William S . McCullars William Stanley " Stan " McCullars ( born ca . 1960 ) , generally credited as William S . McCullars , has been a freelance writer of articles for several licensed magazine publications . The focus of his writing was on the studio model s of the " Star Trek " franchise , in particular the models of and its creators . Publications wherein he has been published have been the genre magazine " " , as well as the " Star Trek " magazines and . His 2001 articles for " Communicator " consisted of in depth interviews with " Star Trek " s first model maker Richard C . Datin , Jr . , firmly establishing the latter as a signature contributor to the franchise , " " I managed to track Richard down during the late ' 90s to discuss his " Star Trek " modelmaking . I have a lifelong interest in the studio spaceship models used in " Star Trek " . Richard agreed to interviews , which went on for about two years off and on . He was incredibly patient with me and kept such good records of his work , as well as having a good memory . I finally completed the article around late 2000 or early 2001 , and it was published in " Star Trek : Communicator " magazine in a two - part article . ( There is actually a third part to the article , which the " Communicator " asked me to write for their planned website that never materialized ! ) After that , the Smithsonian contacted me and asked for my help . I wrote the dedication plaque text and supplied the photo of Richard and the other " Enterprise " modelmakers for the eleven - foot " Enterprise " studio model display at the NASM . Richard visited the NASM five or six years ago and had great pride in the dedication plaque , " " McCullars stated upon the passing of Richard Datin . A large part of his writings stemmed from the work he had done on his now defunct website " The IDIC Page " , which he put on - line in 1997 and on which he stated , " " Over the course of almost 25 years , I have been on a journey , photographing " Star Trek " s and other studio model s used in the filming of the television and movie series . The trek began in 1979 on my first trip to Washington DC and to the . Since then , I have visited the NASM at least once a year , and , during the extraordinary 1992 - 93 NASM " Star Trek " exhibit , I went back at least a dozen times . After that , my travels took me to New York City ' s Hayden Planetarium for their 1993 - 94 " Star Trek " exhibition , the Museum of Television and Radio ' s 1993 " Star Trek " exhibit , numerous s , the now - defunct , and many other locations . Additionally , many of the rare photos you will see here have been given to me by the original model - makers themselves , as well as others involved in the production of " Star Trek " . " " While his website was operational , he had behind - the - scenes material and input from actual production staffers like Richard Datin , Majel Barrett - Roddenberry , Craig Thompson , Ed Miarecki and Greg Jein , among others , at a time when , especially for Star Trek model kits modelers , such information was all but inaccessible . Before becoming officially involved with " Star Trek " as production staffers themselves , then " Star Trek " fans Gary Kerr and Petri Blomqvist were very active contributors and participants on McCullars ' website . His website went off - line when its provider terminated hosting services in 2005 and hasn ' t been up since , McCullars having said to be " weighing his options " in 2009 . McCullars was not a stranger to the " Star Trek " franchise , as he was the chief editor of the fanzine " Imzadi " , which ran for nineteen issues from 1990 through 1992 .