# "Bear Skins And Stone Knives"



## Simon68

"I'm endeavouring, Ma'am, to construct a mnemonic memory circuit using stone-knives and bear-skins."
Spock to Edith Keeler, "The City On the Edge of Forever".
Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) 

I remember the first time I saw this STO Classic series episode... it was 1977 (and I was only 9!), but I would never imagine, how strong this memory would stick on my mind. Soon after I started to access the net (1991 or 1992) I searched for a Diorama themed about "TheCity...". They started to pop up, but all of them based on "The Guardian of Forever". Yes, its cool, and I already built one some years ago. There are some versions of it commercially available, but I never saw, just one STO Diorama, based on (I'll call "the hotel room" or flop(?) ... that scene has A LOT of eye candy details... and I thought way never someone tried to build a diorama showing this scene?! 

But over the years I realized why ... this diorama would be heavily based on the figures of Spock and Kirk. Having the presence of Edith Keeler would be a 'must'. For this, it would be necessary to have the skills of a sculptor ... (after all, it is not easy to find out the figures in the scale you want, pose, etc ...
With that in mind, I realized that I would only build this diorama if I could somehow get those figures. And this time has come! I ordered with a local artist sculptor those figures. So I decided to build this dio in dollhouse scale (1:12) approximately.


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## Simon68

My first Idea was to capture this scene on the image, i.e. showing just Spock and Kirk.


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## Simon68

But them, I thought "If I'll build this DIO, and (of course) use figures, I'll go wild, and also put Edith Keeler (Joan Collins figure) to the scene...


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## Simon68

But them, I got a problem to solve. I would like to show BOTH (Spock & Kirk looking at the TRICORDER screen) AND also show that moment, when Edith Keller opens the door of the room and (almost) see Spock without that cap (to hide his "antennas" LOL). And, of course, there wasn't that scene showing Spock, Kirk & Edit at that configuration... so I decided to make a "composite scene".


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## Simon68

I had a specific constraint to guide my Diorama scale: The tinny TRICORDER screen. It has to be at least some size that I could put some lighting... Yes, because I would like to have some light animations and other sound effects to the dio. I already had one Spock figure that I bought recently and this figure comes with a (bad) tiny resin Tricorder...


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## Simon68

So first I began scratching some room plant, trying to capture a possible configuration. I had to re-view (and capture) many times the scenes where the room is shown...

But during the episode, the room configuration changes! so I had, again, to make one choice, basically how Spock and Kirk's bed were set on the scene...

(Here in Brazil we use the International Unit System (I.S.) so 'feet and inches' don't signify something to us, because we use meters and centimetres... Sorry about that!

I have one screen capture that indicates this possible beds configuration...


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## Simon68

And that scene is the one where Edith shows up in the bed...


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## mach7

Interesting.


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## Simon68

I have one screen capture that indicates this possible beds configuration...

As I told there is another scene, very quickly shown, where the camera approaches quickly and we see a completely different room configuration with a lot (what to me appear to be) many wood boxes supporting (wood) boards... where did they put the beds !? (and that moment I remembered that question about the LOST IN SPACE JUPITER 2 crazy (and also lovely) configuration, with multiple decks in a not so big full-size mockup!!


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## Simon68

So ... let's stop blah blah blah and get-to-work!

Once the scale was determined, I then started to make the accessories (furniture, equipment, etc) of the diorama ... everything was made from scratch building except for one piece of furniture, which I already had, and in was in the correct scale. This furniture does not even appear in the original scene, but I used it to populate an empty area (of may DIO) in a scene location that the camera did not show ...


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## Simon68

Making the bed ... this bed will have an important role in the scene because it will support a board with a series of valves ("bear skins and stone knives") ...


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## NTRPRZ

I think we'll all be anxious to see the finished product.


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## Simon68

NTRPRZ, I just felt the weight of your comment ... LOL please don't get your expectations too high... I'm just an apprentice!


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## Simon68

The bed is almost complete. I used real fabric to obtain a more realistic visual. But I did not find a dark tone so I'll darken it. I also make a test with one of the 'valve boards'. I will build this at the end. I have to find the best solution to reproduce tinny valves. Just putting translucent LEDs would not be accurate with the valve aspect. And of course, I could not illuminate the LEDS (valves don't shine like bulbs!).


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## Simon68

Continuing to assemble the equipment and accessories, here the beginning of the multimeter (meter, ammeter?) ...


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## mach7

For the vacuum tubes could you use clear beads drilled out and put a strand of fine fiber optics inside.

Cut the bottom off the bead, drill it out 1/2 way, and glue a strand of FO inside.


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## Milton Fox Racing

registered :lurk5:


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## Simon68

Thanks for the tip, mach7! I'll try...


