Here's a little project I've been working on. A 3D model of Phaser 1 & 2. I worked from NAU's "Midgrade Phaser 1 & 2" blueprints. These were measured off of West Coast Collector's midgrade phaser and reproduce it "warts and all." Knowing the midgrades were made from the same molds as the heroes, I relied on the blueprints for the basic shapes and dimensions. I additionally referenced the photo survey images of Greg Jein's hero phaser and drew some of the detailing from there. In the end, I regularized and idealized the Phaser to match my own conception of a "real" one. YMMV. You will notice that I have included the indicator lamp on the P1, a detail that is missing from Jein's hero, but I think appeared on several others. Modeling was done in MoI3D, a wonderful NURBS-based solid modeler, aimed more at artists than engineers. It's a very easy to use CAD system and I highly recommend it. http://moi3d.com/ Texturing and renders were handled in Strata3D. A capable and easy to use polygon 3D package that has sadly been abandoned by its developer. I do not recommend it at this point. Learn Blender instead... M.
That's very fine work! I love the level of detail you have put into it. Very nice. I have a TOS Phaser III carbine that I drew up some plans for I hope to create some nice renders of like this some day. Okay Captain Tracy.. lol.
A CAD system, you say? Was this done with an eye towards 3D printing? (Absolutely marvelous work, BTW.)
No, not particularly. I just enjoy modeling things. Here's a Communicator I modeled several years ago. In both cases, the inspiration was a set of reliable data to work from. I like to wait until I get my hands on accurate info before going to work. If anyone knows of a set of reliable Tricorder plans (measured from screen-used props) I'd happily add that to my project list and complete my virtual "exploration set." M.
something I noticed recently. there are new glowing home laser tag pistols out. No SW scope or clip. No...these have a tail that flow back toward the wrist. If for safety purposes only—-the phaser II is making a comeback