This is a scratch-built replica of the phaser rifle William Shatner used in the second pilot episode of Star Trek. It's a weird design, which is why I love it. It's classic 60's science fiction. Totally impractical, form over function. Holding this thing makes you wonder how you could ever hit a thing with it.

Everything was built off online photos of the actual prop – as close to accurate as I could get. It's primarily built from sheet styrene, a bit of 3-D printing and a lot of puttying and sanding. The spinning 3-sided power assembly was built from styrene, acrylic tubes and drainage hose.

The actual prop was built for one episode, then it disappeared. Turns out it was taken home by the original prop master who kept it safe for 50 years. It just recently sold at auction for a quarter million dollars.

Build Pictures