spacewolf Posted April 30, 2010 Share Posted April 30, 2010 Battlestar Galactica was redone starting in 2003 a much darker, grittier telling of the story. The new tale is rather well done and has gained a huge following Now, thanks to Moebius Models we are getting some of the ships in injected plastic. The Viper MK II is patterned after the Viper from the original movie/series but with a Japanamation redesign that just rocks. It is in 1/32 scale so it fits on the shelf right beside the old Monogram Viper. The box cover is a shot of the full scale 'hero' prop used in the series while the back of the box has a shot of the hanger bay you can use as a backdrop for the finished kit. My kit was as far as I know the first one sold in Vancouver, I called Burnaby Hobbies and they were the only ones that had it, they were taking them out of the shipping box when I called. The price was $29.95, very reasonable in my opinion. For a good overview of the kit there is a write up here http://www.starshipmodeler.com/other/pre_moeviper.htm I'm going to hit some of the high points of the build and show some of the mods and things I did to improve the basic kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted April 30, 2010 Share Posted April 30, 2010 Looking forward to following you build. I'm a SFi fan and really liked the darker side of the new BSG. Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted April 30, 2010 Author Share Posted April 30, 2010 The kit has a few problems but nothing really bad. The big thing is if you are looking at pictures and reference know that this kit is based on the CGI version, NOT the full scale prop. There are some noticeable differences. The first of these is the landing gear. On the FSP they have oval openings on two sides only, on the CGI the openings are on all 4 sides. I closed up the sides as I was doing the FSP version. I built the catapult attachment from scrap plastic, added the hinge rivet head at the bottom of the gear leg and trimmed the forward edge of the landing gear plates. Paint was Tamiya German gray with MM chrome silver. mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted April 30, 2010 Author Share Posted April 30, 2010 Looking forward to following you build.I'm a SFi fan and really liked the darker side of the new BSG. Barry Hey Barry Glad to see another BSG nut in the place ! Did you know they are coming out with the new Galactica next ?... should be on the shelves by October !!! Cheers Vaugn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ads Posted April 30, 2010 Share Posted April 30, 2010 I miss the Mk 1 Viper and starbuck as a man ! Bugger off to the "kids" that know Dirk Bennedict as "face" as well !!! mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted April 30, 2010 Author Share Posted April 30, 2010 Several things about the mains, for whatever reason they decided to put little wheels in the gear pads, the wheel drops into a slot in the pad and the gear leg locks it in place.... I guess someone thought people would want to scoot their new model across the floor ?...... While this is a 'cute' feature I wish they had put the time and engineering into a better fit of the parts. The gear legs have seam issues that take a bit of work to fill and sand even if you are not filling half the ovals as I did. I trimmed the forward edges of the base plates to the angle they are supposed to have, added the blanking plates and filled the areas that needed it. The nose gear has a really good mounting point, plugging into the bottom of the mid fuselage but the mains are another story. There are two shallow depressions on the sides at the top of the gear leg that fit into two pegs on the bottom plate of the fuselage. Not the best mounting attempt I've ever seen and as the molds wear I can see this being a problem area for future re releases. mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted April 30, 2010 Author Share Posted April 30, 2010 I miss the Mk 1 Viper and starbuck as a man ! Bugger off to the "kids" that know Dirk Bennedict as "face" as well !!! I liked him too, though I must say that in the pilot I thought Katee Sackhoff caught the essence of the 'old' Starbuck pretty good. Cheers Vaughn mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted May 1, 2010 Author Share Posted May 1, 2010 Ok, being that this is an awesome place to learn how to do things and everyone shows how they do their thing.... here is how I do 'metalizer' without the metalizer paint or an air brush. I painted the engine with Model Master chrome silver and let it dry for a day. I then got some Humbrol copper, shook up the can and let it sit for a few min. I took off the cap and the thin, translucent paint on the bottom of the cover was what I used. Dipping a brush into the thin paint I lightly brushed one area of the engine. I then cleaned the brush and did another area with the bronze. mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted May 1, 2010 Author Share Posted May 1, 2010 I then took MM engine gray and did the same thing to a third area. If you don't shake the bottle up the paint is a bit thin and has the same tanslucent effect. I then went over the rest of the engine and the edges of the engine area selectively dirtying it down with the grey, going VERY lightly... always easy to do too much. I then used a black wash to pick out detail. D.B. Andrus and mpk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted May 1, 2010 Share Posted May 1, 2010 This is so cool Vaughn. Great tips on painting the engine area too! Thanks for sharing. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted May 1, 2010 Author Share Posted May 1, 2010 Now we need to do some prep work before going nuts and plumbing the engine. The model has an issue in that the engine is not deep enough into the housing. It needs to be about 1 MM deeper. Because of that there will be problems detailing. The valve at the bottom of the engine should stand clear from it and sense it doesn't a hole has to be drilled for the wiring. Once that is done a hex head nut has to be made from bar stock and drilled out, then glued to the engine wall. There is a ribbed tube that runs from the valve to this fitting, on the FSP I think they used a hose from a dust buster or dirt devil but for this I used some copper wire with thinner wire wrapped around it. mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted May 1, 2010 Author Share Posted May 1, 2010 This is so cool Vaughn. Great tips on painting the engine area too! Thanks for sharing. Kev You're welcome Kev and thanks. Glad you are enjoying. Cheers Vaughn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allok Posted May 1, 2010 Share Posted May 1, 2010 (Closet Sci-fi fan) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted May 1, 2010 Author Share Posted May 1, 2010 I made a curved tube by the old tried and true stretched sprue method, draping it around the neck of a Tenax bottle. I then cut a fitting from scrap and drilled a hole for the tube and one at 90 degrees for the other tubes. This assembly was then super glued to the engine. The ribbed wire was bent to shape, cut and glued in. Then the regular wire was run (with some difficulty I might add !) to complete the tubing. mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Posted May 1, 2010 Share Posted May 1, 2010 Vaughn, I like what you've got going thus far, looking good! I prefer the "new" Starbuck however. Barry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now