by Lez King

It is the year 2000, twenty years after Galactica finally found Earth. In the intervening years, Earth technology has been advanced, and “The Galacticans” made formal contact with Earth, to warn them of the Cylon threat.

Whilst the fleet has been able to successfully divert the Cylons from discovering Earth (apart from a few minor and unsuccessful incursions) The Galacticans, now lead by Troy (Adama's adopted grandchild) have led Earth and a newly united Terra to form an alliance. Together, a ship building campaign was started, and a new breed of Battlestars were built. These Battlestars were equipped with the Mark V Viper.

The Mark V Viper is a similar size to those originally on board the Galactica, but are faster, more manoeuvrable and have greater fire-power, with two banks of weapons, standard pulse lasers on the wing-tips, and laser “blaster cannons” (mounted closer to the body), for a heavy punch against Cylon Basestars and other capital ships, where accuracy is less important than force.

The Model

The model was made from various items collected along the way, purely because of their “spaceship” potential. These include a highlighter, felt pen caps, and undercarriage from a plane model. Other parts of other models found their way into my gubbins box, and were used for the tail fins, blaster cannons and the wings (yes, there are from a small snap-fit Tie Fighter). Card and putty were used to fill out recesses and gaps. The scale is in the region of 1:72.

The model was primed all over with a standard matt grey primer, and then painted gloss white with gloss black and pewter details. Silver “border” stickers and red and yellow strips were then used for added detailing.

I was very happy with my design for the Mark V viper. I think it retains enough of a “nod” to the original, while adding some new features to demonstrate its evolution.

Image: Top view

Image: Underneath

Image: Front

Image: Left side