# Space 1999 commlock



## mach7 (Mar 25, 2002)

I'm trying to finish up some old projects. I've had this for a while. 

It's a fairly simple kit, just 4 parts and stickers.

I'm not done yet. I have some more detail work and touch ups to do.



















It's from Century Castings in the UK. This one must from the end run of the molds
The kit has copious pin holes and mold issues but builds up into a nice non-hero prop.

I have another set from Century of the stun gun and commlock that is excellent quality.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

I always had the insane fantasy that DST would for some impossible reason pick up the S:1999 license and crank out some lovely 'prop replica' toys. 

Don't think I want a Stun Gun that has dialog clips however.


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

I started rewatching Space 1999 this past weekend- I think you have the Commlock nailed. What a weird prop to watch in action- everyone has to pull it out just to leave any room in the place. 
The Space 1999 Stun Gun is one of my favorite SciFi weapons- like the Phaser One it totally breaks away from the traditional gun shapes, which is perfect for an energy weapon. I have a Wilco kit of it still in my closet of doom I saw the other day.

The Commlock has a strange body coloring which I think you got perfectly- what did you use to duplicate the prop color?


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## mach7 (Mar 25, 2002)

Thanks,

It's Krylon gloss grey. I will matt coat it once I'm finished.

I could not find a good Tamiya or MM color to match.

I have been lobbying Jamie over at R2 to produce the commlock and stun gun
in kit form. They could sell the basic kits and also a metal and an electronic kit.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

mach7 said:


> Thanks,
> 
> It's Krylon gloss grey. I will matt coat it once I'm finished.
> 
> ...


I would agree with this. The potential is great. And someone here would take the Commlock kit, put a screen from a bootleg iPod in, add a cell phone camera, and some electronics and poof, a bluetooth phone accessory with video chat. 

The IDEA of the Commlock is perfectly sensible (even more so if it's a legacy from the supposed UFO second series) but it was never really utilized in a proper way. And of course it's rather silly there's no real 'key' to the person using it (hence all the 'club over head, steal higher access Commlock, do what you want' scenes) but it's a gimmick, and merchandising was likely a consideration.

BTW, I forgot to say, that's nice work there, Mach7. As I would expect.


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## mach7 (Mar 25, 2002)

The exact color is Krylon piston grey gloss.


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## jheilman (Aug 30, 2001)

mach7 said:


> I have been lobbying Jamie over at R2 to produce the commlock and stun gun
> in kit form. They could sell the basic kits and also a metal and an electronic kit.


Yes, please!! Would love a decent, affordable kit of both.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

mach7 said:


> (snipped to restate)
> 
> I have been lobbying Jamie over at R2 to produce the commlock and stun gun
> in kit form. They could sell the basic kits and also a metal and an electronic kit.


There's always talk about the need to load subjects into a license in order to really get value from the cost. I'm sure that's part of the reason why Moebius came up with that Derelict kit. 

For R2, options seem limited for Space:1999, but there are options. I had suggested long ago looking for the tooling for the 'Banana Splits Banana Buggy' because it seems that's a decent rendering of the Amphicat (sp?) ATV used in S:1999. They could get two uses out of the tooling, the original Banana Splits issue and a Space:1999 version (astronauts may or may not be included, I'd like to see them but hey, that could easily be something the aftermarket takes up). I think there was talk the tooling couldn't be found or they weren't sure where it was or some sadness. 

Commlock and Stun Gun tooling has two possible uses, the kits and built/finished displays. 

Naturally my pet project would be a new tool Eagle in 1/72 (or 12" long) scale. 

And of course there's the fan desire for the repop of the Hawk, or a new tool version, I'm sure preferably in scale to the new Eagle. 

There's things that can be done, but R2 has that problem of 'will', caused in part by overly limited resources. It would be nice to see something change there.


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## mach7 (Mar 25, 2002)

I'm going to call this done. 

I can still do some more work on it, but I think its as good as it
is going get.





































There is a small section that reacted with the Tamiya clear coat.
Some minor cracking. It looks like aged paint to me.
Krylon can be touchy paint. I thought I would be fine, I let the
Krylon cure for over a month.

For some reason painting the 8 gave me a bunch of trouble, I had
to repaint it 4 or 5 times. It's as good as its going to get.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

Looks good. Is that belt clip sturdy enough to hang it off a belt, or would it be better to think of this as 'display only'?


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## mach7 (Mar 25, 2002)

Display only. The clip is glued with C/A but I don't think I would trust it with much stress.


