The Making of a Communicator

Described below is the process by which Wah Chang must have gone about in creating the comm prop, broken down into the various components.  Most likely he did all the tasks by himself, but possible assistance from his former Project Unlimited staff cannot be ruled out.  Often it is noted that Star Trek was a show done on the cheap, and that everything, props included, was fashioned to be just good enough to get by.  And yet here in Wah's work we see amazing attention given to some details - but then lackluster craftsmanship in others.  It is a dichotomy we attempt where ever possible to flesh out, believing as we do that behind most every choice is a reason...

The Making of a Communicator... The Outside

Shells (<< link to detailed "Parts" page)
Wah started the classic communicator props with top and bottom shell halves made of 0.06" thick vacu-formed black Kydex, a durable lightly textured semi-gloss plastic introduced just the year prior.  Kydex is still available today but through a different manufacturer - unfortunately for us the same texture is no longer in production.  In making the shells, he heated a small sheet of this plastic until droopy soft and slumped it over a positive plaster form ("buck"), derived from a then-common plastic Sterling Pencil Box, that sat on a vacuum bed.  The vacuum was applied, sucking the soft plastic tight over the buck.  Once cooled enough, the buck was pried out for reuse and the excess Kydex around the outside of the formed shape was trimmed and sanded down to the intended height.

HC note - we have not performed a chemical assay to determine if the shells are actually Kydex or any other plastic, such as ABS (also available in 1966).  Past experts have unequivocally called it as Kydex, and to be sure it has that plastic's distinct appearance and feel.  As such, we have no reason at this time to say otherwise.

Myth:  The bucks were hand carved by Wah out of clay or wood.  Truth:  False.  Partial circle imprints in the inside of the bottom shells are precisely sized and located where circular "feet" on the Sterling pencil box also appear.  Plus each and every odd imperfection (or "wank" as they are called today) in the top shell's control well edge - odd zigzags that had defied explanation for decades - can be perfectly recreated by simply assembling the cut-up pieces of the box just as Wah did.  More on this here.

It was Wah's recollection later in his life that he did not perform the actual vacuforming; that he farmed that specific task out.  While it is true that he did remember some details of his early work incorrectly, the specialized equipment, plastic stock and skills required are not common in your average craftsman's shop, thus this occurrence is likely factual.

Every bit of evidence shows that the Kydex's faint "haircell" texture runs left-right in each and every shell.

Myth:  Some shells were glossy smooth instead of textured.  Truth:  There is absolutely no evidence that any were smooth.  Quite the contrary - HD screen caps prove in most and strongly suggest in the rest that all had the same light haircell.  The origin of this myth is likely from earlier low resolution pics, which didn't pick up well the subtle texture.  Outdoor lighting could even create the illusion of a glossy shine on the comm when the images are reduced to standard DVD size.  Now while it is true that the Kydex sheets were textured on one side and smooth on the other, it seems Wah (or the shop that vacuformed for him) was fully consistent with the orientation.  This subject is discussed at greater length and with photographs on this page.

Myth:  The Kydex used was dark grey.  Truth:  Nope.  All were black, probably the only color offered in Kydex's first two years of availability.

The shell shape (the three we have measurements of have an average of 4.15" x 2.51" at its maximum length/width) is quite complicated, as there is barely a set of straight or parallel line in the whole thing.  Everything tapers and rounds.  Since the total height (and thus length & width too) was determined by how much each shell half was sanded down, they all vary a little, but assembled with the mid-plate, the maximum heights (minus antenna) range between 0.93" and 1.01", averaging 0.98."  While the top shells seem to have been cut down to a consistent height, the bottom shells vary substantially in how deeply they were trimmed.  It is highly likely that Wah made all ten comms using same set of top/bottom bucks.  At some point in the midst of his vacuforming, he added to the bottom buck the four recessed dimples for the screws, so most have these recessed holes but a few do not.  The top buck also had a crack in it in the upper well area, but it is not known if it started out that way or was snapped in two half-way through the vacuforming and was patched up.

Myth:  Wah painted all the shells with a black paint before final assembly.  Truth:  No trace whatsoever of verifiable evidence exists to support this notion, put forward by one prop builder.  After more than four decades of heavy surface abuse, you would expect to see uneven wear, chips, or scratches reveal clues of a substrate overlaid with enamel.  Not a hint anywhere.

