Battlestar Galactica, Viper , classic

[p38jl]

Hello, here is my first thread posting of a build all by myself… lol. [;)]

The Classic BSG Viper, straight from the box with the exception of lighting the engines by me, modifing some LED closet lights. They ran on the 3 watch batteries… I modified the lights by cutting them from the battery holder, and stealing a push button switch from a wrecked VCR. The switch is epoxied in the body and next to the mounting bullet that extends into the belly of the Viper, when you tilt the Viper back on the stand, the bullet hits the switch and the engines light up…

Comments, critisisms…

Enjoy…

Chris

the lenses of the LED lights, cut, modified to fit…( they were close out of the package )

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=classicviper1.jpg):550:0]

the lights, cut and modifed, rewired, soldered

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=classicviper1.jpg):550:0]

in primer…

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=classicviper4.jpg):550:0]

taped, ready for paint…

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=classiccviperunlit.jpg):550:0]

engines, thru the tape… just to ck…lol

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=classicviperlit.jpg):550:0]

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=viper-p51015.jpg):550:0]

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=viper-p51019.jpg):550:0]

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=viper-p51021.jpg):550:0]

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=viper-p51022.jpg):550:0]

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=viper-p51023.jpg):550:0]

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=viper-p51027.jpg):550:0]

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=viper-p51024.jpg):550:0]

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=viper-p51025.jpg):550:0]

[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=viper-p51026.jpg):550:0]

[SLW_45]

That is great looking . And the lighting is awsome [Y]

[p38jl]

oops… I forgot the pic of the lights…[View:/themes/fsm/utility/[](http://s736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG Viper Classic/?action=view&current=classicviperlites.jpg):550:0]

[Kugai]

Great job with that kit! Did those blue pieces in the lit enginges come that way, or did you add the color?

[Hans_von_Hammer]

I modified the lights by cutting them from the battery holder, and stealing a push button switch from a wrecked VCR. The switch is epoxied in the body and next to the mounting bullet that extends into the belly of the Viper, when you tilt the Viper back on the stand, the bullet hits the switch and the engines light up…

!http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG%20Viper%20Classic/viper-p51022.jpg

!http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG%20Viper%20Classic/viper-p51026.jpg:550:0]

Sorry, needed to quote your post, but had to cut out a lotta the text over the pics and a couple pics to get it to load right. This is nothing that YOU did, Peter Three-Eight)

Nicely done, well-weathered version of that classic Space-Snake (Spake?) Looks typical of post-defeat Vipers, mechanically sound, but pretty beat up in looks…

The blue lighting in the engines really looks nice, that’s the way to think outside the the box (literally, in this case) on Sci-Fi kit-lighting… I myself always hang onto every little bulb & LED I run across when I’m trashing eletronic items. I make a lotta use of minuature Christmas lights too… A standard nine-volt transistor battery powers a number of them, plus you can paint them to only expose a little square or dot of light in the right places. Downside is that they burn out and aren’t replaceable easily… But your LEDs should last forever, as far as model-lifespans go…

Were you able to light the IP as well? From what I see in my kit, it looks like an option, but the panel doesn’t look right when I compare it to what I recall (admittedly, it’s from 30+ years ago) in my mind’s eye and I’ve yet to fing a good shot(s) of a Snake’Pit… The central IP CRT was green-lit, right? Do you have any sources? My Viper Shadowbox won’t allow anyone to see into the two Viper cockpits, but I wanna light them anyway…

Also, what shade of gray did you use for overall “Colonial Grey”? I think that regular ol’ Wal-Mart Grey Primer will be a close match, about every Viper I see is lit differently, making a CS (CS-Colonial Standard… A play on FS-Federal Standard, get it?) shade a crap-shoot…

I suppose one could rightly say that the Galactica’s Snakes were reminicsient of late-war Luftwaffe aircraft, with paint being mixed and applied under a plethora of “field” conditions making it believeable to lack a standard color though… According to the “Battlestar Galactica” books, there were “Foundry Ships” in the Fleet that allowed the manufacture of new Vipers to replace the ones the Cylons picked off and that were lost through training accidents…

Hey, that opens another venue… What about a two-seat Viper Trainer? Anybody seen one? If not, and given that Galactica would have to recruit and train Warriors lost through combat and regular attrition-rates, and that they really couldn’t jump from flying a shuttle to Viper, it would seem plausible at least, that there was a “TF-16” type of Viper…

Anyway, helluva good job… Sorry to ramble on like that…

[Phil_H]

Hey, that opens another venue… What about a two-seat Viper Trainer? Anybody seen one? If not, and given that Galactica would have to recruit and train Warriors lost through combat and regular attrition-rates, and that they really couldn’t jump from flying a shuttle to Viper, it would seem plausible at least, that there was a “TF-16” type of Viper…

There had to have been a two-seat version, as in the movie/pilot episode, Apollo takes Adama down tot he surface of Caprica in a Viper. I believe a two-seat prop was built for the ill-fated '80’s revival series - think I’ve seen a photo somewhere. There’s also a line drawing to be found online but I don’t know how authentic it is.

[Hans_von_Hammer]

There had to have been a two-seat version, as in the movie/pilot episode, Apollo takes Adama down tot he surface of Caprica in a Viper.

