By Pat Amaral - images & text © 2006

Scale: 1/6200?

Parts: 40 resin

Instructions: Not available at the time of writing this article.

Decals: N/A

Molding Quality: 9.8

Detail: 10

Accuracy: 10

MSRP: $35.00 USD (~$39.52 CAN/ € 27.47 EUR) available from Timeslip Creations

Overall Rating: 10 - Definitely improves the appearance of a very mediocre kit.

Not long after the original Battlestar Galactica first premiered on TV back in 1978 or 1979, Monogram Models released a series of kits of the main ships from the show. There was the old “Gal” herself, the Colonial Viper, the Cylon Raider and the Cylon Base Star. All of the kits have been re-released once since then by Revell/Monogram and can still be found for sale from various sources around the Internet.

None of these kits were particularly accurate. Not even by the standards back in the day. But what did we care? It was still cool to be able to hold a piece of the show in our hands. At least that’s how I felt at the time. Nowadays, I prefer to build models that more closely resemble those that were actually used in filming the series. I don’t have a lot of talent in the area of scratchbuilding so I’m always on the lookout for detail sets and similar products that will help me accomplish my modeling goals.

The focus of this review is on a set of details designed for the Cylon Base Star kit. The set is being produced by Timeslip Creations and is a follow up to their Battlestar Galactica Correction Set.

Sometime last year, thanks to the generosity of a fellow member of the Starship modeler online forums, I obtained a copy of the Cylon Base Star kit. This is not a bad kit, per se. It suffers from a few fit problems and there are some areas that are completely devoid of detail. As far as accuracy goes, the Base Star is not far of from what we saw on the TV screen however there are some proportion problems and the details that are there, seem to me to be a little heavy handed for the scale. That being said, when compared to the studio model, the Base Star kit probably matches more closely than either the Galactica kit or the Viper to their respective shooting models.

What You Get

The original detail set, created by Mark Wilson of Modelwerks the summer of 2005, consisted of detail parts to replace the outer trench bridges, inner inserts and core belt. The set was sold to Timeslip Creations for production, which added the upper trench piece.

My set arrived via USPS individually bagged and packed in foam peanuts. There are 15 individual pieces and three additional small sheets containing several identical parts on each. All of the parts are crisply cast in white resin.

There are ten pieces which replace part number three (3) from the kit. These are the “bridge” pieces that span the top and bottom launch bay areas on the Base Star. I found no casting flaws on these pieces whatsoever and they will require only a very minimum amount of cleanup. These new parts are slightly larger and have a lot more detail than the kit pieces they will replace. Also, unlike the kit parts, there is detail on both the top and bottom of each of the new bridges. Next, is a small sheet containing ten parts intended to replace part number six (6) from the kit. Again, this sheet is crisp in detail and absent of any casting flaws.

The rest of the parts are found on two small sheets along with 5 individual additional pieces. All these bits will be assembled to make up the missing detail around the center joint of the model where the two saucers come together. One of the sheets contains the ten parts that make up the back walls of the top and bottom internal launch bays. The other sheet contains the five bits that will cover the seam created where the top and bottom back walls come together. This sheet contains the only flaw I found in the entire sample. There’s a small void on the middle piece . This is really only barely noticeable and will be practically invisible once the model is assembled.

The remaining five pieces are curved strips with additional details. These will be attached at the joint between the two saucers to cover the remaining seam. What I’m describing may seem a little complicated but with the picture at left, you should give you a pretty good idea of what I’m talking about.

A Note About Instructions

There were no instructions with my sample. George at Timeslip informs me that they are in work (They are now available - Ed.). They should be available by the time you read this but as you can see, other then the placement of the joint details, it’s pretty easy to figure out what’s going on. In fact, if you use the picture I showed you above, it should be a simple matter to figure the joint parts out as well.

Conclusion

I’m really pleased with this set. Are the new details any more accurate than what is already in the kit? Based on available information about the studio miniature, that’s difficult to say. I do know that the added details will improve the Base Star kit amd make it much less toy-like. It will make the kit a nice addition to my Battlestar Galactica collection.

Highly recommended. Many thanks to Timeslip Creations for providing my review sample.