by Scott Scariot

Since its premiere we have seen very little in the way of Colonial military technology. In the season 3 episode "Hero" we saw Adama's previous command the Battlestar Valkyrie. The Valkyrie appeared to be a much smaller ship than the Galactica. The design was interesting but still fit in. This year at WonderFest a model of the Valkyrie was offered by Bad Azz. I had heard about the model before the show and I didn't put the kit on my buy list, but once I saw the model I had to buy it! The model was grown from the studio CGI orthos. The result is a kit with A LOT of detail. It was beautiful in the box in pieces.

The model was washed and then assembled. Assembly was fairly easy. I built the model out of the box. Before I glued the bottoms to both flight pods on, I applied Future to them and then I applied the landing bay decals. After they set I added another coat of Future to seal up the decals. The kit is engineered so the seams are kept to a minimum, or hidden completely. The model comes with piano wire to make some pipes for the bottom of the ship. I found this to be hard to cut and to bend so in stead I used connection posts off of LEDs. These were easier to work with. I simply drilled some holes for them in the bottom of the model, cut them to length and glued them into place. I did leave the gun turrets and engine pods off of the model to make painting easier and to avoid breaking the small bits off the end of each pod.

I used Euro 1 Gray lightened up a bit with White as the base coat. I stuffed bits of cotton balls in each end of the flight pods to make sure I didn't ruin the decal. After the base coat I sprayed certain areas of the model with straight Euro 1 Gray to add some depth. I sealed the model with a Gloss Lacquer and then I applied an oil wash to the model.

The wash made the detail pop! For some reason I think it made it look more like the ship on screen. I also applied the remaining decals to the model. I shot the model with another coat of lacquer and then I was ready to attach the turrets to the model.

The model comes with lots of turrets in three different shapes and sizes. It also comes with styrene rod to make the barrels out of. I thought the styrene rod looked out of scale so I began looking for something else. I found that the needles from insulin pens were the perfect size and they were hollow which made them look like gun barrels. First I trimmed each part then I placed them on a piece of blue painter's tape. Then I primed and painted the turrets. Then for several nights in between coats of the wash and lacquer I would carefully cut and insert the needle barrels into the turrets. I kept going till I ran out of needles. I can say the end result is great, but be careful! I stuck my finger several times. I also used needles for the two antennas on the front of the ship and for the four antennas coming off the back of each flight pod. I glued the turrets onto the model. After a coating of lacquer and wash on the turrets, I highlighted the model with oil paints, and then the model was flat coated. Then I re-glossed the exhaust areas of the engine pods and glued them into place.

The model does not come with a base so I made one from a block of marble. I carefully drilled a small hole into the stone and I added a piece of brass rod. I also added a copy of the colonial "bird" to the base. I'm thrilled with how this model turned out! It was fun to build and looks great as a finished piece.

Image: Rear view

Image: Underneath

Image: Closer look

Image: Rear

Image: Rear/top view

Image: Midsection

Image: Head