My co-worker also stood on one of the transporter hubs at that same exhibit.  He had his picture taken.  He told me something about the transporter bases -- what they were made from.  Unfortunately, I don't recall what he said about that.  I'll try to remember to ask him about it on Monday.  It's been awhile since we talked about it.  But I do remember that the transporter hubs were made from nothing that you'd expect.  IIRC, it was something along the lines of garbage can lids or sewer manhole covers..........something about like that.

I do recall that he claimed that they had one (1) fancy control panel with flashing lights & switches for the bridge.  That same control panel served as the helm console in certain scenes, and would then be removed & turned upside down to serve as Spock's science monitoring panel -- then it would server as Uhura's communcations controls -- etc, etc.  They'd just lift out the box with it's lights, switches, & buttons and then turn it around for various panel locations.  Whenever they needed flashing lights that actually flashed on a control panel, that is.  The lights would flash as well in one place as it another.  Or so my co-worker told me.  Once again: I share this with the disclaimer that I never saw the items myself.

He also claimed that the original phasers were basically blocks of carved and painted wood.  Same for the original tricorders.  According to him, they made them fancier in later seasons.  But they started out with blocks of wood.

Something To Do At 3:00AM