This time it came out really nice. No blotches at all. I'm very happy!. The flash makes it look ALOT lighter than it really is.


After that I decided to do the emitter (Krylon gloss black). It'll going to set it aside for a while before I remove the tape.


Next I sprayed the buttons again. One silver and two tan.


Now this part was a wicked pain in the ass! I ended up taping all four sides to an old cookie tray. To get the little strips I used my stainless steel ruler and hobby knife. I put a piece of tape on the cookie sheet and just sliced up little strips. I had to eyeball it since it's just too small to try to accurately measure. Then I painted the exposed areas. I decided to leave that first and last bars for next step since they are rounded on each end. I'll do those individually once these have dried.



Since the handle was nice and dry I decided to glue in the thing-a-mabobs in that hold the handle to the main body.



Lastly I thought I'd go ahead and try the step I've been dreading. The "silver fog" of doom. I'm so anal that I knew that if I didn't get this right I was going to have start all over again. To my surprise it actually turned out well. I was quite pleased with the results. Below are several photos of the outcome. In some of the photos the silver specs look black, but that's just the flash. You can see that I got a nice even spread!




The main body is almost done. The last part is painting the power bar area dark gray. Right now it's just going to hang on it's hook for a good while for drying. Too bad it's not summer here. One night in a 120 degree garage would dry that sucker overnight!

I'm having so much fun with this project and have been learning ALOT. Now I'm starting to think about what my next project will be ... smile.gif







#49285 TNG Dustbuster Phaser

Posted by 'E' on 11 January 2010 - 10:18 AM in Roddenberry.com

I'm thinking ahead and I have two questions. First...the part where I need to spray a light fog of silver on the main body has me a bit concerned. I want to make sure it goes on evenly. Any tips? I think I'll practice on box a little.

Second...to clear coat or not? The instructions don't call for it. What are the benefits? Are they any cons?

Thanks for the advice.



#49275 TNG Dustbuster Phaser

Posted by 'E' on 10 January 2010 - 08:41 PM in Roddenberry.com

QUOTE (FHC @ Jan 10 2010, 06:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I'm going to have to start having you build my props. smile.gif


I'll take that as a huge compliment! We'll see if you feel the same way when it's done smile.gif

QUOTE (FHC @ Jan 10 2010, 06:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I do have one Dustbuster in my collection. I do believe that it's an Ed Miarecki.


I'm going to have to insist on some pictures! biggrin.gif