Was he under 50? Unless you grew up in the 60-80s you can't fathom that a tape recorder was the best thing to use for a Tricorder........and sometimes STICK was the best phaser......
"The Wand Company" classic Tricorder
- Thread starter Redfern
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I didn't check his base channel and only his hands appeared in the video. I'm 62 and a half at the time I'm posting this, meaning I was around 12 when the kit was released. Before that point, I used an empty binocular case ( didn't want to risk the optical device) as my tricorder because it had a shoulder strap and the overall arrangement was black. Funny you should mention a tape recorder as Mego (the toy company that sold a wide range of 8 inch action figures including a Trek line) marketed a functional cassette recorder as a tricorder. I can't recall what my buddy and I used for phasers. I think my friend "borrowed" the remote to his mom's TV.
I've occasionally wondered if any parents during the 70s went that extra mile to woodcraft some props for their kids, catching what fleeting shots appeared in episodes (before the era of VCRs) or getting more concrete evidence from "The Making of Star Trek" by Stephen Whitfield. Later, of course, there was the "StarFleet Technical Manual"...with its rather inaccurate Type 2 Phaser unit.
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Wonder no more. While my dad did not, I knew a boy whose dad did exactly that, doing the same with lightsabers and blasters when Star Wars came out.
"Pocket" calculators were the "up and coming" technology when my friend and I engaged in "cops and robbers" Trek style. Seriously, the first unit my father purchased was such an early model (A Texas Instruments "Datamath") that it didn't even have a percentile key! No way he'd let me scurry outside with that "investment"! Wouldn't have served well as a "Type 1" phaser as it was far larger and heavy as a brick. It probably would have doubled as a tricoder better.
It's delightful to hear that I wasn't the only one out in my backyard with a binoculars case for a tricorder. It was damn near perfect!
It was the shoulder strap mine possessed that sold the comparison for me. Otherwise, any old similarly sized "box could have worked. Oh, once I had the "Exploration Set", I unclasped the strap from the bino' case and somehow managed to thread it through the holes in the tricorder model, allowing me to carry it slung from my shoulder.
I mentioned how my friend and I enacted Trek "cops and robbers" style (that is, improv' roleplay), but we went the extra mile by somewhat "cosplaying". We both dug from our closets clothing that at least vaguely resembled "uniforms". I donned some navy blue trousers and a royal blue turtleneck sweater...along with some brown leather cowboy boots. My friend managed a tad closer with truly black pants, some boots he dared to spray paint black and had a mustard brown pullover with a dark chocolate collar. I think he persuaded his mom to bleach the sweater a bit, fading it to more of a tan mustard. The notable Donmoor brand licensed Trek shirts would have been a godsend, but alas they hit stores just a bit after we each moved to different neighborhoods.
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