Myth:  At least one comm was extra thick, making some licensed replicas close to accurate in shape.  Truth:  No comms approach the near 1-1/4" thickness seen in some replicas.  Again, the thin ones were around 0.93" and the thickest known is Delta which is (as measured off of close-up photos) at most 1.02" at its chunkiest point.

Midplate

The two shell halves were joined at a 1/16" thick aluminum mid-plate cut to have slight protrusion beyond the shell.  All of the upper and most of the lower bottom shell halves were glued to the mid-plate.  Known exceptions are the heroes, which needed access inside.  Revealed in this pic is an unnecessary but smart detail by Wah; room cut out for a stopwatch.  It is not known beyond Alpha, Beta (the two heroes), Zeta (dummy - at left) and Epsilon (by measure of its weight) if all comms had mid-plates that were also cut internally to allow room for a hero stopwatch (discussed later).  It would be our suspicion that all of the rest share the watch hole if just to reduce the weight of the prop, making it less likely to fall off a costume or suffer damage when dropped (less mass = less force at impact).  The hole shape hints that he may at first intended to mechanize them all - or that he had someone else help to make some of the pieces, and the person just followed the template.

Myth:  Only the two hero communicators had the short midplate length in the back between the hinge wheels.  Truth:  At least five comms (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Iota) had this mid-plate at some point during filming.  In heroes Alpha and Beta, it protruded about 1/16."  In the three dummies, it seems to have been more flush with the shell's outside surface.  In comms that did not have this mid-wheel mid-plate, the gap was simply left open.  It is easily probable that all ten originally had this short piece upon delivery to the studio, but some may have fallen out quickly (it was a separate aluminum strip precariously glued in) and were never replaced.  Lighting plays little tricks in this region of the shell, and ongoing research may necessitate corrections:

Antenna and Hinge

The antenna, or swinging top, is a nominal 0.027" thick perforated brass with 5/64" holes spaced 8 per inch in staggered rows.  To give rigidity to the element that the clear-based pilot communicators did not have, the four sides were bent.  The sheets were likely bent by hand (not pressed in a form, since they were all different) after being cut to size, with the front rounded corners lightly tamped over a hard spherical form.  A 1/16" brass wire was silver-soldered none too cleanly onto the bent sheet, and then the wire was inserted into two 1/8" (nominal) wide brass disc hinge wheels cut from a 5/8" diameter rod.  These discs also had a hole in the center.  To finish the assembly, a 1/8" dia. rod was inserted through the disc's holes and the rod was glued to the top shell half with a glob of grey plumber's epoxy.

The antenna (with 2.90" x 1.64" average outside dimensions) when being opened can be seen both stopping at a less than 180 degrees and less commonly swinging freely beyond to a point were the back edge of the antenna hits the underside of the shell.  A small pin was inserted into the inward surface of the right hinge disc to act as a stop when it hit the inside of the top shell.  In some, this pin fell out early and stayed that way.  During the series, the stop-pin also came out of Gamma (see below right), Delta and Kappa, but were often put back in.

Screws

Screws are seen in six comms:  Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Zeta, Eta, and Kappa.  Screen caps confirm the primary type to be a tiny 2-56 1/2" brass slotted oval-head machine screw, though the odd steel or round head of that same size can also seen in a few.

Those bottom shells with screws also have an indentation (or "dimple") in the plastic shell for the screws to recess into.  Three comms, however (Epsilon, Theta and Iota), came with no screws or indentations.  Both shell halves are obviously glued to the midplate.  And one is an odd mix; Delta has the indentations in the bottom but no screws - nor are the holes even drilled through the Kydex.  The why of these differences is entirely unknown.

Velcro

All ten communicators had a 1.75" to 2" wide piece of black Velcro of varying length on the bottom.  Since the belts and later the trousers themselves had the soft fuzzy side sewn on, the attachable props such as the communicator and phasers got the stiff bristly hook surface.

It is not known whether Wah himself or the Desilu prop or costume shop applied the Velcro, but our hunch is that the studio did.

The Making of a Communicator... The Inside

Control Panel (Panel, Mic Grill, & Knobs)

A thin aluminum plate had on it two features:  the "microphone grill" and the control knobs.  The squarish mic-grill cutout was backed by a piece of early-1960s transistor radio speaker mesh, which came with rows of tiny holes and a diamond pattern embossed on its surface.  Given the small size needed per prop (about 1/2" square, plus .75" sq. in each of Wah's two tricorders), Wah would have needed the mesh from only one radio for everything.

