STTE Star Trek TOS communicator with slight mods

Video of my slightly modded STTE communicator. Same basic unit as the Master Replicas unit, with cheaper parts and less "finishing." I did some finishing: gold leaf on grill, attenuation on the speaker, resoldered weak battery connections, lubed and adjusted moiré disc mechanism for smooth operation and more 3D appearance, some lead weights for more realistic feel. Oh, and stripped antenna/cover down to authentic brass, OF COURSE.

Not a bad communicator for $50-80 plus a few hours of work.

Still want to get a MR unit as I understand that, though not perfect, they are superior in some of the parts.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• star trek
• communicator
• prop
• replica
• moiré
• kirk
• spock
• wah chang

[jsf525]

what mods did you do on this vegas communicator?

[davidbspalding]

Numerous. I have 3 that I've modded so far ... stripping the grid down to brass, adjusting the motor to slow down and be quiet, making the moire disc more 3D looking, and replacing the cheesy plastic mic grill with an authentic material like Wah Chang used. ;) I'm willing to sell them for a reasonable price.

[jsf525]

what I see in this video I have 10 of these.

I sold 200 on e-bay. you may know me from that. I was the biggest seller of these outside of stte

[davidbspalding]

Ohh, haha, I've seen your videos. I think you're "done" that room is choc-a-block full of Trekdom. :)

[davidbspalding]

Have you handled a Diamond Select communicator yet? How does it compare to the STTE model? I found it wasn't terribly hard to upgrade a STTE model, but wonder if the electronic sounds that Diamond Select put in are better (particularly the "beep" and the "chirp").

[davidbspalding]

Interfaces with LCARS, which I'm guessing is Mac OS XLVII (47 being a very important number on later ST productions).

[GhibliFan1]

I wish I was good with my hands, but at 40 years of age ,and many years of trying to make stuff, I have to accept I'm never going to develop such skills. An AA/DST phaser and communicator it is for me. I'd even pay someone a decent price to mod my AA/DST ones for weight, metal parts and more accurate colour...as I simply can't afford Roddenberry/HMS prices, but I am *desperate* for something a bit better than my current toys. :(

[jsf525]

I now have 4 dst comm.

Vegas is better made. but the sound is better on the dst.

I just bought a JTK for $227 on e-bay.

my favorites are my 3 master replica signed one's. I need to do a part 4 video I found more room.......lol

[jsf525]

how much money, have you seen my collection on here? do you have a video?

[seaneugene]

Cool! Is that Mac compatible?