Solo and Kuryakin, trained in martial arts, also had a range of useful spy equipment, including handheld satellite communicators to keep in contact with UNCLE headquarters. A catchphrase often heard was “Open Channel D” when agents used their pocket radios (originally disguised as cigarette packs, later as a cigarette case, and in following seasons, as pens). One of the original pen communicators now resides in the museum of the Central Intelligence Agency. Unfortunately, the museum is not accessible to the public. Replicas have been made over the years for other displays, and this is the second-most-identifiable prop from the series (closely following the U.N.C.L.E. Special pistol).
One prop, often referred to as “The Gun,” drew so much attention that it actually spurred considerable fan mail, often so addressed. Internally designated the “U.N.C.L.E. Special”, it featured a modular semi-automatic weapon, originally based on the Mauser Model 1934 Pocket Pistol, but soon replaced by the more-readily available Walther P38 pistol. As such, the gun could be converted into a longer-range carbine by attaching a long barrel, extendable shoulder stock, telescopic sight, and extended magazine. The magazine was actually a standard magazine with a dummy extension on it, but it inspired several manufacturers to begin making long magazines for various pistols. The gun usually fired some form of a fast acting tranquilizing dart instead of bullets as opposed to the lethality of a THRUSH weapon. While many of these continue to be available 40 years later, long magazines were not available for the P-38 for some years. However, they are now being custom made, as are reproduction parts for the U.N.C.L.E. carbine, and sold at “TheUncleGun.com”. . “Pictures” of their U.N.C.L.E. gun reproductions can also be seen on the official “Man From U.N.C.L.E. DVD set”. The “U.N.C.L.E. Special”-configured Walther P38 would later become the distinctive alternate mode for the Transformers character Megatron, the evil leader of the Decepticons. THRUSH had an equally impressive range of weaponry, much of it only in development before being destroyed by our heroes; their most notable item was the infrared sniperscope, enabling them to target gunfire in total darkness. A major design defect of the sniperscope (both in the TV series and in the real world) was that its image tube’s power supply emitted a distinctive whining sound when operating. This device was built around a U. S. Army-surplus M1 carbine.
A few of the third- and fourth-season episodes featured an “U.N.C.L.E. car”, which was developed from the Bertone Pirana, a concept car built to prove the usefulness of plastics in auto construction.
