Nostromo Med Lab door switch

[aliensarchive]

Picked this up recently, door panel from the Med Lab.

[/img]

It needs some work on the middle panel which was unfortunately lost. Would like some help finding the missing parts, they look like separate buttons to me.

Reference I was able to find:

[ukwookie]

Now there's a coincidence - I started *this* just a couple of weeks ago!


Based almost entirely on a grainier version of the second reference pic you posted and obviously completely wrong in every respect now that I've seen a better pic! Oh well, back to the drawing board - but it's only plastic sheet and time, isn't it?

Considering the missing keypad - I've been looking at pics of vintage calculators but haven't come across anything even remotely similar. Some early computer keyboards had similar keys (raised round pads on square/rectangular bases) but I suspect these would be too big.

Is there any chance you could post more pics? as I'm keen to make a more accurate version of this prop. Some measurements would be a bonus too - and might help in the quest for the missing keypad.

Cheers,

Tony

[ukwookie]

Also - I assume the main unit is a vacuum-formed shell? Many years ago I got to examine one of the med lab blinky light panels and it was just a simple vac-formed shape with added lights and switches.

Cheers,

Tony

[joberg]

Congrats on the prop there! As for the buttons, the bottom ones(6) could be the same size as the Alien detector Ash built (I'm sure at the RPF you could find also the info) For the top buttons (5) it could come from those old portable T.V. (Sony, Toshiba were popular at the time)...good luck.

[SKIN JOB 66]

The 6 black wiggets on the lower part of the prop were also used on the motion trackers...

Look here, on both sides of the key (first pic) :

http://www.propsummit.com/viewtopic.php?t=2361&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=40

Fred
_________________
THE FUTURE IS A THING OF THE PAST

[aliensarchive]

Hi, yes will post more pictures once I have cleaned it up. Will also measure what you need.

I would like to recreate the missing part. It does look like rubber keys to me.

[superjedi]

Wow, cool score!
In the reference pics you show in your first post, the section with the open and close buttons is oriented differently between pics.
Is there evidence that these buttons are configurable?
Maybe there was a single panel shell that had interchangeable parts to dress different sets?
_________________
I find your lack of faith disturbing. . .

[Mike Rush]

Gosh, look what turns up in Flash Gordon a year or two later.




_________________
Mike

"We're not heroes - we're from Finchley"

[joberg]

Wow thanks Mike...can you say "vacu-form"

[andy]

That explains the difference in color.

Andy

[Mark Sheppard]

[ukwookie]

Flash Gordon? That's nothing

How about this:



Sure, it has been modified a bit and repainted, but it's definitely the same piece...

The control panel was used upside down as a detail piece on this prop/costume:



Marvin the Paranoid Android from the BBC production of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy!

Tony

[joberg]

How many pulls can you get from one wooden form
Good one Tony!

[SKIN JOB 66]

Great finds, Mike & Tony !!!



Fred
_________________
THE FUTURE IS A THING OF THE PAST

[aliensarchive]

The missing rectangle on my prop is 3.6 cm by 8.8 cm.

[aliensarchive]

Cleaned this up and wired it up. Still works after 32 years...you push the button and the triangle lights up. Digital readout is static and reads A 5, possibly for 'A Deck'.

Button colors are reversed for the med-lab switch, these white ones also show up in the lower decks as Ripley runs to the Narcissus. There are a couple of bloopers where the arrows should be pointing left-right but should be pointing up-down.

[joberg]

Beautiful! TFS that with us all

[ukwookie]

Thanks for the photo and the measurements

It looks lovely doesn't it?

Some progress identifying the key panel I think.

Sanyo calculators from the early 70s seem to have had the correct type of buttons:

Sanyo ICC-82

Sanyo ICC-805

Sanyo ICC-0081

Brother Pro-Cal 408 (apparently a rebadged Sanyo)


Here's a closeup of the 805's keypad:




On the right track, do you think?

Tony

[ukwookie]

Also the Sanyo CY 3411DP Printing Calculator:



This one has the double-and triple width buttons... (A and RESET)

Of course there's no guarantee the keys are small enough...

Tony

[aliensarchive]

The circuit board the digital display is on is at least as wide as the open space. That should narrow things down if the numeric pad is from the same device as the display.

There seems to be more space on the top and bottom of the buttons than on the left and right sides which is unusual based on the photos shown.

The keys looks like they may be rubber:

http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/olivetti_electronic_calcs.html