Sometimes, you want to finish something as quickly as possible. You desperately want to make progress, feel the urge to get back to it continuously and yet you can’t find any time to do just that. You just can’t, and every step takes forever as a result. That pretty much sums up the situation I’m in right now with this project.

Anyhow, as you can see I finally did manage to take the next step by finishing another important part of the tool – the business end! It’s a very detailed piece that consists of four separate parts right now (I’m not sure yet how I’m going to mold it though). And four very tiny parts I might add. The smallest one is only 5 mm in width!

This is by the way the part of the probe that was originally made from a disassembled nose hair trimmer. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts I wasn’t able to identify the exact model or even manufacturer of that trimmer, so I couldn’t use the original and had to scratch-build something instead. It was one hell of a lot of tedious work, but – to be honest – the result is probably nicer and cleaner than any found item, which makes the whole thing worthwhile in my book.

But, judge for yourself. To refresh your memory, here’s the front part of the original prop as well as the schematics I did as preparation for this project:

And here are the pictures of my finished multi-part piece:

So, let’s get down to business. How did I create these parts? Here we go:

It all started with some more or less precisely cut pieces of styrene, my material of choice when it comes to scratch-building stuff.

They would make up the body of the largest piece. Which is round. Which meant that I had to sculpt it somehow since I didn’t have anything that I could’ve used as a base piece.

So I marked an appropriate line for the outer curvature on all pieces and cut them with an X-acto knife.

As you can see, I also cut some material away at the top to make it easier to create a recession there later.

Then I arranged them in a circular way to build a kind of skeleton structure and glued them together using plastic glue.

The next step was to fill the spaces between the “ribs” with putty to “put some meat on the bones” as it were.

Then the sanding began. Oh, boy. The sanding – that’s the kind of work that I’d like to have an assistant do for me or something. On the other hand it gives you great control over the final shape of your piece. The downside is that it takes a long time. A very long time. And especially so if you’re only one bit as anal about a perfect surface as I am…

While sanding the outer surface of this part I also paid some attention to the top side of it where I needed to have a pretty substantial indentation with a thin lip around it. To achieve this I used a mini-dremel with an appropriate attachment to remove material from both the surface inside as well as the “walls”.

Here is an intermediary result. Looks pretty nice already, doesn’t it?

On to the next part, which is essentially the same deal as the first one, except smaller and with a more straight profile. And when I say smaller I mean like 9,5 mm tall! That’s pretty tough to even hold in your hands (depending on what kind of hands you have of course). But holding it while trying to leave some room for sandpaper to work on it? Yep, you guessed it – that’s not easy to say the least. To illustrate: I even had to use tweezers to glue the “styrene skeleton” parts in place, which were only a couple of millimeters in width.

Here’s another preliminary result, this time a bit smoother. As you can see, I used spot putty on the smaller piece to fill in tiny holes and gaps.

And this is where Murphy came into play. It turned out that I had miscalculated something or simply had visually misjudged the proportions of this small piece. Anyway, it was evident that it was too thin and I had to somehow make it thicker – or wider if you look at it from the side.

Sounds easy, but how should I do that? Well, after thinking about it for a bit I decided to simply add material by gluing small strips of styrene to the side of it and fill it with putty as before. Yay, more sanding! Not exactly what I wanted to do but it sure did the trick:

After that small setback, I moved on to the next part, which is a kind of add-on to the first, “big” base piece. I made it basically from four small strips of styrene, which I glued together and sanded in shape.

A little putty to hide the seams:

A little sanding – done.

So, here are all of the three pieces that had been done at that point:

Next, I had to make the small, narrow part fit into the bigger base. So, I cut a piece out of the side of it and added some putty back in to make the new surface nice and smooth. Again, I used my mini-dremel to do that, this time with a small circular saw attached to it. I also used various small files to work on that slot.

While working on any of these pieces, by the way, I sprayed light coats of automotive primer on them all the time to reveal small blemishes, scratches or any kind of unevenness that needed to be fixed.

It wasn’t until I had created this slot that I noticed how deep I had carved the indentation into that big piece from above. Clearly too much! When put together, the final element of the prop would not have looked very good like that. So I had no choice but to improvise again and insert a round piece of styrene to raise the level of that surface a bit. This of course meant that I also had to putty it to blend it to the “walls” inside:

A lot of sanding later – and I mean a LOT of sanding later – the mistake was corrected and the surface both inside and outside was smooth as an androids butt. Also, the small add-on piece fit in its place perfectly.

To finish this piece off I had only one thing left to do and that was to create tiny grooves on the outside as a bit of detailing to give it some structure and make it interesting, not to mention match it with the original of course! To do that I cut tiny pieces of tape and put them on where I wanted the grooves to be.

