Real world article
(written from a production point of view)
David Heilman is a model maker who worked for the companies Science Fiction Modelmaking Associates (SFMA) and Starlight Effects in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Together with Kim Bailey he built the actual core sample for the second season episode "Q Who". While in the employ of SFMA, Heilman was also team member on the prestigious assignment of the eleven-foot Constitution-class studio model restoration for the Star Trek Smithsonian Exhibit of 1991.
Heilman previously worked as miniature prop maker on the 1979 comedy 1941 with Gregory Jein and Mitch Suskin.