Replicating Star Trek TOS Bridge Displays

[Jake Conhale]

I'm working on building lightboxes with blinking lights for some Star Trek TOS bridge displays. I needed something to do for Lockdown and this seemed a good way to build my mechanical skill set.

Anyways, here's the work in progress:

The box is 11.5" x 11.5" x 6", at least that's the intention. Supposed to be framed with metal angles to both hide the box seams as well as hold the graphic/plexiglass sandwich against the box. This pic was taken of a test run of the LEDs - as you can see they are not working as expected, I had hoped for an even light. Eh well, I have some new LEDs with wider viewing angles on order.

This is just the first display, it's static but like the others is powered by an Arduino Nano microcontroller for the LEDs. I'm working on the four displays of the Defense Monitor station and plan for the other displays to have blink sequences, assuming I can build the others and get the LED issue sorted out.

Overall, considering this is the most advanced project I've yet attempted, I'm pleasantly surprised that the box came out in any way rectangular.

 

[Scott Kellogg]

There is (I think) a website out there you might be interested in:
Tosgraphics.com (I think?)
They had some very interesting well worked out images of the graphic displays from the show.
It's mainly a discussion forum, but for some reason I can't log in any more.

But, their graphics do show up on a google image search.

I used some of their stuff as inspiration for background display graphics in my comic strip.

Good Luck!

 

[Jake Conhale]

I am familiar with TOSGraphics - I ordered a set of four Defense Monitor station graphics from there, one of which you can see in the image.

[Removed part of the post as requested by the author. — @Michael]

 

[Scott Kellogg]

I was rather interested in their descriptions of the techniques they used to duplicate the original graphics:
screencapping them and then flattening them out using the distort tool in photoshop.
I experimented in doing some myself, like the display boards they had in the background in "Whom Gods Destroy" (Mainly because there were lots of clear images of them)

I don't know anything about Fraud on the board, but it's been probably a couple years since I last logged in.

 

[Jake Conhale]

Yeah, I probably shouldn't have mentioned that was one of my first actions on the board, after all the focus is the great Trek.

Yeah, I loved seeing how they made the props too. Fascinating! (where have I heard that before?) I've seen some things pop up in other threads - like finding the original graphic here:
https://startrekprops.jimdofree.com/the-original-series-props/bridge-instrument-panel/

And some other things pop up in prop-reconstruction threads on therpf.com for example, but just curious if anyone had that kind of stuff in one place as opposed to bits and pieces here and there. Granted, I'm not planning on building the entire bridge like that guy in Ticonderoga, but I enjoy completeness.

 

[publiusr]

Maybe do a search on old paper gas read out dials and backlight them