1701-B Communicator Mk.2 (Stage 7 Refit Closed)

I eventually entered into the final stage of upgrading and refitting the #2 Prototype "1701-B Communicator Variant" stunt prop that Casey Sullivan & Triple-Fiction Productions' propmaking team had built for my use as something of a personal favor, and that last step actually wound up being surprisingly simple, after I had also taken a toothpick and some black paint and added a straight, then angled line leading from the "EMER" decal on the upper left corner to the red "Emergency Beacon" decal on the upper right corner.

Unbeknownst to even me, I had started a process when I painted the inner layer or inner "face" of the Communicator's flip-top antenna grid a shade of enamel-based dark, reflective, metallic golden-bronze. And when the paint dried the next morning, I quickly realized just *how* distinctive this new shade really was. It looked much, much darker, and deeper, than the lighter, shinier, metallic golden-yellow that Casey had originally used.

Not only that, seeing this color - the result of applying a paint marker that I hadn't even remembered I owned for quite a while (I honestly thought I'd run out of paint and thrown it away) - then gave me another brilliant idea, for a very particular reason. I tend to like darker, deeper, shades because they look richer. And I also believed that a darker shade would go well with this particular Communicator because this one's body was painted a sort of deep charcoal grey instead of flat, matte black. 

Believing strongly that the dark, reflective golden-bronze color looked so much better with this particular communicator than its original color scheme, I decided to apply it to the entire antenna grid as well as the "lip" portion of the "grid" that was actually carved into the lower portion of the Communicator prop itself (the #2 prototype had an unusual system where its antenna grid was "interrupted," so that only part of the cover would actually swing up to expose the interior of the prop).

On the other hand, the woven "grille" portion of the Communicator's antenna (to be honest, I still haven't figured out exactly what that stuff is), which I had previously painted metallic silver flecks onto, was allowed to remain the lighter metallic golden-yellow shade, as well as the interior surfaces of the antenna frame that surrounded the grille - not only was this very difficult to paint using a fat-tipped paint marker, I also believed that when photographed from certain angles, leaving the interior of the frame a different color would allow for better contrast. 

There was, on my variant, a soft, bendable piece glued to the top of the exterior antenna grid with lines running across it, representing a variation of details found in some of the fan-made replicas of the real-life "Generations" Concept Communicator. This was also allowed to remain in its original color, again because I wanted to see a good contrast to help give the prop a visually interesting appearance. The dark golden-bronze is far more reflective than its counter-color, and as a result, the Communicator almost looks like it gleams when it's put under the right lighting conditions. 

The end result was just plain awesome - and finally marked the completion of this long, exhaustive prop refit project. The finalized result is still a variant. It has enough structural differences and artistic reinterpretations from all of the fan-made versions and what we know of the original that even with its newly-fitted, more accurate look, it is still not completely modeled on the original prop. However, all of the correct features are present, even though they're simplified in appearance compared to how they would probably have looked on a molded resin replica. 

The prop's shape and colors, both closed and open, are recognizable, and my friend Brent's ideas about improving the prop design by sacrificing "tactile" controls for decals have been dramatically proven correct beyond doubt. I myself am far happier with the prop now than I even was when I had first obtained it, and I am proud to finally be able to really describe it as an "Enterprise-B Communicator" - because it really looks the part.