Myth:  The radio Wah used was a Universal 8 Transistor.  Truth:  Nope.  It was likely a Coronet-Windsor 2-Transistor Boys radio, pictured on the right >>.  This was determined by discovering the mesh used by Wah had a rare diamond-to-hole spacing seen only in a small percentage of predominantly just this one brand.  More reading on this is on the "Mic Grill" Parts page linked above.

Myth:  Some of the speaker mesh used in the mic grill was colorless (platinum), not gold.  Truth:  Not so.  We've known for decades that most have the gold colored material, but did all?  Did Wah actually have enough material for all ten comms from just one radio?  Experiments have conclusively shown that he did... and then-some.  Now to be sure some in shots do seem to look silver.  However, the gold is pale enough so that where the color is a bit washed-out, it can look colorless.  For instance in Alpha, that same silver under different lighting tells a different story (and in fact an examination of the actual prop confirms it is pale gold like in all of the other surviving communicators)...

The control knobs were chromed plastic slot race car wheel hubs originally from Aurora's "Vibrator" series that were glued in place, most likely in haste as evidenced by their different spacings and their frequently being out of line.  At least four distinct versions of these hubs were made for "Vibe" cars, and three of these four, A, C and D below, can be found at least once in Wah's communicators:

Only one version, C, has been seen so far as knobs.  It has a small raised rim on the back that elevates the flange ever so slightly off of the comm's aluminum panel, creating a tiny visible gap at the base.

Myth:  The hubs were from Aurora's "ThunderJet" slot car line.  Truth:  Yes, but not originally.  "Vibes" were the first slot cars widely sold in the U.S. starting around 1961, but being plagued with problems, Aurora replaced them two years later with the "T-Jet" line which was far more successful.  Those Vibe parts that could be repacked and used in T-Jets, included Type C hubs, seem to have been so.  Vibrator car replacement parts were sold in envelopes; T-Jet on blister cards.  We've seen these C hubs in both (see picture below).  Note - no classic flat-bottom T-Jet or aluminum hub has ever been observed on an authentic Wah comm.

Jewels and Bezels

Swarovski glass flatback rhinestones (with a mirrored coating on the back) were used as the three "indicator lights" and were glued onto the same Vibe hubs as the knobs, but inverted and recessed into the shell.  These rhinestone "jewels" in both 16ss and 20ss ("stone size"), 4.0mm and 4.8mm diameter respectively (12ss at 3.2mm is seen in Zeta), were atop the hub's small raised center on the back.  Wah seems to have arranged them in an oddly nonsensical color sequence from what must have been a limited palette available to him.  We have shown the jewels used, to the best of our ability to discern.  Most are the smaller 16ss; those color names in bold are deemed to be 20ss.  Color names in cyan have been visually confirmed on the actual prop:

(1-5) = Confidence of color choice.  The range goes from near certainty (5) down to an informed wild ass guess (1).

"Blk Diamd" = Black Diamond.

 º = screen caps show the original Alpha rhinestone to be Siam that likely fell off in Season 3.  The current Hyacinth must have been taken from one of the dummies.

 ¹ = the glass portion of this Gamma stone is now missing, having fallen off between the auction and the SciFi museum.  The mirror backing is still in place.

 ² = Zeta's Aurora hubs may be modern replacements for the originals that could possibly have been lost earlier, as the hubs in this comm were not glued to the shell.

 ³ = Kappa's center jewel looks to be not a faceted rhinestone but a rounded ruby "bullette" cabochon, 3mm in diameter and height, taken from a wristwatch crown.

A transparent metallic coating called Aurora Borealis (or "AB") that Swarovski developed in 1956 creates additional colors reflecting off the outer surface.  The effect is similar to an oil slick on water.   Wah had some of these AB's in stock, and this AB coating commonly creates colors that aren't at all in the base glass color - complicating the guess as to the actual rhinestone colors used.  We have concluded that all the various jewel colors and effects seen in screen caps can be recreated with reasonable approximation by using eleven different rhinestones as shown above.  Seven of those are already right there on the four found comms, and so we simply extended those confirmed choices to their fullest logical extent as supported by screen caps.