Then I applied several coats of primer to add some material to the outside.

Then I removed the tape and voilà – micro-detailing!

Last but not least I had to tackle the emitter tip, which proved to be extra challenging. What I needed was a very small piece with very specific measurements and three tiny rings around it. At first I had no idea how to achieve this, but then decided to try to sculpt the tip from air curing clay which worked out quite well.

The three rings around the tip gave me a headache though. How the hell should I sculpt those by hand? It seemed impossible. Then I had the idea to wrap a bit of wire around it to at least get an approximation of what I wanted. It would be a short spiral instead of three separate rings, but that was the best I could think of. And it turned out that it worked really well and looks very nice even if it’s not perfect. After all, it’s only a very small part of the final prop…

So, here’s the final result again:

Note that I added a small indentation on top of the middle sized piece as well, similar to the one on the big base piece to create a small lip and a place for the emitter tip to fit in.

Seeing those four parts together now that they’re finished, I’m very satisfied with this part of the probe and I think it goes very well with the main parts I did a while back:

I’m sure it’ll be a great prop when it’s all done. And I sure hope that I’ll be able to make some more progress in the near future, too!

What do you think? The good, the bad and the ugly – I’d love to hear back from you in any case, either via a comment below or via eMail!

Also, if you want to watch my prop-related activities more closely you should follow me on Twitter. Every time I’m in my workshop, you’ll know it instantly and see what I’m doing in real-time before anyone else can read about it here on the blog. Sounds like something you might enjoy? Follow me @trekprops and get the inside scoop!

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Even if I had to deal with a few setbacks, the work went forward quite smoothly and pretty much the way I had imagined it. However, some serious precision work was necessary to make the parts as accurate and clean as they turned out to be, which was no easy task at all! As you can see in the pictures below, I shaped the wooden raw material with knives, saws, files and of course different kinds of sandpaper until I was satisfied with the results, while permanently applying coats of primer in between to reveal rough spots and other blemishes yet to be smoothed out. The most useful tool in this process? My caliper, which I used to continuously measure the thickness of the ribs, the spacing between them, etc. Without it, the parts undoubtedly wouldn’t have turned out this nice.

Of course, the pieces are not 100% symmetrical or exactly like my schematics, but I’m very pleased with the results nonetheless. The three parts I made in this manner are the ribbed middle section as well as the two back pieces. I decided to do the latter ones separately so I could make seamless resin castings of them later by using a one-piece silicone mold for each – in contrast to a two-part mold for a bigger piece, which would have a seam line by default.

So, without further ado, here are the pictures. First, the finished parts:

The original prop and my schematics for comparison:

And here are some progress pictures:

Very useful for making flat surfaces truly flat: a belt sander.

Humble beginnings…

Expanding the grooves.

Cutting deeper to match my schematics.

Some filing action to accurately shape the ribs.

Splash coat applied to reveal all kinds of blemishes.

The final cut to trim the piece from the excess wood.

The next part of the probe I want to tackle is the tip of the tool, which I will have to scratch build since I wasn’t able to identify the nose hair trimmer part that was originally used for this purpose.

Keep watching the blog for more updates. If you want to catch additional info between my blog entries, follow me on Twitter: @trekprops!

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For what it’s worth, here’s a look at the test piece I was playing with to get accustomed to working with a lathe:

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As with most of these props, it was used as a medical instrument as well as an engineering tool. However, with this one, the scientific use was seen more often.

Here are some screenshots from “Star Trek: Captain’s Chair“:

And here are two shots from the “It’s A Wrap”-Auction where two of these were sold:

Lastly, here’s the sequence of the lights from the show:

Even if it’s not very clear in the animation above, I know that the last LED of the sequence is green whereas the rest of the lights are of a warm yellow/orange color.

Using these references and with some help from people in the know, I was able to figure out proportions and measurements for this prop. Also, I learned that the tip was taken from a nose hair trimmer and the ribbed middle part was loosely based on a Star Wars lightsaber handle. The back piece was custom made from aluminum.

Here are some schematics I put together:

This drawing will be the basis for my replica. The dimensions should be pretty accurate to the original.

The next step will be to manufacture the ribbed middle section as well as the two back pieces. I will try to accomplish this by turning these parts from wood.

Stay tuned for more progress pics in the coming weeks!

Any questions or suggestions as to how I should proceed with this? Or do you know which nose hair trimmer model was used for the tip of the Neutrino Probe? Leave a comment and let me know!

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For it to be the correct size, a good portion needs to be cut off the back of the unit. The display screen of the Desktop Viewer was scratch built for the show, then the whole thing was (re)painted and decorated with pieces of black acrylic as well as vinyl tape.

I’m currently looking to get the missing pieces (screen, etc.) from fellow prop builders. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll scratch build them myself. Anyhow, this project is on the back burner for now.

