Makeover: Mobile Holo-Emitter

trekprops.de — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 22:00:57 +0000

When I got my mobile holo-emitter in an exchange deal, there were some things I didn’t like about it: First off, the curcuit graphic which had been made from a gold foil with the pattern printed green on it was not cut out accurately thus being too small for the intended place. This was especially distracting in the upper right corner of the indentation where the gap was really quite big. Second, the surface of the prop wasn’t really worked up to the degree of a smooth finish I would have liked to have. There were dents and it was not clean and I didn’t like that.

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…?

Mobile Holo-Emitter

trekprops.de — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 00:00:41 +0000

One of my favourite characters from “Star Trek: Voyager” is the holographic Doctor. Just as Spock, Data and Odo before him, he as an artificial intelligence represents the outsider among humans, who wishes to be treated with respect and as an equal being. He strives to become more than his original programming and tries to become as human as possible.

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.

trekprops.de » 29th Century

Makeover: Mobile Holo-Emitter

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