Swarovski did not have U.S. sales until 1979, so Wah must have had a limited stash gained from overseas, which could explain some of the odd size and color choices.  Several jewels are seen early on to be missing, and the fact that Kappa uses a gem from a watch winder crown is strong evidence that he likely ran out of the Swarovski before finishing all ten comms and just simply left a few of the hubs blank.  Certainly Wah made an effort for the most part to put red down the middle, but we can offer no explanation for the apparent randomness of all the others.  One possibility could be that the studio prop shop glued them back when the fell off, and in that way they slowly got jumbled.  But our guess is that that did not happen.  How they appear in the first episode is how they tend to look in their last.

As for the hubs, again we mostly see the Type "C" medium flange, though the center jewel in Delta was glued to a thick-flange "D."  Zeta's two outer hubs are now the mini-bump Type "A," which could never take a jewel atop them, since there isn't a big enough raised rim for the jewel to sit flatly upon for solid gluing.  It is not known if these are the originals or are more modern replacements, as none of the hubs, or the shell there for that matter, have any glue.  If originals, Wah then saved two Swarovski jewels by using these hubs.  He needed 50 hubs, but only 48 Type "C" hubs come on a blister card.  The two "A" hubs on Zeta might have easily been the two extra he had to scrounge for.

Moiré and Ring Bezel

A moiré pattern (pronounced "mwah-RAY") is the unexpected swirl of arcs and lines formed when two similar images (the top one transparent) are overlaid and offset.  The comm's large round feature that one could imagine as a speaker has such a moiré pattern, or something similar, inset into a short length of machined aluminum tube called the ring bezel.  The bezel has either a little lip or a ledge at the top to catch and hold the paper and/or plastic moiré images, and is glued into place.  The shell under the ring bezel is at least in some cut away, presumably to allow access to the images from underneath (a point made moot with the shell halves then being glued) or perhaps to shed all unnecessary weight.

The most common image most people think of for this inside detail is the "spider," created from two radial line patterns stacked together (see picture just above).  This pattern, from a kit sold by Edmund Scientific Co. starting in 1965, was their fourth out of a series of nine images, and thus is referred to by the company as "Pattern #4."  It is 120 evenly spaced radial lines, each exactly 1.5 degrees in arc, that originate at a 0.090" dia. black outer dot and a tiny 0.010" dia. clear inner dot that marks exact center.  The lines remain completely sharp and intact all the way in; no broken edges anywhere.  This clarity of this pattern's center cannot be faithfully reproduced by any standard printer or photocopier today.  When one original #4 is rotated above another to create the moving spider, it is a thing of pure beauty.

(Note the pattern created by the overlap in the upper right photo is also the exact same as in the moiré bezel in one of the two Wah original tricorders.)

Many hobbyists tend to think that the communicator's moiré patterns came in only two basic varieties:  the spider discussed above and a wavy pattern seen in Gamma (made popular by the "The Making of Star Trek" TMOST book) or Delta.  In fact we see a different pattern or configurations in each of the ten comms that came out of Wah's shop.  These are discussed at length on:

> > > >  The Details - A MOIRÉ STORY  < < < <

In summary, what we have found for the ten original communicators is:

Seen in:  Alpha hero

Source:  Edmund's 1960's Moiré Pattern Series (A) Kit, pattern #4.

Description:  2-layer moving effect from a top pattern printed on clear acetate (dot centered) above an identical image on semi-gloss white Kromokote cardstock (dot 0.107" off-center).  The bottom is rotated via a 30 sec. stopwatch.

Seen in:  Beta hero

Source:  Edmund's 1960's Moiré Pattern Series (A) Kit, pattern #4.

Description:  2-layer moving effect from a top pattern printed on clear acetate (dot 0.035" off-center) above an identical image on semi-gloss white Kromokote cardstock (dot centered).  The bottom is rotated via a 30 sec. stopwatch.

Seen in:  Gamma

Source:  booklet "The Science of Moiré Patterns" by George Oster, 1964-1966 editions, image on page 24.  Sold through Edmund Scientific.

Description:  black ink on matte cream-white paper.

Seen in:  Delta

Source:  booklet "The Science of Moiré Patterns" by George Oster, 1964 ed. only, cover image.  Sold through Edmund Scientific.

Description:  black ink on matte cream-white cardstock.

Seen in:  Epsilon

Source:  booklet "The Science of Moiré Patterns" by George Oster, 1964-1966 editions, image on page 9.  Sold through Edmund Scientific.

Description:  black ink on matte cream-white paper.

Seen in:  Zeta

Source:  booklet "The Science of Moiré Patterns" by George Oster, 1964-1966 editions, image on page 9.  Sold through Edmund Scientific.

