by Blake Parker

The Sphinx originally began as an effort to design a long range heavy aerospace fighter bomber for the Colonial space-based forces (Navy and Marines) based on the Gryphon platform. However, as the craft moved forward in development, it began to look nothing at all like the original design, which looked like a more faceted Gryphon Mk. II with variable-sweep wings. Eventually, the design came to incorporate a DRADIS similar to the one in use on the Viper Mk.II following Colonial Dynamics' merger with Graystone's aerospace division; the final product resembled the Tauron-war era Viper in several ways . The Sphinx first saw combat action towards the middle of the first Cylon War. It later saw action in peacekeeping operations on Tauron and Sagittaron following the war.

Finally, the Sphinx was immortalized on the big screen in the cult sci-fi classic "Zero Hour" in which a spacial anomaly causes the Battlestar Nimrod to be sent back to the time just before the Tauron attack on a Caprican luxury liner which led to involvement in the conflict. It also gained mainstream fame in the film Gunslinger which followed exploits of young aviators at the elite Colonial Fighter Weapons School (Gunslinger program).

The particular craft depicted is a member of the 76th Colonial Space Fighter Wing "Knights of Cydonia" based off of the Battlestar Nimrod during the CW 1. It's wearing the early war gray and red "High Vis" paint scheme.

I built the sphinx use a Revell Snap-tite F-14 Tomcat and a Lindberg F-8 Crusader and the base was made from a block of wood, a coat hanger, and the base from an Airfix lunar module kit and some bits from some 1:24 scale cars and an Me-262 for the Tyllium refinery.

Image: Cockpit

Image: Go-faster mode

Image: Underneath