^ Image: © Paramount/Viacom 1996

Deep Space 9 was built by the Cardassians as "Terek Nor" in 2351 as a mining station orbiting Bajor. It was abandoned 18 years later when the planet regained it's freedom. At the request of the new government, Starfleet assumed control - renamed the station "Deep Space 9" and assigned the relatively low-ranking Commander Benjamin Sisko to run it. The station was designed by Rick Sternbach and Hermann Zimmerman; the model built by Tony Meininger.

Photos are courtesy of Phil Bolton and Will McCammon (taken by Shawn McGoldrick). Both sets were taken at the Museum Of Flight in Seattle, WA . The filming miniatures of the USS Defiant and Deep Space Nine were included in the 2001: Building for Space Travel exhibit.

The Deep Space Nine miniature was only a partial miniature - I think it may have been the one used for shots of approaching ships as seen from Ops and for some docking shots. The colors in the inset areas were odd and must film differently because they never looked that gold on-screen.--- Will McCammon

More Info: It [the partial station model] looks like the partial build of the station used when the moco camera had to cross -through- where the station structure would be to get certain angles. The colors are indeed correct, including the sensor/radiator insets. The heavy use of backlighting always darkened/desaturated the look of the station, so I'm not surprised if the assessment was that they were painted differently. The color scheme is the same as on the full circumference miniature. There were a couple of enlarged sections built, but this doesn't look like them. The larger sections were for closeup details, like the hab ring piece used to show the runabout dock. --- Rick Sternbach

^ Image: © Paramount/Viacom 1996

The USS Defiant and her sister ships were originally developed as small, agile and powerfully armed warships to meet the Borg threat. When the Borg threat receded, and design flaws discovered during the lead ship's shakedown cruise, the project was suspended (it would later be restarted with the outbreak of the Dominion War). The USS Defiant was assigned to Deep Space 9 in 2371, in part to meet the Jem'Hadar threat. First seen in DS9's "The Search", the Defiant has also appeared in "Star Trek: First Contact". It was designed by concept artist Jim Martin under the direction of Herman Zimmerman; the studio model was built by Tony Meininger with Gary Hutzel.

Photos are courtesy of Phil Bolton and Will McCammon (taken by Shawn McGoldrick). Both sets were taken at the Museum Of Flight in Seattle, WA . The filming miniatures of the USS Defiant and Deep Space Nine were included in the 2001: Building for Space Travel exhibit.

The Defiant was displayed fairly high up and in a corner, which made getting pictures lined up a bit difficult. There are some good close-ups of detail areas that I'd never seen pictures of on the web, so the effort was worth it - thanks to my pal Shawn. There are a lot of greeblie details that I'd never noticed before. The model itself is smaller than I'd expected; roughly 2-3 feet long.--- Will McCammon

Nebula-class Starship. A contemporary of the Galaxy-class starship, first seen in ST:TNG's "The Wounded". Slightly smaller than the Galaxy ships, the Nebula's sport a large upper equipment pod that can be reconfigured for different missions. Most often seen variants are sensor suites and weapons pods. The Nebula-class was designed by Ed Miarecki, Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda; the filming model was built by Greg Jein.

Photos courtesy of Mark Dickson.

IMAGES:
Image 1: Side view. (44 kb)

Image 2: Front View. (62 kb)

Image 3: Rear View. (49 kb)

Image 4: Front Oblique View. (48 kb)

Image 5: Rear Oblique View. (93 kb)

Image 6: Bow/deflector Detail. (74 kb)

Image 7: Top Detail. (118 kb)

Image 8: Bottom View (bow). (60 kb)

Image 9: Bottom View (mid). (68 kb)

Image 10: Bottom View (tail). (22 kb)

Galor-class Warship. Largest and most powerful of the regular Cardassian Union warships, and the basis for the even more powerful Keldon-class vessels of the secret Obsidian Order. This ship was designed by Rick Sternbach to resemble an ankh; the original miniature was built by Ed Miarecki. It was first seen in "The Wounded" (TNG).

Photos courtesy of Mark Dickson.

IMAGES:
Image 1: Rear perspective view, showing additions to Galor model. (149 kb)

Image 2: Top/rear perspective view. (104 kb)

Image 3: Rear/side perspective view. (80 kb)

Image 4: Rear/underside perspective view. (111 kb)

Image 5: Rear view. (56 kb)

Image 6: Side view. (87 kb)

Image 7: Additional structures. (141 kb)

Image 8: Detail of new pieces. (150 kb)

Image 9: Top view, additional structures. (199 kb)

Image 10: Rear view, new engines. (133 kb)

Keldon-class Warship. Cardassia's ruthless and brutally efficient secret police, the Obsidian Order, were expressly forbidden to have starships, as they were supposed to maintain internal security. This did not stop the Order from assembling an armada of warships and, in conjunction with the Romulan Tal Shiar, mounting a covert expedition to destroy the Founders of the Dominion in 2371. The main might of the Cardassian part of this fleet was the Keldon-class ships, which were more powerful variants of the Cardassian military's standard Galor-class. Despite their lethality, these ships were annihilated in a Jem'Hadar ambush ["Improbable Cause"].

Photos courtesy of Mark Dickson.

Hideki-class Scout. A small, warp-capable ship used for patrolling, reconnaissance and scientific missions. It was first seen in DS9's "Second Sight". Photos are courtesy of Mark Dickson.

Negh'var-class Battleship The flagship of the Imperial fleet. General Martok commanded the invasion of Cardassia in 2372 from the Negh'var ("The Way of the Warrior", DS9). Ships of this class later took part in the attack on DS9, and numerous battles against the Dominion. The ship, first seen in TNG's final episode "All Good Things", was designed by Rick Sternbach; model built by Greg Jein.

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