TOS Phasers

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Graham Kennedy
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TOS Phasers

Post by Graham Kennedy »

Been playing with some more phaser designs... first off I drew my own version of the Type 1 phaser

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I tweaked the design a little - call this the Type 1 I would have built if I'd worked for Desilu back in the day! The main difference is in the trigger, which I've made rather larger and more obvious. The Type 1 never really struck me as a very safe weapon - waaaay too easy to hit that trigger for my liking. There's really not much you could do about that except to have some kind of lift up flap... actually in TOS we did see a kind of lift up flap on the top, but it didn't serve as a safety that I could see.

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One could say that perhaps the weapon wouldn't fire unless you first popped that cover up, releasing an internal switch... that would be a reasonable safety feature, and the cover itself would provide a little protection from accidentally pressing a switch on the top by dropping it, say. But we see the weapons fired often without that flap open, so that doesn't really work.

Here's my Type 2 :

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My Type 2 design is about the same as the original. I love this weapon, though if I were to change one thing I'd probably redesign it so that the emitters on the Type 1 and 2 were aligned. I like the idea that the Type 1 is actually firing through the Type 2, with the 2 housing acting as a kind of amplifier. I might give it a go to see how it looks, though my instinct is that it would look kind of odd. I presume that there is a kind of periscope arrangement of deflection mirrors or crystals or whatever just in front of the Type 1, to send the beam down and through the Type 2 emitter.

Now I always intensely disliked the phaser rifle we saw Kirk using in TOS; partly because it just looks so goofy. It has a very "fifties science fiction raygun" aesthetic to it. But beyond that, it really doesn't sit well alongside either the laser pistols we saw used alongside it, or the slightly later Type 1 and 2 phasers. Those look like real weapons, eminently practical, and the rifle just has such a different aesthetic that it always bothered me.

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So I decided to ditch this design altogether and draw a Type 3 rifle that would follow the Type 1/2 aesthetic. Here's my attempt :

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It's essentially a stretched Type 2 with twin power packs; I've taken the idea of a power pack serving as a handle and made another that serves as a forward grip. I considered attachment points for lights and targeting sensors and so on, but that didn't really seem to match up with the Type 1 and 2. The shoulder stock is adjustable.

Honestly, I'm not sure I like how this one came out. I've considered various things to do to refine it, but I think it looks a bit too much like a simple extension of the 2 rather than a step along the line of a modular weapon. It's a world above the silly thing Kirk used, though. Thought I'd throw it up here to see what people think.
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Re: TOS Phasers

Post by Captain Seafort »

Still no trigger guards? :P
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Re: TOS Phasers

Post by Tsukiyumi »

Captain Seafort wrote:Still no trigger guards? :P
:lol:
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Re: TOS Phasers

Post by RK_Striker_JK_5 »

Yeah, the phaser rifle always did strike me as odd at best and laughable at worst. It really doesn't fit in with the other TOS weapons.
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Re: TOS Phasers

Post by Graham Kennedy »

Type 2 modified with safety catch, trigger guard, and grip safety.

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Re: TOS Phasers

Post by McAvoy »

Much better. I never liked the angled trigger either. Seemed to be inefficient.
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Re: TOS Phasers

Post by Teaos »

Probably worked somewhat like a trigger guard, although not very efficent.
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Re: TOS Phasers

Post by McAvoy »

Teaos wrote:Probably worked somewhat like a trigger guard, although not very efficent.
Perhaps. I am just thinking of how hard it would be to squeeze a trigger like that. It would have to be done in a certain way as opposed to how Grahams trigger is setup.

Maybe it was a compromise with the off screen aliens that are in Starfleet or something.
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Re: TOS Phasers

Post by Tsukiyumi »

McAvoy wrote:Maybe it was a compromise with the off screen aliens that are in Starfleet or something.
Good point. Fish fingers might not be able to use the same weapon design we do.
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Re: TOS Phasers

Post by Vic »

Hmm, okay, here's an idea for the abomination.

Take off the bar and dish that is supposed to be a barrel, replace it with a tube the same size as the cone at the breach end. Put a type 2 emitter on the end as the muzzle.

Chop the condo with the radio antenna off and radius it like the back end.

Take the shovel handle and slightly redisgn it so that it is much more confortable to be jamming into your shoulder repeatedly, yet still be able to be used as a handle.

Keep the rotating cylinders, babble them as capacitors that have to be rotated out of battery to cool off.......er something.

Take what looks to be a control panel at the buttstock and make it conform to Type 2 controls.

Change the grip to look like a Type 2.

Now make the entire thing conform to the Type 2 esthetic rather than the silvery 50's style that it currently has.

Might this make it more palatable?
Last edited by Vic on Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:13 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: TOS Phasers

Post by Vic »

GrahamKennedy wrote:Type 2 modified with safety catch, trigger guard, and grip safety.

Image
Ya know I think the grip safety alone would more than make up for the lack of a trigger guard much less a manual safety. Hmmm, make the manual safety a jewel, kind of like what is on the bridge controls. Perhaps make that turret dial on the top a jewel control s well?
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Re: TOS Phasers

Post by Griffin »

I wonder what they'd look like if you designed the Type 1/2 after the Rifle?
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Re: TOS Phasers

Post by RK_Striker_JK_5 »

Griffin wrote:I wonder what they'd look like if you designed the Type 1/2 after the Rifle?
Not that good, methinks...
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