The way Rick Blair describes it, his meeting with the toy company executives was like something out of a movie.
There he was, a novice inventor, unveiling his prototype of the Starship Enterprise. And there they were, the men of the Ertl model company, sitting at a 25-foot-long table, looking businesslike. "They were deadpan," says Blair. Blair made his presentation, then held his breath while the company president told him his new technology was not for "Star Trek." Then the man added, dramatically, "It's for every model!!!"No one actually shouted, "You'll be rich! We'll all be rich!" the way they would have if this story were really scripted by Hollywood.
However, over the next year - in the course of royalty negotiations - the Ertl people did hint at great times to come. They told Blair they were hoping to sell 60,000 "Star Trek" models the first year of production. The model won't be available until next spring - yet Ertl already has more than 60,000 orders.
The novelty, the idea that retailers covet, is fiber-optic lights.
Blair knows fiber optics. He has been a manufacturer's representative for high-tech products for years. His partner, Ritchie Kinmont, is the Trekker and, Blair says, the genius.
Kinmont came up with the first crude fiber-optic model while he was on an LDS mission. When he returned home, to Perry, Box Elder County, Kinmont tried to market his starship - unsuccessfully.
So he called on Blair, a family friend, who could see the potential but also could see that Kinmont's lights looked amateurish. The holes in the plastic, the pinpoint windows for the light to shine through, were imprecise.
The windows in the starship must be drilled out neatly - to within a width of about two hairs. Then a fiber is inserted and glued. From the inside, individual fibers are bundled together and connected to a light bulb. The result is a model with scores of tiny windows, each with a light so bright and true that the ship looks real.
The trick is cutting the windows correctly. If the drill gets too hot the plastic melts and the windows look lumpy. Blair and Kinmont knew the drill was key. They knew they have to find the right instrument and include it with every fiber optic model kit.
They tried a lot of drilling techniques. Nothing worked. Kinmont felt his hope begin to fade. Blair suggested they go see the movie "Field of Dreams" to kind of cheer themselves up.
Kinmont loved the film as much as Blair did, and they pledged to each other to hold on to the movie's message: Just build it and they will come.
The next day, they invented their own disposable drill.
After that, it was easy. Blair and Kinmont took their model to a "Star Trek" convention in Las Vegas. People offered thousands of dollars for their Enterprise.
They didn't sell, but came back to Utah and hired an accountant/business manager and called Rod Linton of the state's Small Business Development Center to help them with a marketing presentation.
The first place Blair went was the Ertl Toy Co. in Dyersville, Iowa. And after the Ertl people loved his model and complimented him for bringing fiber optics to the world of miniatures, they asked him if he'd like to go with them to one of their famous local sites. Then they took him down the road a bit and showed him a cornfield where, a few years ago, all those Hollywood folks had come to film "Field of Dreams."