Star Trek Cosplay: Assault Phaser Prop

When it came to the question of what model phaser we'd be carrying on our hips, well it HAD to be the only cool phaser design Star Trek ever had (in my opinion). That would be the "Assault Phaser" that was based on a Beretta handgun. The image below, as near as I can figure, is a photo of an actual, screen-used, "Hero" prop from the Star Trek VI.

This was another item I wasn't sure I'd find THREE of before the convention, so my "Plan B" was to make a wooden replica and then use that as a master from which to resin cast more, because there was no way I had enough time to scratch build three of them! It took me about a month of evenings to fabricate just one (but I admit, I'm not exactly a master woodworker). Keep in mind, too, as you look at the photos that when I built the wooden prop replica I didn't have ANY three-dimensional reference for making it. All I had were photos of the the screen-used props and numerous photos of other people's prop replicas, but I didn't actually have one in front of me from which I could work.

I kept an eye out on eBay, though, hoping I'd stumble across someone selling some of the toy Assault Phasers made by Playmates. But they often went for $70 or more and I didn't have a lot of money to play with. Ultimately I DID win a couple for about $40 each, so we didn't have to do resin casts of my wood prop replica. So, I ended up painting it and wearing it to the convention. The photos below show my wood prop replica as compared to the Playmates toy phasers.

View showing the magazine plaques on the bottom (my wooden prop in the foreground, modified Playmates toy in the background)

Right Side of my Assault Phaser prop (top) and the Playmates toy (bottom)

Left sides of my Assault Phaser prop (top) and the Playmates toy (bottom)

Detail image of the right side of my wooden prop replica

Detail image of the left side of my wooden prop replica

closeup of phaser holster.  Here is the holster pattern if you want to make one yourself (make one out of scrap material and test it first, fit is slightly different depending on the prop - you don't want it too loose!).  It can be used without the Starfleet badge, but if you want one like mine make sure you buy the smaller version, not the larger one worn on the "Monster Maroon" jacket.

Since I DO actually have one of the plastic toy versions of this Phaser I also have the cool blueprint that came with it.  But I wondered what kind of documentation would Star Fleet personnel get?  So just for fun I created a Type II - Model VII Combat Phaser Star Fleet Handbook using the illustrations I made as patterns for the wood replica.

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