TOS Tricorder

[crimson]

A few weeks back, someone mentioned that there is no paper model of the tricorder from the original Star Trek series. It's on my (long) list of models wanted too, so I thought I would give it a go. Fortunately there is a wealth of reference material on the web.

Progress on the 3d model is coming along slowly. This was not helped by the fact that the plans of the tricorder I was using were not quite square (that will teach me to check them first!)

anyway.. here's the design in Blender:



and a couple of simple renders:




obviously, I've loads left to do and I am easily distracted (curse that darned interweb!) so I expect progress to be slow (It's taken four weeks to get this far!).

 

[Nothing]

fantastic! looks great so far.

 

[crimson]

Thanks nothing, I hope I can keep the momentum going.

I have managed to add some detail to the data disks and door panels:

 

[crimson]

Thank goodness for wet sunday afternoons.

 

[crimson]

My good lady wife informs me it is bedtime!

 

[shiftdel]

Great tricorder, excellent texture work, also!!

 

[jgderuvo]

Indeed. Got a pepakura model yet?

 

[crimson]

Thanks guys,
I have run it through pepakura to give me an idea of how (un)buildable it is..:mrgreen:



plenty of work to do there, fixing the model and aligning/changing the textures.

However, while attempting to scale the model to what appears to be the generally accepted prop size of 7in x 5.2in x 2.3 in I found out that the plans I am using do not match these dimensions. they are not too far out, so a little extra tweaking of the model is required first.wall1

 

[jgderuvo]

Well hopefully, you'll work it out and we'll all get to build what looks to be an awesome model!

 

[twb962]

Hope this page helps.

http://www.racprops.com/issue5/classictricorder/

 

[col. kurtz]

looks great keep up the excellent work !!!:thumb::thumb:

 

[MOS95B]

Looks awesome!!!

I hope you make the display screen changeable somehow... (hint, hint) :mrgreen:

 

[crimson]

jgderuvo; twb962;col. Kurtz; MOS95B Thanks again for you kind remarks guys. I am still battling with Blender to get everything lined-up and looking like the the reference pictures. (Cue star trek battle music "..20 Quatloos on the newcomer!..") So I should have a 3D model that I am happy with and textured by the end of the weekend (family permitting).

twb962: I love Richard Coyles site. I remember looking there some while back when looking into the Blade runner Blaster.

What I really need is a Tricorder site like this one for the communicator:
http://www.herocomm.com/Home.htm

MOS95B: The screen is going to be a sperate part that just sticks to the back of the control panel and the panel is a seperate part in itself, so it wouldn't be too difficult for you to make the front panel removable (velcro spots? interferance fit?) and to add some slots on the back to slip in different images. Iwas thinking of including the blank grey/green phosphor screen and the "city on the edge of foever" newspaper image but you could print out and fit what you wanted.


A picture Just to show that I have moved the project forward a little (I know the screen cutout is rubbish, it will be fixed):

 

[crimson]

The buttons/lights look ok in pepakura too:



For the more nimble fingered amongst you, the model will have all the parts to make up the cylinders for the buttons and lights. For us mere mortals, it will probably just be easier to laminate the tops onto thick card.

I have changed the texture for the metal parts to a less 'distressed' version of brushed aluminium.

 

[twb962]

A study on size;

http://startrekpropauthority.blogspot.com/2008/04/tos-tricorder-measurements-study.html

 

[Nothing]

theres a web site out there called project enterprise or project star trek i dont remember which( ill have to look into it) but its a project some people started to make the entire world of tos era enterprise in 3d. they have a huge amount of reference on just about everything.

 

[Starship Builder]

is this it http://projectenterprise.net/

 

[Nothing]

ahh yes thats the one!!

 

[Starship Builder]

pretty cool you can download the modles and nice refrances on it if only he done tng

 

[crimson]

Thanks for the links guys.

Sorry no update for a while, there are a lot of birthdays/anniversaries in september.

This project is still progressing (slowly). After adding detail to the model (specifically the rotation points for the door and display module) everything looked fine in Blender. Unfortunately, it did not export to pepakura very well. I think I have a solution, but it is just fiddly and time consuming. Onward and Upward!