Deep Space Station K-7 Origins (Aerospace Industry Trivia)

[TwirlipMists]

For the those few curious about Matt Jefferies' real-world inspiration for Deep Space Station K-7 as featured in The Trouble with Tribbles (and thanks to the magic of stock footage, The Ultimate Computer), you may be interested in the following scans:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c339/thegodthing/MSSS.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c339/thegodthing/DLOSS1.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c339/thegodthing/DLOSS2.jpg

Enjoy!

Twirlip of the Mists

 

[Timo]

...The funny thing is, the "sombrero" shape for the module is something specifically designed for launching in the nose of a classic phallic-shaped rocket - and as such should have no business forming part of a Federation space station far, far away from phallic-shaped rockets in terms of both space and time.

Then again, the sombreros of K-7 do not appear to have the true inter- and overlapping "brim" segment design, but instead have seamlessly smooth "brims"...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Dukhat]

...and as such should have no business forming part of a Federation space station far, far away from phallic-shaped rockets in terms of both space and time.

I don't think he was implying that K7 was constructed like that, just that they were similar-looking.

I have seen the first pic the OP linked before, but not the other two. Yes, they look frighteningly like K7, although I have no idea if that was really Jefferies's inspiration.

 

[B.J.]

I thought this was a pretty well-known bit of behind-the-scenes trivia. Here's another link with some more info: http://www.projectrho.com/SSC/station.html

 

[Maurice]

As per the link posted by B.J., the K-7 Model was largely constructed from parts donated from a Douglas Aircraft tradeshow type display, which had the overlapping segments.

1. The main "sombrero" (link for photo)
2. The triad of smaller "sombreros" (link for photo)
3. The various sombreros in one diorama, wherein you can see that the relative sizes of these pieces match the scale of the finished model (link for photo) Notice you never see the station from the side where the open part of the main sombrero would show.

 

[Redfern]

Huh, what do you know...

I learned of the Douglas Aircraft inspiration several years ago (through Nyrath's fascinating site), but I never stopped to consider the production managed to obtain and modify existing miniatures originally built for a tradeshow. But thinking about it, that makes a LOT of sense given how frugal the series was. Even Gerrold tried to think fiscally by suggesting the production could place "set dressing" upon the soundstage exteriors to appear as grain warehouses. Looking back, I just can't imagine the show going to the expense of building a space station miniature "from scratch" that might only appear in that one episode (though the footage shot was reused in "The Ultimate Computer").

Tangently related, since the redressed Douglas pods had "nested clamshell" panels, how did they get confused with elevated "ribs" that found their way onto the AMT kit? Did NO images of the station model exist beyond the grainy final generation optical as it appeared on screen? There exist photos of the 11 foot hero model against a blue screen. Same for the Botany Bay. There's even a couple of shots of Chang's Romulan warbird suspended upon its wires. But nothing "behind the scenes" exists of the K-7?

Sincerely,

Bill