Battlestar Galactica Colonial Recon Viper, 1/32 scale

This is my version of a Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper, from Revell’s 30th Anniversary edition

However, I wanted to do something a little different to maybe spice it up a little. I decided to make it a fictionalized, Recon Viper. No, to my knowledge, there never was such a Viper, but I figured there should have been something like it theoretically. I also decided to make the outside of the original series canon, and indeed, prior to those events, but after the series, “Caprica”.

The Colonial Viper is one of my all-time favorite space fighters (though, it was also capable of atmospheric flight and ground landings!), and looks absolutely plausible for flight, whether in space or over a distant alien planet. It's a sleek and sexy craft! It also screams 'fighter' to me. For this anniversary edition, it had been updated with newly tooled details, molded in light gray plastic and clear parts.....far surpassing it's predecessor of 10 years last release prior from what I've read; and this kit came with a detailed cockpit interior and pilot figure, which is an added bonus to me.

When I started this kit for Build on another modeling site over ten years ago now (yikes!), I decided to go way off the beaten path and make this a Recon Viper of the Colonial Marines Fleet Patrol, complete with under fuselage camera. So basically, since I’m going with pre-Fall of the Colonies era (when the Cylons attacked the second time), this also supports the old style pilot uniform depicted on the figure.

What I ended up going for was straying decades before the events in the original Battlestar Galactica series canon, and modelling after the First Cylon War; a Colonial Marines Fleet Patrol (MFP) Recon Viper, piloted by the intrepid, yet ruggedly handsome Captain Gallant ....inside joke 

In my version of the Battlestar Galactica universe, the MFP was a squadron of elite fighters and served as recce deep in Cylon territory, which forced these birds to fly long sorties; fly in atmospheric low-level flight; and duck & go in asteroids and interstellar dust clouds …and well, just get the ever livin’ crap beat out of them! This means they were 'dirty birds' in more ways than one: Both in appearance, and in lethal stealth kills. These pilots were Top Guns of the Colonial Fleet....and damned good at Pyramid!

This viper would be flown by the intrepid Captain Gallant, call sign “Bullet”. The bird is equipped with high tech recce photographic gear. It also has more than traditional positional thrusters in the nose and tail, for long range orbital positioning.

I built this kit about ten years ago, and it was a pretty quick construction of the kit parts supplied, as there were not a lot of little fiddleybits to the kit, but I did do modifications, scratchbuilding and alterations; as well as a new chipping technique (hobby knife!) and oil paint weathering to the paintjob.

I present to you: 

The Battlestar Galactica Colonial Recon Viper, Marine Squadron MFP-3, Captain Gallant; First Cylon War

 

 

 

 

 

A few more pics…

 

 

 

 
 

Awesome, would love to get this kit one day and light it.