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## Richard Baker

I really love the idea behind this diorama!


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## Simon68

Working in a full-time job makes every single bit of free-time a precious time... but I try to work almost every day on this project. And I'll try to speed up at the weekends. Here we see the initial scratch build of the toolset that Spok "borrows" from the watch-repair men...


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## Simon68

Oops... who's there? Please come back later madam... the room it's not even ready...


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## Milton Fox Racing

That desk lamp seems out of scale for a hallway! 

Dont rush your build on our account. We can wait. :thumbsup:


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## mach7

Milton Fox Racing said:


> That desk lamp seems out of scale for a hallway!
> 
> Dont rush your build on our account. We can wait. :thumbsup:


Or maybe its the long lost Star Trek/Land of the Giants crossover episode!


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## Simon68

mach7 said:


> Or maybe its the long lost Star Trek/Land of the Giants crossover episode!


Yah! You got it, 'cause I'm also a huge Irwin Allen fan!
By the way now I'm working on the lamp...


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## Simon68

Talking about lamps, lights, in this scene we have (at least) 3 'old school' light bulbs: one is obviously in the lamp sitting on that table, the other on the wall next to the main room door and the last one in the opposite wall. I first thought about using mini bulbs (I had some that I kept from a toy my aunt gave me back in 1981 (!) when she come back to a trip to USA...


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## Simon68

I found a picture of that toy's box...
In the upper panel, it had mini incandescent light bulbs...
The problem with those light bulbs is that as I remember, they would burn easily and today it would be hard to find another, so I opted to put LEDS inside mini glass balls (white painted) to emulate those tiny bulbs.


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## Simon68

Scratch build some vintage electronic device (old radio chassis?), this 'equipment' will have one operating 'vacuum tube' (translucent LED with its head grey painted). At the present time, the diorama is almost completed... I'm working on the 'special effects' and finishing.


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## Simon68

Simon68 said:


> Oops... who's there? Please come back later madam... the room it's not even ready...





Simon68 said:


> Oops... who's there? Please come back later madam... the room it's not even ready...


Well, in fact it is! It's a true (real scale) dash lamp, that you see over the door, LOL


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## Simon68

Diorama almost finished. Working on lighting and sound effects at the moment. Soon new photos!


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## Milton Fox Racing

Is that alien wallpaper something you created? Nice details all around! 🤙


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## Simon68

Milton Fox Racing said:


> Is that alien wallpaper something you created? Nice details all around! 🤙


Yes, it is a kind of composite of a basic pattern, based on some existing at the time of the episode (1930's).


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## SJF

Very nice job! An inspired idea for a dio.


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## Alien

Great Diorama. I love lesser known diorama subjects. It is going to get hot in that room with all the valves/tubes.

I don't want to be picky but shouldn't Mr Spock have a hat covering his ears?


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## StarshipClass

EXCELLENT idea for a diorama! 

Just be careful when you're hooking up the power:


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## Simon68

Alien said:


> Great Diorama. I love lesser known diorama subjects. It is going to get hot in that room with all the valves/tubes.
> 
> I don't want to be picky but shouldn't Mr Spock have a hat covering his ears?


Yes and no (!)
This scene, in fact, never happened, EXACTLY like this ... If you remember, and I watched this episode hundreds of times, when Spock shows the scenes to the captain, Edith never appears. I made a composite from different scenes. The initial idea it was just showing Kirk and Spock. But then I decided to include Edith Keeler. In fact, Edith's figure is not fixed and can be (re)positioned or even removed. Mr. Spock's hat it is in the extreme corner of the table (you can't see it in this photo!)


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## Simon68

StarshipClass said:


> EXCELLENT idea for a diorama!
> 
> Just be careful when you're hooking up the power:


Thank you!
My wish is that many other modelers, a lot more talented than me, start making their versions ... since 1993 I search the Internet for a diorama based on this scene, and I never found it ...


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## Simon68

SJF said:


> Very nice job! An inspired idea for a dio.


Thank you!
My wish is that many other modelers, a lot more talented than me, start making their versions ... since 1993 I search the Internet for a diorama based on this scene, and I never found it ...


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## Simon68

Milton Fox Racing said:


> That desk lamp seems out of scale for a hallway!
> 
> Dont rush your build on our account. We can wait. 👍


In fact you are looking at a REAL size  lamp that existis in my room ... when this photo was taken, the part
side of the diorama was not finished and you could see through the door. Now, behind that door, the diorama scene continues, with a small corridor and a staircase ... Other photos will make more sense ...


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## Simon68

Continuing with our diorama visiting, let's try to peek through another angle, and look towards the door where Edith comes from...


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## Simon68

[







in the meantime, we play with other toys  ]


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