Type-IV Rifle Mk.2 by Triple-Fiction Productions

The video game tying into J.J. Abrams' rebooted "Star Trek" film and comic franchise debuted in April 2013, just before "Star Trek: Into Darkness" was released in theaters.  The plot of the game also took place just several months before the movie, involving a mission to New Vulcan that becomes mired in danger when the Gorn get involved - essentially making the game something akin to the Alternate Reality version of "Arena," one of the most famous TOS episodes.  The game introduced several new Starfleet weapons, including the Model 2258 Type-3 Phaser Rifle, which had also been used extensively in the IDW Comics "Star Trek: Ongoing" series, the Captain's Phaser, a weapon unique to Captain James T. Kirk, a type of Vulcan Phaser carried by Commander Spock, the Academy Phaser, a variant of the "barrel-flipper" weapon from ST:2009 in red and silver colors, and the Federation Sniper Rifle, known in the game as a Type-IV Stealth Rifle.

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Initially only available to players through the pre-order "Elite Officer Package," the Type-IV Stealth Rifle is not a Phaser at all but a bullet-firing, long-range sniper rifle.  It could be seen as a mid-23rd century Alternate Reality precursor of the infamous TR-116 sniper rifle seen in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."  In the game, the weapon can fire not only bullets but also various types of specialty ammunition.  It is best known for appearing in a single cutscene where Dr. McCoy loads one with a medicated dart and uses it to deliver an antidote to the Gorn's mind-control toxin to Mr. Spock, who had been infected with it and forced to fight Captain Kirk.  That version of the rifle was using the blue/black color scheme that is also seen in this physical prop.  However, when the rifle is utilized by players, it usually takes on an alternate silver/black color scheme as seen in this concept artwork:

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The rifle is actually somewhat versatile in the game.  Like almost all of the guns that are usable in the ST:2009 video game, the weapon has a selective fire feature that can alternate between two distinct firing modes.  The default firing mode uses the weapon as a traditional sniper rifle.  The wielder sights targets through the long, curving scope mounted at the top of the weapon and presses the trigger, causing the weapon to fire a single long-range kill shot.  However, the weapon also has a "spread" function, something akin to a shotgun firing a burst of buckshot, but with greater range and precision.  In this firing mode, the weapon fires a simultaneous three-round spread.  As the Type-IV is a bullet-firing rifle and not a Phaser, I can only explain this as the weapon using a type of ammunition that explodes upon firing and splits into three bullets that spread out and fly in different directions.  These abilities are described in this page from the online preview of Prima's game guide, but please note that they made a big typo and called it a "Type-III" instead of a Type-IV:

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The weapon's specialized nature would, hypothetically, allow it to do things that a Phaser can't do.  I can easily imagine the Type-IV being loaded with several different types of ammunition including non-lethal rubber bullets, armor-piercing flechettes, explosive rounds, chemical pellets, smoke screen pellets, miniature photon grenades, medicated syringe darts or even miniature transporter tags (something that was seen in "Insurrection," one of the TNG movies).  On the other hand, because it is a bullet-firing weapon and not a Phaser, it must rely on ammunition and only has a magazine capacity for five rounds.  The shooter must carry ammunition and reloading is slow, leaving the user vulnerable.  If the shooter is switching between different types of ammunition, they must also take the weapon out of action in order to change the ammunition.

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What you are seeing here is the second Type-IV Stealth Rifle from the ST:2009 video game that has ever been built as a physical, solid prop.  This prop and the prototype that came before it, which is now unaccounted for as I don't have any intelligence on who bought the darn thing were both created by Triple-Fiction Productions, but they have almost nothing in common with one another.  Partly due to how TFP's team has been constantly working with my friends and I to develop prop after prop for use with our cosplay group while trying to meet our ever-increasing quality standards, partly because the Triple-Fiction Productions team has been growing increasingly skillful over the last 6-8 months, incorporating new propbuilding techniques, developing new painting methods and even employing different types of wood, and partly because better concept art and more information about the Type-IV's function has finally become available, the prop you see in this submission is so much better than the one that came before it that it makes its predecessor look like a Playmates toy.

The Mk.2 Type-IV Stealth Rifle has an interesting history and, in fact, almost didn't happen.  As I have said before, I don't like commissioning props - especially with my own money - unless either I'm going to use it or I know somebody who will.  I had always been haunted by the imperfections of the original Type-IV Stealth Rifle built by Triple-Fiction Productions.  And the fact that it went to a complete stranger because I couldn't afford it or justify buying it for my group made me feel - because the original prop was also built due to my request - that it was "the one that got away."  In my heart, I would have liked to ask for another, but I needed a good reason to justify the massive expense.  On the 20th of February, I recruited a new member to the group whose character came from the J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" universe, thus qualifying her to carry a Type-IV.  I had the excuse I needed, I had the money, and Triple-Fiction Productions was ready.  Whereas it had taken months for TFP to build the first Type-IV Stealth Rifle prototype after I had given them the idea, they were able to build this second one within three weeks.

