Props, the Final Frontier

This week’s prop piece that I would like to talk about was laid out almost as a challenge. Far too often I see props in the market that are expensive, simply because they can be. The demand is small, so the price goes up because the folks that truly want that prop will pay the inflated price.

One thing I try to do when I am working on props is to give a fair assessment of price based on a few factors. Time is the biggest cost in any of my creations, my time fabricate or design, the time of the printer to print, the time it takes to paint and dry, the time it takes to finish and materials of course. The time of the printer is one of the biggest draws because if the printer is taking loads of time to print, it cuts down on the other projects I could be working on. However, the problem of having 1 printer may be solved very shortly, stay tuned.

That being said, one of my good friends laid out a challenge from the Star Trek universe. While I am a well-versed Trekkie, I still had to do research on my prop. He asked for a specific piece seen in only a few episodes, but called by name in only one.

The piece he challenged me to make was the Varon-T Disruptor, referenced by name in the Star Trek The Next Generation episode The Most Toys. (Data gets kidnapped by a collector of rare and unique items, Data being an android fits that description. In the episode the collector kills a woman with a Varon-T Disruptor, which is special because it is outlawed in the Federation and there are only a handful produced.)

The first stop on my journey was thingiverse.com, my go to spot to see if the model exists. When I found that it wasn’t on thingiverse, I did a general search, but alas, no good. I would have to model the print myself.  

As I have said before, I am always learning new and better techniques of how to make my own models so I headed over to thinkercad.com and got started with my modeling.

Once I had the base of the blaster, I stated with the cylinder, it was simply a matter of adding to the design piece by piece. 

I noticed the trigger for the blaster was on the back, to be pushed with ones thumb, so I modeled it separately, and added to the blaster. 

There was some more finish work, that I took care of after this picture was taken.

Quickly I modeled the handle and finish a little bit of detail work. 

The print took about 5 hours, printed in black ABS. I split the blaster body into 2 pieces so I could print them flat side down, that way I would not have to use supports. Figuring out ways to print without supports saves time and resources. Once the blaster was printed, I rounded a few corners with 220 grit sand paper and give it a paint job. 

The Varon-T Disruptor shows up in a few places through Star Trek, however is only called by name in TNG: The Most Toys. The prop departments were known for recycling props. The paint job I used was a mix of The Most Toys version and another version that shows up later in Star Trek. (The second paint job has more detail and finish work and I liked that so I mixed the two.) 

All things considered this is my first prop that I have 100% modeled and printed myself, and I am very proud of it. The prop went together very well and the paint job was simple, all be it detailed. I am slowly improving my detail work, but I find I like dirty and grimy paint jobs, as they seem to be more fun, easier and have tons of character. I will feature some of my weathering work soon. 

Coming up over the next week weeks I will be sharing some leather working projects, a surprise that was hinted to previously in this post, and a summer review. So, keep an eye out for those.

Until next week, Ill keep making. Thanks for stopping by.