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## f1steph (Jan 9, 2003)

Richard Baker said:


> I started rewatching Space 1999 this past weekend- I think you have the Commlock nailed. What a weird prop to watch in action- everyone has to pull it out just to leave any room in the place.


Yeah that's true. And ever noticed how the actors operates the Commlock, especially Sandra Benes (Zienia Berton) when she frequently panics and call for help ? SANDRA, press the good PTT (Push To Talk) button or else it won't WORK!!!! 

But indeed, the Commlock was really a nice communication device, much logic than the ST Communicator. Darn, you could see the other person while talking (well... hum, hum, naturally in the S:99 show the other person wasn't where it was suppose to be, the background was always a wall. But that's part of the show funny mistakes.) 

I like so much that my personnal phone's ringtone is the commlock sound and the commlock default display screen is my phone's background. I do the same with UFO. 

I'd like to see a nice Hawk in scale with the 12'' Eagle BUT with quality details, like they did with the 22''. 

Steph


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

I can see a Commlock being useful on a semi-military moonbase, after al they handled nuclear waste storage which you need to keep controls over. My issue is that they use the Commlock _everywhere_ there is a door- you need it to exit your own quarters, heaven forbid if you misplace it if you have to go the restroom.

Still, it is a wonderful device and I believe the first one created which incorporated a video feed in the hero prop. They did have a massive cable extending out the base which the actors had to carefully conceal by holding it just in the right position, but still it added a great touch to the technological future depicted ih the show.

Diamond Select would be a great company to pick up these subjects. They did a pretty good job with the Star Trek props while keeping the price down and people managed to customize them to the next level by adding new electronics and MP3 Pod screens. The Commlock, with all of its features and it's size would be great fun to enhance.

BTW- I really like the fact the '8' did not come off as perfect, People carried these devices everywhere they went and a lot of things happened- being thrown to the floor by the moon blasting out of orbit, enemy gunships landing and firing heavy missiles at a neighboring planet- there are bound to be some scuff marks, chipped paint and dents. It is not like they can call up the factory and have another crate of these things to be shipped over..


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## The_Engineer (Dec 8, 2012)

The Space: 1999 comlock served a dual purpose. The first was an audio/video communicator. The second purpose was a security one. Each person on Moonbase Alpha was issued a comlock and it was programmed for that specific person. Depending on what job they did and what security clearance they had, there was certain places that were off limits to most personnel. It makes perfect sense to me that each person needed to use their comlock to open/close every door on the base. Some areas that are general purpose areas could be open by pretty much everyone. Some areas that are more sensitive could only be opened by personnel that worked there etc. The Commander of the base (Koenig) probably is the only one capable of opening every single door on the base. The security part has 2 other capabilities as well. Security can locate a person's current location by their comlock and can track a person by which doors they are opening (and closing). The episode "Dragon's Domain" was a perfect example of this. Koenig wanted to stop Tony Cellini from getting to an Eagle and had Paul cancel Cellini's comlock and alerted Security to his location so they can apprehend him. The use of the comlock as a security device was great one, however that scene shows the weak spot as there is a way to get around your comlock being cancelled is to steal and use someone else's.

Back in the 90's I was redesigning the comlock and went through a few different versions. I addressed that weak spot by incorporating a fingerprint scanner on the comlock so it wouldn't work for other people.


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## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

Fingerprint scanning fails when wearing a spacesuit. 

(see episode 1. "*BEEEP* We've just passed thru the laser barrier" )

(and just who was that laser barrier designed to keep out? Random moon radioactive material thieves? Anyone who could get to the dark side of the moon to steal material could just land INSIDE the reservation and steal stuff. bah.  )

Any workaround that turns off fingerprint scanning for any reason negates the need/use of such a security device.


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## The_Engineer (Dec 8, 2012)

Steve H said:


> Fingerprint scanning fails when wearing a spacesuit.
> 
> (see episode 1. "*BEEEP* We've just passed thru the laser barrier" )
> 
> ...


You can fix the spacesuit problem with wearable tech. Inside the spacesuit gloves, the fingertips have fingerprint scanners which scans all 10 of the person's fingerprints and transmits that data to the comlock. The rest of the spacesuit has various sensors which measures the wearer's life signs which Medical monitors. The comlock can have a secondary security system, an eye scanner. The person wearing a spacesuit can just raise the comlock to their face and the eye scanner can scan their eye through the helmet's visor.


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