At this point, I think the Type-IV would be ready for further production should Triple-Fiction Productions ever wish to build more.  A total quantum leap above its predecessor in every way, I can hardly give this prop enough compliments.  TFP used a layered, textured type of paint technique with this one that can be glimpsed in this image collage.  Beginning with a base coat of gray primer, they added a coat of metallic charcoal grey, then painted it over with a layer of black (to highlight the black structural details on the actual prop design) and another layer of metallic blue.  This finally gave the prop the "blued steel" appearance that it's well-known for among those Trekkies who have played the game, as Dr. McCoy's version had that appearance.  (I have since suggested to Triple-Fiction Productions that future Type-IV Stealth Rifles could be produced in either the blued steel or silver/black paint schemes as both of them are canonical and had made appearances in the video game.)

The shape of the prototype prop from last year was hardly even close to that of the original game, barely managing to resemble its in-game counterpart.  But this time, the prop has no such problem.  One of the best props Triple-Fiction Productions has ever built (in my opinion), the Mk.2 Type-IV Stealth Rifle managed to be almost dead-on accurate to the in-game model; in fact, its only real problem lies in its proportions as the barrel should be about one and a half times longer (the original Type-IV Stealth Rifle had an extremely long barrel).  However, given the height of the person I purchased this prop for, that wound up not being such a problem from a pragmatic standpoint as the size of the rifle fit her just about perfectly.  

This version is also fitted with two staple clips for a working shoulder strap, so that its recipient can sling it across her back when it isn't in use.  While a shoulder strap was never seen on the real Type-IV Stealth Rifle in the game, the way the Rifle was mounted and stored was not realistic, or at least unfeasible using 21st century technology.  In the video game, when Kirk and Spock were carrying Type-IV Stealth Rifles but not using them, they simply put the rifles on their backs and the rifles just seemed to "stick" to the backs of whatever uniforms they were wearing, be they EVA space suits, Starfleet wing suits or their Enterprise duty uniforms.  

Unless the in-game Type-IV Stealth Rifle had some kind of powerful magnet in its construction that allowed it to magnetize to an officer's utility belt or part of an officer's space suit, this just wasn't practical and, therefore, the shoulder sling was absolutely necessary.  This is a bit of a special request, however.  Triple-Fiction Productions generally does not add shoulder slings or belt clips to their props unless a customer requests that they do so largely because oftentimes these things weren't seen on the original versions of the props that they are reproducing.  As my friend has every intention of taking her Type-IV into action as soon as she can, which will probably make her the first owner of a Type-IV ever to put it into public use - we needed to make sure she wouldn't have to run around an entire convention hand-carrying a three-foot-long rifle the way I did during AWA 2013 with my prototype ST:VI Assassin Phaser Rifle.

I have since suggested to Triple-Fiction Productions that, because five or six variants of the Type-IV Stealth Rifle design can be seen in the original piece of concept artwork from the April 2013 video game, if the company ever wanted to produce a lineage or series of Type-IV Stealth Rifle props the way they did with their original TWOK Phaser Rifle design, the ST:2009 video game Captain's Phaser (now a series of four props divided among two owners, including myself), the ST:ID Section 31 "Pattern M" Dark Phaser and the ST:VI Assassin Phaser Rifle, they could easily add variety and interest to the line by producing all of the different versions of the prop design and building them in both of the Type-IV's known color schemes.  As it stands, I believed that it was important to build the most game-accurate design before attempting any of the rejected additional concepts, and this is why we chose the "blued steel" paint job (TFP was going to have to develop this painting technique from scratch, whereas they already knew how to do a silver/black paint scheme) and the finalized prop design first.  

As the one who sponsored the project, I can't wait to see my friend take her beautiful new prop weapon into action - and to see it in person when the AWA 2014 "Star Trek" cosplay group finally meets up for the big event this year.  The Triple-Fiction Productions replica of the Federation Type-IV Stealth Rifle has come a long way, and it's all because I insisted that TFP keep trying to build a better reproduction.  The real-life, solid, physical Type-IV Stealth Rifle, in either of its incarnations, wouldn't exist - and my friend wouldn't have the chance to take hers into action - if I hadn't insisted that it be made a reality and this is the true legacy that I'm trying to leave on the "Star Trek" community while I am still a part of it.