Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKES !!

Alan Castillo

Master Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
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


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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


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And here is one of those original props.


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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.


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As can also be distinguished when the rod is taken from Odo to be put back in the box


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This is one of these original rods


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Furthermore, the rods have a square on the top, as can be seen in these other 2 screencaps


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Since I was going for the rods as seen in Quark’s box, I needed some of these, cut up …


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… and plenty of these ….


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… 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.


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Thanks for looking






































.
Nah ! They look lonely :lol

They need a box :love

So let’s have a good look at that first


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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.


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Next, I made the external ‘panels’


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And added .....


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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.


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When Sisko gives the rod to the Romulan Senator Vreenak for inspection ….


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…. and he returns to speak to Sisko afterwards with his findings …


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… it leads to the most famous ‘hiss’ ......


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: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


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To round it all up for the box, some paint, graphics and decals later, and here it is finished :


Quarks’ Isolinear Rods and Box :)


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And on display.


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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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Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

Awesome!!!

Any chance you can share the measurements, and where to get the gold bands? Really thinking of making the IT'S A FAKE!!!! one and a case :)

Chris
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

This is just terrific work! I'd love to try to make one of these. Are those acrylic rods? How did you cut them? Thanks for sharing your ingenious project; it's inspiring!
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

Awesome!!!

Any chance you can share the measurements, and where to get the gold bands? Really thinking of making the IT'S A FAKE!!!! one and a case :)

Chris

Thanks :) & sure thing :thumbsup.

Then rods are 1.3cms X 9cms.

The box is 13 W X 10.5 H X 5 cms. (height is 7 for the box and 3.5 the lid)

EDIT : My mistake. It's 5cms, not 4, wide.

The bands are copper tape, available from your local ironmonger. Rest cut are acrylic stickers :)

Beautiful work!

Thank you :)

This is just terrific work! I'd love to try to make one of these. Are those acrylic rods? How did you cut them? Thanks for sharing your ingenious project; it's inspiring!

Thanks :)

Yes, they are extruded acrylic rods. The biggest mistake people make is cutting acrylic with a saw. It is surprisingly difficult. The easiest and cleanest way is by attaching a flat grinding bit to a hobby drill and do it by heat - knife through butter and clean cut.

However, I had these cut at source myself.
 
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Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

That is amazing. I can't believe you got all that detail with balsa.

Where does one find colored acrylic rods, anyway?
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

That is amazing. I can't believe you got all that detail with balsa.

Where does one find colored acrylic rods, anyway?

Why thank you ! :)

As for the rods, unless you have a manufacturer near you, it'd have to be from somewhere on-line. There are plenty. Just google 'acrylic rods buy' and shop for prices :thumbsup
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

Awesome!!!

Quark was the man!

In "Little Green Men" Quark was supposed to come back with a jones for cigarettes but they cut that out! :lol
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

I love your trivia :lol !

Thank you :):thumbsup
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

Awesome!!!

Quark was the man!

In "Little Green Men" Quark was supposed to come back with a jones for cigarettes but they cut that out! :lol


Too funny! I thought maybe they'd have Quark ask Odo to turn back into a German Shepherd, as he looked so much more sweet and cuddly that way! (Quark was the GEM of DS9!)
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

48 hours of knocking my head against the wall, and I just COULDN'T put my finger on what was 'wrong' with this replica.

It finally hit me while ... well, never mind :lol , and I fixed it in 2 seconds flat.

The darned rods were sitting a couple of millimeters too high in the box, making it look totally out of proportion !

I simply removed a sheet of balsa that was lying down under the divider box, and that was it !

Pics in first post replaced with new ones, but you can see what I mean so much better with a side by side before and after.


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Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Small Mod, Huge Difference.

Very nice replicas!

I've always thought DS9 was underrated.
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Small Mod, Huge Difference.

Excellent work! DS9 is a great show :D
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Small Mod, Huge Difference.

Very nice Alan.

Yet another 'missed by the masses' prop
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

Thanks Andre :)

They are 9cms X 1.3cms (3.5" X 0.5")
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

Great job on the box Alan,

one fellow member of the RPF asked me if I could replicate such a box for him. Attached are two pics of my WIP. But instead of balsa wood I took 3 mm thick PVC hard foam, the same material I used for my PADDs and the VISOR.

But what kind of color did you use for these box? Have you got a Duplicolor item #?

Thanks in advance

Dietrich
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

That's not a WIP, that's almost done :lol !

Looking fantastic Dietrich :)(y)thumbsup

You must post pics when finished :cool !

The paint I used was Plasti-Kote Spray, Metallic, Number 455, Antique Gold.
 
Re: Star Trek DS9 - Quark's Isolinear Rods & Box - Build & Finished ....& some FAAAKE

These look absolutely incredible! And I really like the display you've got going on - is that Tuvok's meditation candle from Voyager next to it?

Thanks :). Indeed it is :thumbsup Click on 'Vulcan Meditation Lamp' in my sig to see more.
 
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