Ab Mobasher

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Ab Mobasher

Iranian born Abbas "Ab" Mobasher (born 1947) is a largely self-taught artisan and inventor, working in the fields of conceptual design, product development, prototype and model development and product engineering.

As an independent contractor, he has worked for a wide range of industries, including Role Playing Games companies, for whom he designed and sculpted the masters or templates of the miniatures that went with their products. One such company had been FASA, where he was contracted from 1983 through 1986 on the strength of the science fiction miniature work he had provided for the gaming company Martian Metals. [1] At Fasa Mobasher was tasked with the sculpting the masters of the first 22 Star Trek starship miniatures that accompanied their Star Trek: The Role Playing Game. Mobasher designed and machined the masters from solid yellow brass in 1/3950 scale for the molds from which the pewter miniatures were cast. Critically acclaimed for their high level of detail, the miniatures became highly sought-after collectibles in their own right, and has earned Mobasher a 1985 industry H.G. Wells Award in the category "Best Vehicular or Accessory Series". It has been a source of pride for him ever since. "Almost a quarter of century later (I'm told) that they have not been able to match highly detailed features even by most modern and state of the art machinery!", Mobasher exclaimed on his website. [2]

When the Star Trek franchise pulled the license from FASA in 1989, the company was ordered to turn over the molds, constructed from Mobasher's masters, to Rawcliffe, who continued to produce miniatures cast from these, though now as ornamental items instead as gaming miniatures.

Career

In a way Ab Mobasher became an artisan and inventor by necessity. "I grew up in a city of around a million people in 1950's," Mobasher explained, "Toys were rare, so early on I made my own toys. In second grade I learned from older boys how to make boats made out of bark of pine, ground on the concrete to create the shape. My first sword was my mom's knitting needle, later I discovered sticks from trees worked better!" [3] In that time he also discovered his love for science fiction, "Science Fiction always been in my blood; in 50'd started by reading about it, in 60's started designing space ships and anti gravity devices." [4]

After his first gainful employment at the Iranian branch of General Motors as liaison between the press plant and the production lines, Mobasher decided to give up his secure job to journey to "the land of inventors w[h]ere Edison, Ford and the Wright Brothers changed the history of mankind," as he had put it. [5] Emigrating in 1971 to the United States (permanently as it turned out), he first attended college in Corsicana Texas, but dropped out prematurely, as he became disenchanted with the course, and started to work in 1981 for various collectible companies, such as Steve Jackson Games and Martian Metals, as a (concept) modeler. While he was employed at Martian Metals, its proprietor, Forrest Brown, brought Mobasher's work to the attention of FASA, leading up to his Star Trek commission in 1983. [6]

Mobasher left FASA in 1986, and moved to Washington state to work in the aircraft industry, afterwards working as an independent contractor for a variety of clients. Currently, Mobasher resides in Portland, Oregon, operating his own company "Mobasher Tools", which he had established in 2011.

External links

• AbMobasher.com – official site
• Ab Mobasher at LinkedIn.com