Almost ten years ago now an unknown in the model making world entered a competition after being nudged by a friend, just because. Entering two of his favourite home-made Starfleet designs was a simple bit of fun thats now led to being an iconic part of Star Trek history.
Being a huge Star Trek fan from an early age, Bill Krause would always wonder what other ships were out there that weren’t the Enterprise. After all, the original series only showcased one starship design before the remastered version added in one or two smaller elements of the 70’s animated series and even when the movies expanded the universe a little more there were still only a few different designs from the simpler Reliant to the more advanced Excelsior.
So off he went to design his ships, expanding on the 23rd century. Like all of us though, life got in the way. But after retiring from a prosperous creative career, including animation and production, Krause went back to his passion and in 2015 submitted two of his own Starfleet designs – the Shangri-La and the Wasp – into a competition at Wondercon. A move that would catch the eye of Star Trek veteran Doug Drexler.
Impressed with the designs and the work that went into building the customised models, Drexler brought Krause on board for the annual Ships of the Line calendar which has showcased many talented artists.
Avoiding the computer generated imaging other talented artists used, Krause focused on his passion and a rare talent in the current era, using physical models to craft his entries, the first being submitted for the 2018 edition.
“I used the Wasp for that, which was the first ship used which was actually a physical model composited into a scene,” Krause explained in an interview with Heavy, “I still think, to this day, I think I’m the only guy who’s still compositing stuff in the calendar with real physical models, not 3D models.”
His story didn’t end there. Having became friends with several of Star Trek’s renowned artists since meeting NX-01 designer Doug Drexler, another Enterprise designer began to encourage Krause to take the next step. Long time Trek artist, and the man behind the Enterprise E, John Eaves submitted a portfolio of work to producers on Star Trek Picard.
Eaves’ name dropping Krause for some of his unique methods, particularly self-illuminated registries, he was eventually brought on board for his first on screen work by production designer Dave Blass. Being made aware of his talents through Eaves, Blass tasked Kraus with building the physical models for the Stargazers briefing room; both the original Stargazer from the Next Generation as well as the Sagan class that debuted in the season.
Oh, and there was a spare slot to add a third, unique design which gave him a chance to shine by crafting a TOS-Era version of the Stargazer for the display that would be seen for a split second. Yet still, the seeds were planted.
When it came to season three, Kraus and Dexler worked in tandem to build two key ships in the series, and both were unsurprisingly based on his work. Not only that, but it all came full circle from that original Wondercon competition.
In tandem with Drexler, the Wasp was redesigned and inspired the USS Intrepid, an intimidating and overbearing starship with a unique underslung hull. The other? The hero ship of the season, Constitution-III class USS Titan. Based on the Shangri-La class he designed years before, the Titan was a modernised version of the design that merged the 80’s and 2000’s design elements into a retro-callback for Starfleet. Using the same lines and elements, from the spliced primary hull to chunky engineering section, the new Titan was a direct callback to that original model and even included a gold plated version of the Shangri-La in the ready room.
To further solidify Krause’s place in Star Trek history, following it’s renegade mission the USS Titan was renamed the USS Enterprise, starting a whole new legacy for Krause to add to Trek history.
As the Star Trek Universe expands to Academy, Section 31 and more Strange New Worlds, it’s uncertain if Krause will return to the franchise without the much requested Legacy show being produced. However, the model maker is forever busy without his ships being on screen as he works on regular commissions for custom built starship models for fans across the world.
You can see his work, and works in progress, through his Instagram account.
Previous
About the author
A Fistful of SNW Episodes to Rewatch Before Season 3.
In just a matter of weeks we'll be off to venture more Strange New Worlds as Captain Pike and the Enterprise crew return for their third season. Last we left them, the crew were in the middle of a Gorn crisis as a personal mission that could risk all out war resulted in the crew being split in two with half safe and sound on the Enterprise with the others in enemy hands with Pike left to decide what happens next as all odds are against them. It's been a long wait since seeing Pikee staring into space trying to decide on the next move. Especially with writers strikes pushing back filming. But now we're almost there, we've picked out some key episodes to rewatch ahead of the launch! Hegemony (S2E10) May be an obvious one, but with Season 3 […]
What If…. there was no Next Generation?
On the announcement of a new Star Trek show there was a lot of pushback. Most were excited at the idea of a new era, but some felt a new rehash of the concept was a mistake. It'll never work. The dynamics weren't right. They'd missed the point of what Star Trek was. It wasn't in the spirit of what came before. The casting was wrong, none of the new cast seemed likable It was doomed before it even began. And no, this wasn't Discovery. Nor the series of films introducing an alternate reality that played on the idea of Kirk and Spock fulfilling their destiny despite their radically changed origins. This was 1987 before the Star Trek Universe even existed. As of now (June 2025), Star Trek as an overall franchise consists of 818 episodes of live action over […]
The Final Frontier for Strange New Worlds & A Legend Revived! Across the Universe June 2025!
As we wait impatiently for the launch of Strange New Worlds third season, and the resolution to the dramatic cliff-hanger that saw the Enterprise crew separated in a battle against the Gorn, Paramount has given the bittersweet news that the series end is in sight by announcing earlier this month that it's fifth season would be it's last. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwqPH7UhKYI In a joint statement, the executive producers – Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers – focused on the adventures to come whilst being thankful for the journey so far. “ “We’re deeply grateful to Paramount+ for the chance to complete our five-season mission, just as we envisioned it, alongside our extraordinary cast and crew. And to the passionate fans who’ve boldly joined us on this journey.” Some time and a couple of Hollywood strikes ago, SNW's third and fourth […]
[Retro Review] Timeless. Voyager S5E06
Voyagers mission was to find a way home. And Harry Kim found one. Using found slipstream technology as well as time sensitive components to make it work, Kim proposes a risky plan to build the drive and race the crew home. When his space bestie Tom points out it's a stupid plan due to variables they haven't been able to counter, Captain Janeway give sit the rubber stamp anyway on the condition Chakotay fly ahead in the Delta Flyer with Kim so they can feed back course corrections so Voyager doesn't explode. Thankfully, it doesn't explode. Yet fifteen years later, Chakotay and Kim are the sole survivors of the mission; the Flyer being small enough to navigate the slipstream variances while Voyager was thrown out of the stream and crash landed on an ice planet, killing the entire crew. Now […]
Meet The Fleet Support: Final Positions Confirmed.
