Starship Modeler - Babylon 5 Scale Modeling

Starship Modeler - The complete information source for modelers who build sci-fi,
fantasy and real space subjects

B5 Starship Reference | Starfury Reference | Earth Alliance | Army of Light/ Shadows | Scratchbuilding

Army of Light/ Shadows

Whitestar - the half Vorlon/half Minbari ship that has come to symbolize the Army of Light. Fast, maneuverable and heavily armed for her size, and the only ship this small able to open a jump point on its own. First seen in the Season 3 opener 'Matters of Honor'. Two kits were available, both resin and expensive.

Refrences:

Babylon 5 Starship Reference

Sierra's Official Guide to Babylon 5 CD-ROM

Epsilon Jumpgate

Reviews:

John David Cook looks over Gizmotron's 1/2500 Whitestar kit.

Steve Sloan's review of Spacemam's kit.

Vince Hoffman's preview of the IFactory Advanced Technology Cruiser kit.

William Blackmore's details the Anubis kit.

Minbari Nial Fighter - The main Minbari fighter since at least the Earth-Minbari War. Somewhat larger than the Starfury, but faster, more agile, and more heavily armed - and built from/equipped with advanced technology rendering it practically invisible to most sensors. Only one kit is available at the time of writing.

Refrences:

Babylon 5 Starship Reference

Sierra's Official Guide to Babylon 5 CD-ROM

Epsilon Jumpgate

Reviews:

Kevin Kovarcik's preview of Controlled Energy Design's kit.

Image: OneZero

Shadow Vessel - the most sinister, evil-looking of sci-fi space craft. A living machine, it requires a sentient being to merge with it and become the 'brain' of the ship. Only one kit, by WARP, was available until Howling Wolf Productions came to the rescue.

Refrences:

Babylon 5 Starship Reference

Sierra's Official Guide to Babylon 5 CD-ROM

Epsilon Jumpgate

Reviews:

Kip Hart's scratchbuilt battlecrab and Fighters

Lamar Brown's Shadow Fighters.

Lamar Brown's Battlecrab Diorama.

Daniel McCann builds Warp's Battlecrab Kit

Scratchbuilding

Image courstesy of A.M. Retondo.

There are so many cool ships in the B5 universe - and so few have actually been cast/sculpted/molded (at least 'legally'). What's a modeler to do?

In a word - scratchbuild. It is possible, with a little patience and a lot of video watching, to build an accurate model from balsa or sheet styrene. Other modeler's have built (or are building) a variety of subjects:

Erin Lantz has built a Centauri Vorchan, a Raider ship, and a Minbari fighter, among other things;
Marcus Sampaio has built a Narn Fraziand a Centauri Sentris, and plans more;
Kip Hart has scratchbuilt built battlecrab, fighters, scout vessels and even a Shadow figure;
Jack Wendt and Vince Hoffman have both scratchbuilt Hyperion-class ships;
Vince also scratchbuilt a 1:144 scale Earth Alliance Atmospheric Shuttle;
William Blackmore kitbashed a Maintenance Tug;
John Hayes' made a Scratchbuilt Starfury;
John Karpiscak is building a Scratchbuilt B5 station;
Steve Gay is building a scratchbuilt Omega-class destroyer.

Gaming miniatures and toys that have been licensed can be used as references - in addition to freeze-framing through hours of B5 episodes! A series of 18 Micro-Machines (TM) depicting ships seen in the first two seasons was released - but they're hard to find now. Also licensed are the Agents of Gaming pewter miniatures. They have completed work on Earth, Narn, Centauri, and Minbari fighters and are working on sculpting and casting more capital ships. The detail is pretty good from things this small, and tthey aren't as hard to assemble as some have made out - for more in-depth reviews, see our B5 Mini's section.