Description:  black ink on matte cream-white paper.

Seen in:  Eta (1)  - best guess -

Source:  Edmund Scientific 1960's Moiré Pattern Series (B) Kit, pattern #18 (logarithmic spirals).

Description:  black ink on white Kromokote cardstock.

Seen in:  Theta (2)  - best guess -

Source:  booklet "The Science of Moiré Patterns" by George Oster, 1964 edition, image on advertising insert (3).  Sold through Edmund Scientific.

Description:  black ink on matte cream-white paper.  Plus likely clear plastic top overlay.

Seen in:  Iota

Source:  booklet "The Science of Moiré Patterns" by George Oster, 1964 ed. only, cover image.  Sold through Edmund Scientific.

Description:  black ink on matte cream-white cardstock.

Seen in:  Kappa

Source:  booklet "The Science of Moiré Patterns" by George Oster, 1964 edition, image on advertising insert (3).  Sold through Edmund Scientific.

Description:  black ink on matte cream-white paper.

(1) Other possible patterns for Eta cannot be fully ruled out by current screen cap evidence.  Click here to see the potential alternates.
(2) Screen caps suggest a likely clear top transparency over the bottom paper "wavy," though a possible fine dot or line pattern on it cannot be ruled out.
(3) Advertising insert is exact duplicate of pages 38 & 74 from the 1965 Edmund Scientific catalog, but printed on matte stock instead of semi-gloss catalog paper.

With both the jewel colors and moiré patterns being so different in each and every comm, it is almost as if Wah intentionally set out to make them all different.  It would have been easier to clip all the circles from just one picture for the eight dummies' moirés, for instance.  Was it simply his whimsical artistic side peeking out in giving each of his creations a little personality of their own?  If so, it certainly would explain a lot.  Of course we will never know for sure, but the consistent differences certainly work in our favor when trying to ID them today.

The other portion of the moire assembly is the bezel ring.  We have precise data on five of them, and just like every other detail, they are all different.  They were lathed from what was most probably a 1-1/4" aluminum tube (not pipe).  There are two distinct styles:  1) a "ledge" style used in at least the Alpha hero has the transparent moiré pattern sitting on a "ledge" that is actually the top of an inner ring nestled inside the outer, and 2) the "lip" style used in the dummies where the ring has been hogged out except for the upper surface, which becomes a lip the moiré picture can then be tucked under.  Their top inner dimensions all differ a little, indicating each was made individually.  Compared to all the others, Delta ended up with a decidedly thick bezel ring, looking like raw tube stock.  Given in this one what looks to be an unfinished outside and a sloppy glue job, its bezel ring may have been a studio replacement done sometime in the first season.

Most or all of Wah's bezel rings also had grooves cut in on the side.  The quintessential number has always been assumed to be three grooves, and in fact Gamma and Zeta have that many.  However Epsilon has five (or six if you count an extra tiny wisp of one) and Alpha has four.  Delta with its rogue bezel; none.  (Note - no standard or high-def DVD screen cap is close and sharp enough to see and count all the grooves on the others with high confidence.)  The bezel ring is a nominal 3/16" high.

Time for a brief message to the little Devil that lives within us all...

Now that you know the basic details inside authentic comms, a small part of you might very well be tempted to take your replica or your "original" that isn't such a good match anymore and spruce it up in the hopes of better passing yours off as genuine.  Don't go there!  No replica has ever duplicated even most, yet alone ALL the countless (and unreported) little features that make a Wah original.  By all means modify yours to get it closer to true.  That's what we're all about.  But you'll never get it past a real expert.  Word to the wise.

Back to our regular programming...

Wrapping up this overview page; the total weight of dummy comms (as measured by Epsilon and Zeta) is only 41 grams (1.5 ounces).  HC Note July 09 - this weight (highlighted in yellow) which was recalled after a brief one-time measurement, is likely incorrect; being too light.   Heroes (Alpha was carefully  measured) are exactly 116 grams (4.1 ounces).

Advance to Part 3:  The Hero Treatment & more

Return to Part 1

Star Trek is a Registered and Copyrighted Trademark of Paramount Pictures.  All Rights Reserved.  All subject matters referring to Star Trek are trademarks of Paramount Pictures.

This website has not been produced or endorsed by Paramount Pictures.  Any material belonging to Paramount’s Copyrighted Material that may appear on this site complies with fair and/or acceptable use for the purposes of review, study, criticism, or news reporting.