Sunday, October 3, 2010

The Raptor from the New Battlestar Galactica Series

UPDATE: I finally managed to get all 3 of the available kits. You can view them up close HERE

You'll either hate or love this little ship. Behind the scene, the producers considered her the "Space Family MPV" since she doesn't look like much. But trust the TV series for putting her into all kinds of situation and showing off her durability and capabilities, not much was really required to make her look so good. Its no surprise this little versatile craft have a huge fan base. Yeah, me included.

The Raptor are the Colonial Fleets' trusted troop carrier, capable of recon ops and on occasion, can be depended on for warfare exercises. It is also the AWAC for the Viper Fighter groups. Boomer made the Raptor popular by her wonderful acting and sheer good looks, and she was an excellent Raptor pilot but unfortunately, she turned out to be Cylon Sleeper Agent.









Here's the Raptor's Studio Mock Up during the auction. I can't find the links to these pages as I had saved them a long time ago. If you know where they're from, do let me know so I can credit the owners and link them back appropriately.


































On location shoot








Are there any kits for this?

Looking for the kit? Well, styrene plastic kits for this is not available at the moment and we can only hope that Moebius picks this up and make it their next project. We've already seen their Mark II Viper and its an excellent kit. So far, only resin kits were made available for the Raptor.

Black Sun Models (Commissioned by Starship Modeller)

1/72 scale Raptor
Very detailed Resin kits of this popular ship. Commissioned by Starship Modeller, this resin kits sells very well. The only complain I have are with its canopies - clear vacuform pieces that's hard to work with. And at 1/72 scale, the parts are really small, but fittings were nice and snug.





1/48 scale Raptor

The Black Sun Model 1/48 scale Raptor kit shares the same clear vacuformed canopy, and does not come with a pilot figure. The casting is very well done showing off many of the hull's details. You can even choose not to glue the side hatch to reveal the cabin and instrumentations inside. A review for this 1/48 scale Raptor is available HERE











1/24th scale BSG Raptor (corrected, its not 1/20th scale)

I'm still trying to get this kit seen from MT Meyers Studio. Missed the boat when she was available, but I hear there may be a last run. The details on this Raptor kit is simply stunning, and the casting is very well done. The pilot figures are also very fluid and life like. Mike Salzo did this kit run and Jesse Meyers paid for the pattern work (special thanks to moffeaton for the clarification). This kit is extremely, extremely rare, for me anyway. So if you got one, hold on to it. She's precious
















A lighted Raptor Cabin WIP
(Please let me know if you know who build this. I want to see his completed version as well, and link back to his page)









Another Raptor project of interest is that of the Combat Raptor, seen toward the last couple of seasons of BSG, a Raptor toggled with weapon pods and missiles, and this kit is a commission work. I wonder who is that lucky devil who will own her. Here's the WIP done so far.






More images HERE


















Impressive workmanship on a kit that's already a piece of art. Hopefully we'll get to see the finished version soon. For me, to even own the basic kit is already enough, and I do want one.

Want to see more of the 1/24th kit?

Check out Roboterkamf's build of the 1/24th scale Raptor with Lights. The amount of work put in must have been substantial as you can see the amazing details on his kit. His method of lighting up his Raptor are really radical and ingenious, and I wouldn't recommend anyone emulating him unless you have a steady hand and sharp eyesight. More images at his site, and be sure to check out his comprehensive build diary on how he created this amazing masterpiece









Raptor's Schematics










Raptor Variants

Besides the Desert Tan variant we see regularly on the series, we also got to see other colour variants in BSG: The Plan. Here are some screen caps.
















This is really one very versatile ship. If only she was real ...

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