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I started making rough sketches on paper of the basic dimensions of the transporter model in February of 1994. This model never needed the full blown resources of my CAD system. To aid me in the sketches, I consulted my special effects books and I also took several photographs off the TV screen of a couple of Star Trek episodes where people where transporting down to alien planets. From these sources I was able to get the approximate dimensions of the transporter room set. I then scaled these dimensions down and came up with as large a model as I could physically handle. I ended up with a 1/6th scale model that measured three feet in diameter and eighteen inches in height.
Next came figuring out what to make the thing out of. I decided I wanted to make the model out of light weight materials since it would not have to bear any weight and all I really needed it for was to get a couple of good pictures to serve as background plates for the special effects. In the end, the model was composed of about 45 separate pieces and it is mostly made out of architectural foam board and the matte board stuff you frame pictures with. There is also some wood, sheet plastic, colored paper, paint and lots of wood glue thrown in for good measure. I started building the model in March of 1994, and I had it complete and ready for shooting in December of that year.
The model is lit with external lights that are basically just focused on different sections of it. The model is currently sitting in a corner of my living room in a custom made box until I have a place where I can permanently display it. Below is a picture of the pieces of the model before it was assembled, as well as a medium angle side shot of the final tranporter room model, as well as a shot of me with the completed model on its shooting "stage", which in reality is just a conference room at work.
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