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.
My father bought a TI pocket calculator circa 1973 for the eye-watering price of $70. That would be over $500 in today's money. That was serious, on his pay. I never played with it.
In the late '70s, when microchips had come way down, he got me a TI-30 for high school, and I loved that thing. Still have it, too.
Yeah, my father also payed around 70 clams for the device. Thanks for accounting the inflation rate. 500 bucks? Yowzah! I'm glad I didn't damage it when curiosity got the better of me and I unscrewed the casing to peer inside! Might not be around today to tell the anecdote!
I made my own TMP props out of wood in middle-school shop class, the teacher was baffled as to why, lol.
They replaced my original communicator with a bad battery and told me to keep the old one......great customer service.
It's worth it.......I think it's the best out of the three props they've done.......they made it more of a PROP without trying to make it a TV remote or Bluetooth phone accessory. Added actual proplike behaviors.
I have no reason to have one now, but I miss my TI-81 sometimes
Wish I kept my HP-67.
I always wonder if the TV remote/phone accessory oddness was because they didn't actually have a license to produce an actual "prop".
Yeah I looked when they announced the SNW Phaser and just laughed and closed THAT window. I don't mind paying for a nice prop replica but I draw the line at SA from a vendor.
Does anyone here know where to get a Medical Scanner for the Wand Tricorder? Is there more than one available?
Not from Wand Company unfortunately.
There is a beautiful unlicenced one available which I am seriously tempted to buy, but I think it'll cost me more than the Tricorder itself! Although not if you're based in the US.
www.therpf.com
There is a beautiful unlicenced one available which I am seriously tempted to buy, but I think it'll cost me more than the Tricorder itself! Although not if you're based in the US.
Trek Classic Medical Scanner Mark I
Someone mentioned this should have its own thread. I agree. LINK: Unboxing Video Order via. Email (while they last): trekclassic@hotmail.com
www.therpf.com
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