Forgot about that, yeah… Although, that could have been a squadron hack with just a jump-seat installed, rather than one with a full IP’s cockpit… Ain’thad much luck finding the references I want today either… All the stills are either front-on or port profiles that’re from too far away…

I’d imagineer it, but would hate to have it torn apart by Rivet-Cylons for not getting it “right”…[whstl]

But were I to do that, I rekon it’d make more sense to add a cockpit for the “cadet” in front of the original cockpit… Wouldn’t have to do as much redesign work on the canopy. either… Just extend the framng forward to cover both 'pits, leaving the windscreen intact that way…

[p38jl]

p38jl:

I modified the lights by cutting them from the battery holder, and stealing a push button switch from a wrecked VCR. The switch is epoxied in the body and next to the mounting bullet that extends into the belly of the Viper, when you tilt the Viper back on the stand, the bullet hits the switch and the engines light up…

!http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG%20Viper%20Classic/viper-p51022.jpg

!http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx7/pthrtyeghtpic/BSG%20Viper%20Classic/viper-p51026.jpg:550:0]

Sorry, needed to quote your post, but had to cut out a lotta the text over the pics and a couple pics to get it to load right. This is nothing that YOU did, Peter Three-Eight)

Nicely done, well-weathered version of that classic Space-Snake (Spake?) Looks typical of post-defeat Vipers, mechanically sound, but pretty beat up in looks…

The blue lighting in the engines really looks nice, that’s the way to think outside the the box (literally, in this case) on Sci-Fi kit-lighting… I myself always hang onto every little bulb & LED I run across when I’m trashing eletronic items. I make a lotta use of minuature Christmas lights too… A standard nine-volt transistor battery powers a number of them, plus you can paint them to only expose a little square or dot of light in the right places. Downside is that they burn out and aren’t replaceable easily… But your LEDs should last forever, as far as model-lifespans go…

Were you able to light the IP as well? From what I see in my kit, it looks like an option, but the panel doesn’t look right when I compare it to what I recall (admittedly, it’s from 30+ years ago) in my mind’s eye and I’ve yet to fing a good shot(s) of a Snake’Pit… The central IP CRT was green-lit, right? Do you have any sources? My Viper Shadowbox won’t allow anyone to see into the two Viper cockpits, but I wanna light them anyway… No, I wasn’t able to light the IP, the nose/cockpit is a seperate piece, and would have required much more “engineering” than I was willing to pit into it to see it… plus the canopy is not posable, so, it would have been lost in the closed canopy.

Also, what shade of gray did you use for overall “Colonial Grey”? I think that regular ol’ Wal-Mart Grey Primer will be a close match, about every Viper I see is lit differently, making a CS (CS-Colonial Standard… A play on FS-Federal Standard, get it?) shade a crap-shoot… The gray I used is Floquil Lettering Gray, i wanted to use a non Testors, Tamiya, etc, gray, and the LHS is selling out of Floquil, 1/2 off…so, score for me… the Engines are based colored in the Grimy Black, my new fav flat black.

I suppose one could rightly say that the Galactica’s Snakes were reminicsient of late-war Luftwaffe aircraft, with paint being mixed and applied under a plethora of “field” conditions making it believeable to lack a standard color though… According to the “Battlestar Galactica” books, there were “Foundry Ships” in the Fleet that allowed the manufacture of new Vipers to replace the ones the Cylons picked off and that were lost through training accidents…

Hey, that opens another venue… What about a two-seat Viper Trainer? Anybody seen one? If not, and given that Galactica would have to recruit and train Warriors lost through combat and regular attrition-rates, and that they really couldn’t jump from flying a shuttle to Viper, it would seem plausible at least, that there was a “TF-16” type of Viper…

Anyway, helluva good job… Sorry to ramble on like that…no prob on the ramble… ! [:D]

Kugia; the blue objects are clear inserts that come with the 2 nd release, I painted the blue parts with Tamiya clear blue.

Thanks guys for the compliments[:)]

[DrShrinker]

Sweet looking build. Big fan of all the BSG space craft.

[Goodness180]

HAHA NICEEEEEE!!! I’m a huge fan of the new TV Series. Are you watching the New Series “Caprica”???

[Cosmic_J]

Very nice build there. I like the clear parts to diffuse the light, and the method of turning it on is cool too.

Clearly, there should be a second thread posting of a build… [H]

[p38jl]

thanks again Guys…!

Goodness: no, I have not been able to watch Caprica, I did however buy the DVD of the “prequell” “The Plan”,. , I think thats what it was called… kinda a back story from the Cylons viewpoint…

Cosmic J:, again, thanks, but I’m not sure what you mean by a 2nd posting of a build? were you looking for more pics of my build , or ? , just not sure what you meant… Let me know…[:)]

[Cosmic_J]

Thanks again Guys!

Cosmic J:. again, thanks, but I’m not sure what you mean by a 2^nd posting of a build? Were you looking for more pics of my build, or ? … just not sure what you meant… let me know…

Yer Welcome!

At the beginning of your initial post, you wrote:

“Hello, here is my first thread posting of a build all by myself… lol. [;)] ”

Hence, my plea for further build postings. You do good work, you should share more of it with us. [:D]

[p38jl]

p38jl:

thanks again Guys…!

**Cosmic J:,**again, thanks, but I’m not sure what you mean by a 2nd posting of a build? were you looking for more pics of my build , or ? , just not sure what you meant… Let me know…

Yer welcome!

At the beginning of your initial post, you wrote:

ah… gotcha now… you mean I should do another build post! lol… okies…

I actually have another at the moment in Aircraft, Hawk P-51…

[p38jl]

lol. our mutual replies crossed paths…! thanks again!

I do have a BSG Viper Mk II, coming soon to a space dock near you… I will post here to remind everyone when I do…

[:)]

[VanceCrozier]

Lookin’ sharp with all that weathering & lighting. VCR button? Did you finally have a fit & destroy the trusty VHS machine!? [;)]

[Gamera]

Guess I should check out the SF section more often! Great looking model, really nice job on the weathering. I’ve got the kit in my stash but never really thought much about lighting it despite the transparent parts provided, I’ll have to consider it now.