Makeover: Mobile Holo-Emitter

tn_holo-emitterWhen 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. [More…]

Mobile Holo-Emitter

tn_holo-emitterOne 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. [More…]

Cardassian PADD

cardie_padd_tnIn “Star Trek”, the idea of the paper-less office has been perfected. No pieces of paper, no pens, but only so called PADDs are used to note, capture, save, copy and transmit any kind of information.

Not only humans however use this kind of technology (see Voyager PADD), also several alien races like the Cardassians have realized the comfort of easy to use mobile [More…]

Buildup: Small PADD (VOY)

tn_voy_padd_sHow do you build a PADD? Well, it’s easy, if you have the right kit. In this tutorial I want to show you how to build up one of Matt Munson’s small Voyager PADD kits. Although he claims to build these is under an hour, I would recommend to take a little more time… [More…]

Small PADD (VOY)

tn_voy_padd_sPADDs (Personal Access and Display Device) can be seen everywhere in “Star Trek”. They are used to transfer and read reports, write letters, view pictures from the computers database etc. A real multi usage device!

What you see here is a PADD from “Star Trek: Voyager”. To be precise, it’s the smaller one of the two common types from the show – the one that was carried around in nearly [More…]

Type I “Cricket” Phaser

tn_tng_cricketI got this small prop in kit form from a fellow ASAP member. When I first started this project, I thought that such a small object could not be a lot of trouble during buildup. The exact opposite was the case. It took a lot longer than I anticipated to get this one done. I also had to do a lot more research than I had planned. [More…]

Buildup: Type I “Cricket” Phaser

tn_tng_cricketThe Type I phaser from TNG, a prop barely 9 centimetres long. To do a replica of this can’t be much trouble, right? Wrong! The smaller the object is, the finer are the details and the more time has to be spent to make the prop look good. I will describe here what I did to build this “cricket” phaser up. When I got the kit from a member of the ASAP board , it was in a pretty raw shape, which is not uncommon for resin castings however. This meant that the surface had to be smoothed out (especially [More…]

Tutorial: Sonic Driver

tn_sonic_driverIn this tutorial I will describe the process of building one of my resin Sonic Driver prop kits. Though it’s a relatively simple kit that essentially just needs to be painted, the partially complex shape of the prop can make the preparation work quite tricky and requires some expertise. [More…]

Sonic Driver

tn_sonic_driverSince I’m a big fan of engineering tools that are used by LaForge, O’Brien or Torres to repair the ship, I’m always looking for adequate reference material to extract some useful information.

Because of this, “Star Trek: Captain’s Chair” is a true treasure chest for me as well as probably for many other prop enthusiasts. This software enables you to not only move freely on the main bridges of the Enterprises 1701, 1701-D, 1701-E, the [More…]

First Contact “Boomerang” Phaser

tn_fc_phaserangAlso known as “Boomerang Phaser” or “Phaserang”.

I got this Typ II Phaser as seen in “Star Trek VIII: First Contact ” from a fellow prop collector. The weapon is painted with the authentic automotive color Plasti-kote 7173 and the grip has been rubberized. Furthermore, there is the correct blue holo-tape attached to the underside of the prefire chamber (see last picture). [More…]