Are you going to try to get one of these for yourself? Leave a comment and tell me!

Below are some screenshots. Notice the power plug socket on the side which was concealed on some prop units and visible on others.

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Thirdly, the color of the prop was way too light. Additionally, the backside of it wasn’t painted at all! The naked resin revealed itself which was simply unacceptable for me.

Here are a few pictures:

No doubt about it, I had to do some face-lifting work there.

My first step was to sand down the old paint completely and to remove the circuit graphic. I removed the paint residue from the “ground” of the circuit depression using an appropriate attachment for my dremel. This technique however didn’t work with the four upper small slots.

Next up was the backside. Since there was the raw resin visible – being everything but flat and even, I decided to strengthen it with styrene.

Some putty and sanding work helped here to make it look much better. There were however still imperfections left to eliminate.

After I had repaired all of the blemishes with spot putty, I could then primer and paint the piece. Since the original color – Plasti-kote 7173 – was never available in Germany and the original composition has been changed even in the US, I used a custom mixed equivalent that is indistinguishable from the original color.

Now I had to attend to the four small vents on the top of the prop. They had to be painted black again. Not an easy task to cover all of the insides with paint without messing up the front…

After I had cut the new circuit graphic, adjusted it to fit inside the depression and glued it in, I was satisfied with the result:

Looking back to the beginning I think that reworking this prop was worth the effort. The color is now accurate and the surface looks a lot cleaner and smoother. Only one question remains: How can I activate the darn thing…?

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In the episode “Future’s End“, the Doc was able to get a piece of 29th century technology – the mobile emitter -, which enabled him to do a big step in his development: He now was able to not only exist in sickbay or the holodeck but any other room without holo projectors and to move freely on the ship, go on away missions, etc. In essence, he gained the same freedom any other (human) crew member took for granted.

Here are some reference pictures from various episodes:

Here are the pictures of my replica:

The exposed circuits can be modified using micro tools, …

… which can have different effects on the Doctor’s projected appearance.

Size comparison with a Standard Starfleet Comm Badge.

I got the circuit board graphic from a fellow prop builder, …

… who printed it on aluminium vinyl and then laminated it. Great work!

The inside of the four slots are hand painted.

The graphics were cut precisely to fit in where they should.

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Once activated, these small devices enable the user to communicate with any other crew memeber who is also equipped with a smiliar badge. While the activation is done by a simple tap, everything else works through a highly sophisticated speech recognition system. Furthermore, these badged contain a personal ID beacon which can for example help to locate crew memebers in case of an emergency.

My replicas shown here are first generation castings from the original and are painted with authentic colors – unless you own a screen-used piece, this is as authentic as you can get. I acquired all of these items through eBay from the seller “JeepFX“.

TNG

TNG – Acting Ensign

TNG – “Future Imperfect”

DS9 – Bajoran Militia

TNG – “All Good Things…”

DS9/VOY/FC/INS/NEM

VOY – “Relativity”

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This excitement of mine led to a passion for engineering tool props. As a matter of fact, this is what brought me into the hobby of prop replicas in the first place! Even as a kid I always wanted to have these little blinking devices, so why not build them myself now?

Since these types of props are not very prominent within the Star Trek universe – Phasers and Tricorders for example are more dominant – it is rather difficult to get any information regarding them. So, there’s only one method to get some reference material: To watch episodes and capture as many screenshots as possible.

Here are some reference pictures I have collected for the ODN Scanner:

Version 1: Early seasons of DS9 – color scheme 1 – medical application.

Version 2: Late seasons of DS9 – color scheme 2 – engineering application.

Version 3: Late seasons of Voyager – color scheme 3 – engineering application.

As seen on the pictures, these kinds of props often don’t have a “fixed” field of application. Because of this, they can be seen in the hands of an engineer as well as in sickbay.

In the Star Trek universe, the explanation for this is simple: All of these devices are composed of modules, so they can operate in different configurations and with a different programming to perform various tasks.

Production-wise of course, the prop department has a certain amount of these “miscellaneous” props in storage and then decides which one suits the requirements of the script best. If necessary, they sometimes repaint it to make it look a little different.

This is also why these types of props usually don’t have an “official” name. Therefore I had to make one up which would correspond to the shown usage scenarios of this prop: The ODN Scanner (ODN = Optical Data Network). I chose to ignore the medical usage here.

Using my reference pictures, I could then draw the following illustration, which also contained the final dimensions. Although some minor details are different from the finished product, the most important features are outlined here:

Careful planning is very helpful in this hobby.

This replica is a so called hero version. This means that it’s not just a painted chunk of resin but a hollow shell with working electronics inside. In this instance, there is a running light with five green LEDs above the display and a super bright red LED on the top side of the scanner. This brings the prop to life, increases the authenticity and is just so much more fun!

