Okay Bob, I've got to know....

[Pat Whatley]

Since you said this...

2. I know why there was an equatorial trench around the death star in the first Star Wars production.

I've spent HOURS trying to figure that out and I'm not even a Star Wars fan. The only thing I can guess is because of the difficulties in lining up the mold halves. The trench was an easy work around for hiding the seam between the two halves.

So....why's it there Bob?

 

[Mosh]

Splitting the station into two equal hemispheres was a huge equatorial trench approximately 503 kilometers in length for the first Death Star and 2,827 kilometers for the second Death Star. This area of the station housed most of the major landing bays, drive thrusters, sensor arrays and tractor beam systems. Halfway between the equator and each pole were two supplementary trenches. The Death Star was divided into 24 zones, 12 per hemisphere, each controlled by a "bridge". To further organize the immense amount of activity aboard, there were specific "sectors" denoting function. These included the General, Command, Military, Security, Service, and Technical sectors.

 

[kev3232]

i love it. mosh, you freakin rock!! now i gotta reason to go to nebraska!!

kev

 

[weaselboogie]

Mosh took that from starwars.wikia.com , but I'm with pat... I was under the impression that there was more significance behind the recessed equator. I mean, you could probably put the landing bays, drive thrusters, sensor arrays and tractor beam systems ANYWHERE. Maybe bob might have more of a logical reason why the divide was recessed.

 

[bob]

Since you said this...


I've spent HOURS trying to figure that out and I'm not even a Star Wars fan. The only thing I can guess is because of the difficulties in lining up the mold halves. The trench was an easy work around for hiding the seam between the two halves.

So....why's it there Bob?

You have it about right. Because the fellow who was charged with making the main model of the death star, one Colin Cantwell, was given two hemispheres of styrofoam and couldn't get them to properly join up into a passable sphere. Hence the trench to hide the mis-match.

At least that's what he told me way back when.