Memory Alpha
Register
Advertisement
Memory Alpha

The McKinley type was a Starfleet orbital docking facility in use during the 24th century. It was designed for starship construction, refitting and maintenance layovers. (TNG: "Family", "All Good Things..."; VOY: "The Swarm") Facilities of this type were deployed at Earth, Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, and Starbase 234. (TNG: "Family", "Redemption II"; VOY: "Relativity")

Facilities of the class

Named

Unnamed

Appendices

Appearances

Studio model

McKinley type studio model on stage at Image G prepared by model maker Dana White and effects supervisor Dan Curry

Modeler Dana White and Visual Effects Supervisor Dan Curry with the models at Image G.

The studio model was a Rick Sternbach design and built by Gregory Jein. Jein noted on his build, "The interesting thing about its crablike appendices is, that we sort of made them like a stop-motion armature so they could be flexible and custom fit any area of the Enterprise so it looked like it was actually coming close to gripping the model." (TNG Season 4 DVD, disc 7, "Select Historical Data"–special) Jein constructed the model, which measured 32×73×15 inches, out of resin, acrylic sheet and fiberglass. The parts were held in place on a steel and aluminum armature with two mounting points, one on top of the model (for up-side-down filming, common at the time in motion control photography of physical studio models) and one aft. A single fluorescent hand-formed neon tube provided internal lighting through strands of fiber optic cables, though the lighting was restricted to the forward white colored "office"-section only. While both Jein's remarks and the design suggested that the station had four forward appendices (and was featured as having so in the later episode "Relativity"), the physical model actually had only three. The appendices were not constructed to articulate, and having only three on the model made positioning of the models of the Enterprise-D and Sutherland into the McKinley model easier. To disguise the lack of the fourth arm, the model was only shot from the starboard side.

The model was only shot twice at Image G, once for "Family" and once for "Redemption II", its later appearance in "All Good Things..." being stock footage (featuring previously unused extended footage shot for "Family", that was however, used in the 1991 documentary The Star Trek Logs: An MTV Big Picture Special Edition).

McKinley type studio model after restoration

The McKinley studiomodel after restoration to its former glory

The physical model was acquired by American collector Adam Schneider as Lot #6250 in the December 2007 It's A Wrap! sale and auction for a winning bid of US$810. [1] Having deteriorated considerably during years of storage, Schneider decided to seek out help in order to restore the model to its former glory. [2] Professional modeler Jason Eaton, whose help Schneider sought out, commented upon receival of the model: My first question out of the gate was, "How much damage are we talking about?" with the second being, "What reference do we have?" I quickly realised there was an amount of damage consistent with a fragile model being placed in storage (dust and general warpage from gravity and parts not designed for longevity, but for filming), and then there was additional damage sustained in shipping. Reference-wise, I had hoped for archival materials to surface, but those did not materialise. The repairs and reconstruction were therefore undertaken referencing DVD screen caps." (Sci-fi & fantasy modeller, Volume 12, 2009, p.66) Eaton went on to describe step-by-step the elaborate restoration work he performed on the model.

For its appearance in "Relativity", a CGI model model was constructed at Foundation Imaging by Lee Stringer. Stringer recalled,"About 10 years ago this was the first CGI model I made for ST: Voyager, I had no ref except the episode on VHS! I know what I made was far from the level of detail in the model, but it wasn't going to be seen close up." [3]

Advertisement