The traditional color scheme for Starfleet equipment: PK 7173 & PK 7179

Several greeblies add authenticity to this engineering tool: Styrene, clear plexi.

This prop can be seen in “Deep Space Nine” as well as in “Voyager”…

… and also had a short appearance in the show “Borg Invasion 4D” in Las Vegas.

I also made the display graphics myself…

… and got it printed on high quality photo paper.

This so called hero version contains an electronic circuit, …

… which lights up 5 green running LEDs and one super bright red LED.

The button to activate the lights is located on the handle.

The batteries are installed into the handle, …

…which can be opened to replace them easily!

Here is a flash animation to show the scanner in action:

The glowing LEDs are not simulated but actually photographed! The speed of the running light matches almost exactly the real thing.

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Matt’s PADD kits contain three black acrylic plates which have been precision cut with a laser using the accurate shapes traced from an original prop. The thickness of the plates is also correct (3 mm).

Along with these plates I got a set of graphics for the display and the control buttons. I also got another display graphic so I could choose my favorite one. Furthermore, there’s a sticker of brushed aluminum vinyl included for the big button in the right control window. Looks sweet!

Here are all of the kit pieces at a glance:

There is a protective paper backing on the acrylic plates. This is a necessary part of the laser cutting process.

This paper has to be removed first, but only on the “inner” sides of the front and back plate:

These are the two plates without the paper. Note that the right (front) plate is lying on the table reversed showing it’s “inner” side.

Next these plates are carefully glued together so that they are perfectly aligned to each other and the edges are flush. This is just a temporary fixation and will be unfixed later. So I didn’t use a non-removable glue, but double sided adhesive tape instead.

I left the paper attached to the front and back side to protect them during the next step.

The corners and edges of the PADD need to be rounded. Since acrylic is a pretty hard material, you won’t have much success using sandpaper. For this you need either a dremel with an appropriate attachment, a router or a big file. I decided to use the latter to keep a higher degree of manual control.

This is a rather tricky process. The curvature should be clearly visible, but it shouldn’t be too round. It wasn’t easy to remove an equal amount of material all around and on each side to make it look symmetrical.

The file work is of course only a means to add the bevel to the plates. You won’t be able to get the surface smooth that way. To achieve that, I used sandpaper going from lower to higher grit numbers. This works best using wet sandpaper under running water!

During sanding I then disassembled the two plates to also sand the “inner” edges slightly – not to round them, but to remove flashes left over from the laser cutting process.

Finally, I also removed the paper backing to check the curvature of the two plates and used sandpaper to do corrections.

Here’s the result of my work with file and sandpaper:

Next up is priming the PADD.

Since the plates are later glued together, the areas where the glue will be applied need to be masked. This is done because glue attaches itself more easily to “naked” acrylic than to primer or paint. This way you won’t have to use sandpaper later to rough up the surface.

To prime the pieces, I placed them on paper without suspending them in any way! This way I didn’t have to worry about overspray getting on the other side of the plates and making them look ugly. I didn’t prime the edges in this step because they could get stuck to the paper.

When the primer was dry, I turned the plates over and then did suspend them on small blocks of wood. I primered the pieces again and also applied some to the edges. Because the plates are suspended, they can’t get stuck to the paper and I don’t have to worry about overspray because most parts of the inner side will not be visible.

I repeated this step with my Plasti-kote 7173 equivalent spray paint,  suspending the pieces when doing the outsides and laying them flat when doing the inner sides.

Next up are the graphics. They have to be cut precisely to fit inside the windows of the front plate. This requires some patience.

Also the brushed aluminum vinyl sticker has to be applied to the gray area on the bigger control graphics using a pair of tweezers. The sticker has the exact same size as the rectangle and is not removable, so I had to be very precise!

Once the paint has dried, …

… I removed the tape from the inner side of the plates.

Now all the parts have to be assembled. I used 5-minute epoxy glue to join the acrylic plates together permanently. Be careful with this stuff and always wear gloves to avoid glueing your fingers together!

First, I removed the paper from the middle plate. No additional work is necessary on this one. Then, I glued it onto the back plate like so:

I had to be careful to align the smaller plate correctly (the shape is not symmetrical) and to place is exactly in the middle of the back plate. I used the working time of the 5-minute epoxy glue to correct any errors.

Next up is the front plate which is glued onto the middle plate. Again, careful aligning of the edges is in order.

The last step is to apply the graphics. They are self-adhesive so you merely have to peel them off and place them where they belong:

That’s it, the PADD is finished!

Bottom line: A very inexpensive prop that is quickly and easily built and looks just plain cool lying on a desk!

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