For anyone who'd missed it in previous Fleet Alerts or announcements; one of our main goals in 2025 was to build a new support team for Q2. Since our mass fleet redevelopment ten years ago, we've seen things changes, people come and go and the entire landscape of humanity shift twice while the franchise that brought us all here to begin with grew and evolved multiple times. Enter Fleet Support. At it's heart, SFCQ2’s Fleet Support division has been designed to aid and supplement membership opportunities and solidify a helpful, informative and supportive structure. Each role acts as a secondment to allow members to continue to be an active part of their unit while representing and supporting the fleet at an ‘HQ’ level. While we figured out two of the five positions fairly quickly, the two roles we've been most […]
[Ships of the Line] The Einstein Class / Kelvin Type
A relic of one of Starfleet's lost experimental era's, the Einstein Class was in service into the 2230's as a replacement for the Daedalus explorers. Going back to a more traditional saucer for the ships primary hull, a core feature of Starfleet's first exploration vessels, the NX Class, it was a larger and chunkier configuration to allow more internal for an adaptable range of mission specifications. Similar to standard scout ship designs, such as the USS Archer, the Einstein featured a singular warp nacelle protruding below the wide saucer housing two semi circular dual warp coils powered by four reactors allowing the vessel to reach warp 7 speeds with it's base early 23rd century configuration. While similar designs had limited and condensed warp drive housing, the Einstein hosted a secondary hull connected above the saucer via a thick spine; the […]
Related
Inside Trek/Outside Trek: Alexander Siddig
Introduced as a naive young doctor with a saviour complex, Julian Bashir's seven years on Deep Space Nine transformed the doctor into a complex favourite who's strong moral compass ans passion for helping others becoming a core aspect of his character. Over the course of his seven years on the show, Siddig led Bashir through a complex relationship with Cardassian Tailor Garak, a developing close friendship with Mile O'Brien, and everything from medical drama's to war epics to spy drama's while also revealing that he's been illegally genetically augmented as a child. Each moment showing Bashir's idealistic passion, charm and grace as he remained one of the few to stay behind on the Bajoran station by the series' end. From his teens to his twenties, Siddig worked mostly in theatre with only two screen credits by the time he was […]
That Guy From That Thing: Adam Scott
Warping from story to story and finding strange new worlds with strange new people on them, Star Trek has always attracted a wider variety of talent into it's ranks from Academy Award Winners becoming religious leaders of Bajor, to sports personalities starting their screen career as space gladiators. But while many known stars have found themselves in the Star Trek universe, sometimes looking back you find a once relative unknown extra celebrating the arrival of the Enterprise who went on to greater things... First Contact is one of those movies that just fires into the plot without much time to waste. Fairly swiftly we go from a classic briefing room scene and before you know it the Enterprise is racing into battle after a few seconds of listening to a Federation task force being decimated by the Borg in the […]
[Inside Trek] Andrew Probert
Building the look of the Star Trek Universe isn't easy. Following a template made by Mat Jeffries, every artist who joins the universe builds on that original work. For one artist, his mission wasn't just to build on what came before, but completely reinvent it all with a new vision that would end up becoming one of the most iconic pieces of Star Trek; The Enterprise-D bridge. A graduate of Pasadena's Art Centre College of Design, Andrew Probert's screen career began with science fiction. On the recommendation of fellow artist Ralph McQuarrie, Probert would join the team behind the original Battlestar Galactica series, adding his mark to the universe with the Cylon Centurion design which would represent the Cylons and be revisited as an older model in the Ron Moore driven reboot. Entering the Star Trek Universe in 1978, Probert […]
Inside Trek: Brannon Braga
Just as many new stars have been created by joining the world of Star Trek on screen from respected actors becoming international sensations to young new talents having their moment to shine, there have been just as many stars have also been made behind the scenes. For every story told and new star made in the Star Trek Universe it takes an army of talent behind the scenes to make sure that universe comes to life. From production designers to lighting technicians and the artists behind every ship, creature and corner of a set, there are many who have helped shape the Star Trek Universe, and more than a few who's careers have started thanks to it's existence. Between 1987 and 2005 Star Trek properly became a franchise of connected universes and stories with the launch of the Next Generation […]
Inside Trek: Jeri Taylor
Making her mark in the world of television, Taylor's pre-Trek career was a little more grounded. Through the 80's Taylor moved from writing to productio with classic drama's including Magnum PI, Blue Thunder and murder mystery series Quincy ME. Though she dabbled beyond the genre, including writing an episode of the Incredible Hulk, Taylor would move into the Star Trek universe on the recommendation of fellow Quincy writer, and Next Generation producer, Lee Sheldon, who had been tasked with expanding the themes of TNG and wanted to bring on board a versatile writer with experience beyond science fiction.
[Inside Trek] Michael Westmore
It takes a universe in itself to create Star Trek and part of it's creative family comes from a legacy that far outshines most in film. For over a hundred years the Westmore family have been a staple of productions in Hollywood starting with George Westmore's studio. The family would not only become masters of hair and make up design, but become engrained within Hollywood as the finest in their craft.
