TOS Midgrade phaser build

spoudastis · Apr 21, 2024

I'm not a huge Star Trek TOS fan, it was before my time, but as I have gotten older I have really fallen in love with the early sci-fi aesthetic. Of course, the whole Heritage Auction debacle caught my attention and and renewed my interest in the TOS phaser. I was able to acquire an RJS fiberglass midgrade which i am really happy with. I know there have been some goings on with RS on the forum so for the sake of this thread we will put that aside and just focus on my first TOS build.

Parts

-RJS fiberglass midgrade
-johnpaultrek2012 (on ebay) metal upgrade parts set
-RS 5/8" aluminum side knob
-proteus1 (on ebay) extra crispy mylar foil

Paints

-Black sandable primer
-Krylon shadow grey spray paint
-Krylon Satin Crystal Clear
-Model Masters Gloss Black
-Model Masters Gloss White
-Model Masters Metalic Silver
-Model Masters Thinner
-Humbrol gloss black enamel
-Tamiya Flat Black
-Tamiya Gun Metal
-Tamiya Dark Yellow
-Windsor Raw Umber oil paint
-Pigments (AK, MIG, Ammo) Dark Earth, Farm Dark Farm, Rubble, European Earth, Light Dust, pigment fixer

Materials

-Evercoat glazing and spot putty
-Mr. Surfacer 500
-Apoxie Sculpt
-JB Weld
-JB weld Plastic Bonder (Epoxy)
-Devcon Contact Cement
-Styrene
1/16" Aluminum Sheet

The RJS fiberglass kit is wonderful, It comes with the P2 L/R main shells and L/R Handle as well as the top/bottom P1 and all the small parts to make an excellent phaser. Most of the small parts are cast resin and I wanted a little more heft and realism so i opted to buy the the johnpaultrek2012 upgrade metal kit which is fantastic. The only part I didn't use was the side knob as it is 1/2" and the RJS is meant for 5/8". I contacted RS and he agreed to sell me a custom aluminum one that made a huge difference to the look, happy I opted for it. I used JB Weld Plastic Bonder for the majority of the glueing and Evercoat glazing and spot putty for the filling.

The rear of the P2 had about 1mm of separation when i went to fit the shells together so instead of sanding the front, i added some styrene to fill the gap. I JB Welded a couple of bolts onto the handle so that i had a really solid connection between the main body and the handle. I drilled a couple of holes in the bottom of the shells, slotted in the handle, and used a generous amount of JB Weld inside the shells to hold it all together.

Next I filled all the pin holes, seams, and low spots with evercoat glazing and spot putty. In the meantime i also assembled, puttied, and primed the P1

I really wanted to brush paint the P1, like the originals, but after doing a couple of tests with the decanted Krylon Shadow grey, i realized i needed to airbrush it on. What I found when i tried to brush the spray paint was that (1) the paint is super thin and transparent unless you apply a number of coats (2) the thinner used in the spray paint wipes away previous applications resulting in an uneven splotchy mess (3) the sheen is uneven even with sufficient mixing. So in order to get the brush strokes and texture i wanted while airbrushing, i applied a brushed layer of Mr. Surfacer, which is basically a very thinned out liquid putty. This gave me some great texture on the P2 main body and handle. Before i added the surfacer, I drilled and installed the emitter base, trigger, and side brass rod. Looks pretty messy at this point but its going to get better, trust me.

Next up with be priming the P2, painting the P1, and starting to add more of the small parts

spoudastis · Apr 22, 2024

Next I used reference images from the "Profiles in History" Auction as a basis for the physical damage to the phaser. This included using an xacto and various files and other objects to create dings, gouges and scrapes that would have accumulated over time. The plan was to do two layers of damage (1) damage that had been painted over and repaired over time and (2) fresh chips and imperfections from typical wear and tear. Then I primed the P2 and P1.

P1: I jumped ahead on the P1 first because it was smaller and i though would be a fun mini project on its own. I used A custom mixture of model masters gloss white and gloss black enamels to create the dark grey of the P1. This process reaffirmed my opinion that MM paint is garbage. I only used MM enamels because the originals used a paint similar to rustoleum oil based enamels (according to RS) and i didnt want to buy huge tins just for this small job. So I mixed the paint along with a bit of MM thinner and while the consistency seemed good, the paint went of kind of "bubbly" with lots of weird imperfections that looked like particles or dust stuck in the paint. I brushed the paint on and was hoping for brush marks but the paint self leveled too well (which is normally a positive). I also found that the paint became tacky really fast. In the end it worked out fine and after drying for 3 days i hit it with some Krylon satin crystal clear which dramatically improved the appearance and gave me just the right amount of sheen. Then i applied the metal dial, the clear acrylic half disk and foil. The metal disk got a few washes of raw umber oil paint along with a dusting of pigments prior to setting. I airbrushed the acrylic half disk with tamiya dark yellow at a really low psi. I applied it in very transparent layers to try and simulate the appearance of plastic that had yellowed over time. Lastly i used contact cement, intentionally messy, to apply the mylar foil which was cut and bent to resemble that of the reference phaser. The supplied RJS foil, and the foil i got from jonpaultrek2012 were both pretty soft and not very crispy. The piece i got from proteus1 is fantastic, super crispy and backed on mylar just as the originals were. I cut a piece of velcro to match the left side of the P1 (the included velcro didnt match reference or the shape of the P1 very well) again fixed with contact cement, and painted the silver line with MM metalic silver, i actually really like this color from MM. To apply the silver, i masked off the area with Tamiya masking tape, including the velcro, and brushed on the silver.

I took this time to also weather the side knob and emitter with washes of raw umber and added a small amount of pigments. The top dial was painted with humbrel gloss black and was slightly chipped. I had to remake the top viewfinder metal piece because the supplied piece (shown here before i made the new one) wasnt the right shape and the metal was too thin. I ended up with some 24 GA aluminum sheet which was cut out with shears and bent over a vise.

At this point i stopped documenting the process so the next post will be of the final product. Thanks for looking.

spoudastis · Apr 23, 2024

Here are some finished pics along with a breakdown of each elements finishing.

P2 Main body: Airbrushed on the decanted Krylon Shadow grey which covered very well. The sheen was not consistent but after letting dry and hitting it with krylon satin crystal clear it looked great, especially with the texture i had added with the Mr Surfacer. I gave the body a light wash with raw umber oils and applied a couple more applications to the side detail recesses. I used a mixture of a bunch of pigments in the details and just above the grip. These were set with pigment fixer.

Grip: I applied heavy texture with the Mr. surfacer and primed black again to give a uniform undercoat. Next i hand painted tamiya gunmetal and airbrushed on some tamiya flat black to simulate paint wear towards the bottom. I also dry brushed a little flat black to make the texture pop a bit.

Fins: I painted the fins with MM metalic silver then applied a heavy wash of raw umber in the crevasses. I also added a lot of dark pigments in the recesses t give it a grimy, "old dust" appearance, then fixed with pigment fixer.

Emitter: I gave the emitter a few light washes in raw umber then i used a toothbrush dabbed in the oil paint to add random wear and scratches.

After everything was painted i did a final pass with the pigments to give a dusty worn appearance. I also added a few more surface scratches and chips in the paint at the edges. Overall Im really happy with the result. I like my props to look like the have seen some use and i think I was able to get as close as i could to the "Profiles" reference. Ill be doing a simple base in steel soon and will post up some pics of the final display when its finished. Thanks for looking.