Hobbyist Forums banner

TOS Communicator in 3D

Tags
star trek tos
3K views 19 replies 14 participants last post by  Fernando Mureb 
#1 ·
Just a little something I've wanted to do for a while.

Thanks to the groundbreaking research made freely available by the fine folks at HeroComm.com I have everything I need to make an accurate, virtual Communicator.

I will note that I am making a "real" Comm, whereas the information at HeroComm is dedicated to a warts-and-all documentation of the actual props. As such, I will be making certain judgements as to what the a "real" Communicator would be. Slight deviations from the Alpha blueprints are deliberate. YMMV.

Here are some WIP pix:









If this goes well, the TOS Phaser will be the next project. That will take a bit more work as there is, unfortunately, no "HeroPhaser.com" project. I will have to rely on my own research for that when the time comes.

Thanks for reading, and a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to the HeroComm.com guys!

M.
 
See less See more
4
#3 ·
Indeed well done. :)

There will be all manner of choices to be made. What the original controls and details were made from (H.O.scale slot car wheel hubs and costume jewelry) shouldn't be a consideration, for example, as that was simply a case of what was on hand, cheap and looked like it was functional.

Realistically, should there be markings, vernier scales, or other indication of what each control did? One would think so. Such things wouldn't really register on the kind of resolution available on 1960's TV.

Some decision would have to be made to define how the comm attaches to an expedition belt or the uniform waistband. I was never really keen on that 'Magnatomic adhesion patch' stuff.

I have always held the belief that the disc with the moiré was the same as the discs in the Tricorder, implying a recording ability. your mileage may vary. :)
 
#9 ·
Thanks.

I'm working in Strata Design 3D. It's a great program; very capable, for the price.

www.strata.com

As far as making the design "real." I'm not planning to deviate very far from the actual props. I hope folks
aren't expecting too much. It's more of a case of regularizing away the blemishes. Different people might handle
that in different ways. This will be my "solution."

It will be very much in the spirit of my TOS Enterprise model. I tried to make it as faithful as possible; but I
ended up moving a couple of portholes a slight bit so they worked with the Hangar Deck interior.

In the case of the Communicator, so far I've adjusted the spacing of the knobs and the jewels to make
them symmetrical. I also made the mic grille square and evenly spaced from the edges of the face plate.

M.
 
#10 ·
...As far as making the design "real." I'm not planning to deviate very far from the actual props. I hope folks aren't expecting too much. It's more of a case of regularizing away the blemishes...
So, you won't be replicating the visible glue around the moire bezel rings and the jewel bezels then? :p

But seriously, I always enjoy seeing your work and I wish I had your skills and level of talent. Under the heading of constructive criticism, the material used for the mic grille that I've seen was a more pale gold with a hint of a pinkish hue. Of course, your color choice may have been intentional, in which case my comment here should be completely ignored. Regardless, your work is just as good as, if not better than, many of the prop replicas I've seen. :thumbsup:
 
#12 ·
That is a thing of beauty!

I like the Kydex texture. The depth looks good, I think it might need a bit more texture.

Can you easily change the jewel colors? I like the purple, it's non-traditional but looks great! Are you going under the assumption that they are indicator lights? That's always been my thinking.

Looking forward to seeing the lid/antenna.

Thanks for sharing this!
 
#13 ·
Nicely modeled!

Is the mic grill a single segment that has been array copied to make the full mic plate or is it all one 'real' mesh?

The texture setup you have looks a bit more like pitting than Kydex hair cell. Perhaps if you up the density or add more gradation between the light and dark areas of the texture map?
 
#14 ·
The jewel colors are easily changed. I based these on HeroComm's Alpha specs, however, the "Aurora Borealis" coating
is more obvious on the real thing than on mine. As a result, the purple jewel is far less obvious, and the blue one has a
lot more green in its reflections. It's there, but I need to ramp it up a bit.

As for the function of the jewels, I have a theory about how the TOS computer readouts worked. It's my personal
theory, and in no way "canon." I believe that there is a reason why most of the control surfaces in Trek are black;
and why we don't see much in the way of labeling of buttons. Since it is pretty obvious that a given button must
perform more than one function, it has long been speculated that there are various "overlays" or modes of functionality.
But how would the operator keep track of this without some form of interchangeable labeling? My answer is,
they don't. There is labeling, and it changes for each of the various function overlays. It is just not visible to
anyone but the operator. My theory is that the buttons themselves, or in this case, the jewels, are also holographic projectors.
Each button projects it's label into space above itself where the operator can read it plainly against the black background
of the console. Furthermore, this image is directed toward the operator and vanishes when your viewpoint shifts
too many degrees away to either side. It's sort of a 23rd Century "heads up" display, but without glass.

I think it would have been cool to see this depicted on the bridge. A Kirk's-eye view as he walks behind Uhura
when suddenly, a constellation of labels sweeps across above the buttons of her console as he passes her chair;
then vanishes as he moves beyond her.

In the case of the Communicator, I imaging that all three jewels are projecting feedback about the operation
of the device. Maybe, after I'm done with the model, I'll make a few images that depict this sort of interface.

As for the Kydex texture: I looked pretty carefully at the closeups on HeroComm. The Alpha Kydex looks
very much like I have depicted it here -- a smooth outer surface, interrupted by elongated, round bottomed pits.
I think I may need to adjust the density a bit by scaling the texture up or down a bit; and perhaps it is overall a bit too shiny.
I welcome input on this.

Regarding the Mic texure, it is a repeating tile that I constructed to function as a displacement map. The physical geometry
of the grid is a flat extruded plate with the vent holes in it. Over this, and in alignment with it, I built the displacement map.
The good thing is that it is completely tile-able. The Kydex texture is also handled by a tileable displacement map.

M.
 
#18 ·
Now that the Christmas rush is over, it's time for an update.

The grid was, for me, the trickiest part. The regular hole pattern is not all that easy to model in an SDS modeling program.
Getting the regular pattern, and keeping the smooth bends proved too much for my abilities. In the end, I settled for modeling
the grid as a solid and making the holes with a stencil texture. The result is pretty much the same in everything but extreme closeup.

I have my eye on a wonderful NURBS-based solid modeler with a more CAD-like set of tools called MoI (Moment of Inspiration).
It is only a month or so away from a major upgrade, so I'm cooling my jets until then. Doing the grid with physical holes would
be a breeze in MoI, so I'll likely revisit this element at a later date.

In the mean time, here's what I've come up with.

M.




 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top