by Robert Graham

Viper training, Caprica: A cadet has just washed out. He returns home as a disgrace to his family, and chooses to live in solitude. Six months later the Cylons attack, decimating Caprica. The cadet returns home only to watch his family executed by Cylons. After a year with the Resistance and watching people die all around him, he chooses to fight alone. While taking refuge in a museum he finds several displays of ancient warplanes. One catches his attention the most - it's from one of the very first wars where aircraft were used. As he reads the history and studies the craft he realizes what he needs to do. As he searches the museum he finds a decommissioned squadron of Mk. 1 vipers. With a lot of work and a little luck he is able to get one fully operational. After a quick paint job and "new" wing insignia he starts hunting Cylons.

After several years of fighting the pilot's reputation grows, seemingly showing up out of nowhere and always leaving the same way. The sight of the blood red Viper with the black cross on the wing always bolsters the spirits of the Resistance and put fear in the Cylons.

only thing I did change was the rear exhaust. The new one just did not look right, but as luck would have it I had a old one from the original Viper and it fit perfectly.

I chose insignia red for the primary color and gunmetal as the second. I used flat black for the iron crosses with extra decals from some of my other models. I placed the kill markers on the engine assembly as I didn't think it would fit under the cockpit. I used ww2 Japanese kill markers from a P-38 Lightning as that was all I had available.

Image: Front view

Image: Starboard side

Image: Rear view

Image: Underneath