In my opinion, the most memorable character in Star Trek DS9 is Quark, with all his ‘humanity’ interlaced with plenty of shenanigans :lol
Having been on DS9 when it was still occupied by the Cardassians, Quark had plenty of time to amass several Cardassian Isolinear Rods (data storage, operational and programme devices) used on the station. Some of these were frequently used by Quark to gain unauthorised access to the station’s controls.
He kept a bunch of these rods in a drawer under his bar, and others in a separate box.
I will differentiate between the two kinds of rods, starting off with the ones he kept in the drawer, these
These rods have 4 bands on the top, 1 thinner than the other 3, another thinner band at the bottom, and a black stripe down the middle. These can be seen clearer here
And here is one of those original props.
On the other hand, the ones Quark kept in his box (where he used to keep Dr. Bashir’s ‘Vic Fontain’ holosuite programme rod) had 3 bands on the top, no band at the bottom, and like the various operational rods, had colour-coded bands on the top.
The lack of a bottom stripe can clearly be seen in these two screencaps. The first is when he is taking Vic Fontain’s rod out of the box to give to Odo, and due to the angle, the light reflects only on the bands.
As can also be distinguished when the rod is taken from Odo to be put back in the box
This is one of these original rods
Furthermore, the rods have a square on the top, as can be seen in these other 2 screencaps
Since I was going for the rods as seen in Quark’s box, I needed some of these, cut up …
… and plenty of these ….
… et Voila ! Quark’s Isolinear Rods.
The colour coding on the rods are White for Engineering System Controls, Red for Library and Information Storage ...... and the rest are not specified on the show.
Thanks for looking
.
Nah ! They look lonely :lol
They need a box :love
So let’s have a good look at that first
As confirmed by HMS Mike, the box was scratch built. So, here goes.
I didn’t take many ‘build’ images, as there was not all that much to show. Precise and detailed, yes, but not warranting a ton of images.
A medium I love to use is balsa.
So I made the basic box and its lid, sanded down the edges to make them round, and used filler and sandpaper to smoothen.
Next, I made the external ‘panels’
And added .....
1 - Small magnet
2 - Sheet of metal
3 - Hinges
4 - Internal ‘panels’
5 - Divider box
6 - Internal lid panels
Now, for my personal touch :lol
The best episode in DS9 is, in my personal opinion, “In the Pale Moonlight”.
In this episode, Captain Sisko decides to drag the Romulans into the Federation-Dominion war by forging, on a Cardassian Optolythic Data Rod, a holographic recording of the Dominion plotting to attack Romulus.
These rods, unlike Isolinear Rods, can only be recorded on once, and are manufactured as needed.
For the task, Sisko and Garak ‘enlist’ the help of a forger, Grathor Tolar, who does his work in one of Quark’s Holosuites.
When Sisko gives the rod to the Romulan Senator Vreenak for inspection ….
…. and he returns to speak to Sisko afterwards with his findings …
… it leads to the most famous ‘hiss’ ......
:lol
So, I figured since these rods are so hard to come by, and are worth alot of Latinum, Quark would have, at some point, probably obtained a couple of these for his nefarious purposes :lol
Therefore, here are a couple of those too
To round it all up for the box, some paint, graphics and decals later, and here it is finished :
Quarks’ Isolinear Rods and Box
And on display.
Finally, I must thank 2 members for their contribution to this project.
A big huge thanks to Simon (Supa troop) for receiving the rods from the manufacturer on my behalf, wrapping them up safely, and forwarding them to me !! and thank you Dietrich (Cmdr.Kerner) for the front logo of the box, which I manipulated and jazzed up to match the one on screen :thumbsup
Having been on DS9 when it was still occupied by the Cardassians, Quark had plenty of time to amass several Cardassian Isolinear Rods (data storage, operational and programme devices) used on the station. Some of these were frequently used by Quark to gain unauthorised access to the station’s controls.
He kept a bunch of these rods in a drawer under his bar, and others in a separate box.
I will differentiate between the two kinds of rods, starting off with the ones he kept in the drawer, these
These rods have 4 bands on the top, 1 thinner than the other 3, another thinner band at the bottom, and a black stripe down the middle. These can be seen clearer here
And here is one of those original props.
On the other hand, the ones Quark kept in his box (where he used to keep Dr. Bashir’s ‘Vic Fontain’ holosuite programme rod) had 3 bands on the top, no band at the bottom, and like the various operational rods, had colour-coded bands on the top.
The lack of a bottom stripe can clearly be seen in these two screencaps. The first is when he is taking Vic Fontain’s rod out of the box to give to Odo, and due to the angle, the light reflects only on the bands.
As can also be distinguished when the rod is taken from Odo to be put back in the box
This is one of these original rods
Furthermore, the rods have a square on the top, as can be seen in these other 2 screencaps
Since I was going for the rods as seen in Quark’s box, I needed some of these, cut up …
… and plenty of these ….
… et Voila ! Quark’s Isolinear Rods.
The colour coding on the rods are White for Engineering System Controls, Red for Library and Information Storage ...... and the rest are not specified on the show.
Thanks for looking
.
Nah ! They look lonely :lol
They need a box :love
So let’s have a good look at that first
As confirmed by HMS Mike, the box was scratch built. So, here goes.
I didn’t take many ‘build’ images, as there was not all that much to show. Precise and detailed, yes, but not warranting a ton of images.
A medium I love to use is balsa.
So I made the basic box and its lid, sanded down the edges to make them round, and used filler and sandpaper to smoothen.
Next, I made the external ‘panels’
And added .....
1 - Small magnet
2 - Sheet of metal
3 - Hinges
4 - Internal ‘panels’
5 - Divider box
6 - Internal lid panels
Now, for my personal touch :lol
The best episode in DS9 is, in my personal opinion, “In the Pale Moonlight”.
In this episode, Captain Sisko decides to drag the Romulans into the Federation-Dominion war by forging, on a Cardassian Optolythic Data Rod, a holographic recording of the Dominion plotting to attack Romulus.
These rods, unlike Isolinear Rods, can only be recorded on once, and are manufactured as needed.
For the task, Sisko and Garak ‘enlist’ the help of a forger, Grathor Tolar, who does his work in one of Quark’s Holosuites.
When Sisko gives the rod to the Romulan Senator Vreenak for inspection ….
…. and he returns to speak to Sisko afterwards with his findings …
… it leads to the most famous ‘hiss’ ......
:lol
So, I figured since these rods are so hard to come by, and are worth alot of Latinum, Quark would have, at some point, probably obtained a couple of these for his nefarious purposes :lol
Therefore, here are a couple of those too
To round it all up for the box, some paint, graphics and decals later, and here it is finished :
Quarks’ Isolinear Rods and Box
And on display.
Finally, I must thank 2 members for their contribution to this project.
A big huge thanks to Simon (Supa troop) for receiving the rods from the manufacturer on my behalf, wrapping them up safely, and forwarding them to me !! and thank you Dietrich (Cmdr.Kerner) for the front logo of the box, which I manipulated and jazzed up to match the one on screen :thumbsup
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