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I am working on my Colonian Viper and have a question about painting....

In the instructions, it tells you to paint the pilots hands flesh color.....It's been so long since I saw the show, I can't remember if this is correct. Did the pilots not wear gloves while flying?

Also, the decal sheet includes a couple of different squadron options. I want to make either Starbuck's or Apollo's Viper...what squadron logo do I use? And were they in the same squadron?

Edited by paul.nortness
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Paul,the pilots on the old-skool BSG did not wear gloves.

Starbuck and Apollo were in 'Blue Squadron'.Do your decals indicate which markings are which?

I found a LINKY about Blue Squadron,but I couldn't find any markings info.

:coolio:

-Dave

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There are two different markings provided...

one is a red shield with yellow outline and a silver sword with wings in front of the shield.

The second set of markings is the purple and gold circle with triangles pattern...

You know, looking at a pic of a Viper from that link you provided, I don't see any squadron markings where the decal placement guide shows markings.....it doesn't look like there are any squadron specific markings on the whole ship

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In the episode, The Living Legend a small squadron marking was shown on Sheba's ship, just below and forward of the canopy frame, it's the red shield with yellow outline and a silver sword with wings in front of the shield which is Silver Spar Squadron insignia. A better view of it is shown when Commander Cain mans the Viper to go after the Cylon tankers. As for the Galactica squadrons, they don't seem to wear any markings and since most scenes showed the same ship being filmed, there most likely wasn't any markings other than the stripes.

Jari

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Thanks for the info finn.

The markings show up several times, just under the cockpit like you mention...also in bigger markings on the dorsal wing and then even bigger markings on the port and starboard wings.

I have looked at a few pics since my posting and it looks like Revell did a bit of fudging on the decals...also included on the sheet are pilot names and cylon kill marks, neither are on the pics I have seen

Edited by paul.nortness
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OMG! Somebody BUZZED a Viper! That was probably done when they filmed a Galactica 1980 episode with the Viper mock up on an Air base (probably the ANG ramp at Van Nuys airport as that looks to be an ANG badge). The episode filmed would have been "Galactica Finds Earth pt 3."

Anyway, concerning the insignias, the blue logos with the triangles were worn by Galactica's pilots and it didn't seem to be squadron specific as some of the pilots who were later referred to as belonging to Red Squadron (such as Jolly and Greenbean). The Pegasus pilots wore the winged sword insignia, at least until the fighters were transferred to Galactica's ranks. At that point, Silver Spar squadron lost the insignias off their Vipers and the pilots (like Sheba) wore the blue insignia which has become associated with Blue Squadron. So one might say the insignia is more of an air wing or ship symbol rather then a squadron.

If one wanted to really do a Silver Spar Viper, there is one minor hangup related to the helmet crest. The helmet of the pilot figure in the kit uses the Galactica crest, but Silver Spar squadron pilots when they flew from the Pegasus had a Pegasus horse on their helmets. A few shaped bits of styrene and some epoxy putty will fix that. Technically, the added crest markings for Silver Spar and Blue Squadron were never seen in the show except for the small winged sword logo on the Pegasus fighters. But they are nice markings to have for somebody that wants to do a model of a fighter that is a little different from studio model accurate in terms of markings.

Hey Ikar, with that ANG symbol on the tail, do you think a Colonial Viper would qualify for the ARC Viper Group Build? :beer4:

Edited by Jay Chladek
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Looking at screencaps of The Young Lords episode here:

http://galacticabbs.com/index.php?showtopic=2162

the belly view of Starbuck's Viper:

Here

other than the stripes, no markings can be seen under the wings. Then when Starbuck crash lands on the planet, the right side of his Viper:

Here

note the dark circle just forward of Starbuck. To me it looks like a panel that came off during the crash.

Jari

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Hey guys,

I just got a reply from John Fleming at MMI to my inquiry as to when or if MMI is going to be re-releasing their landing gear and cockpit updates now the Revell has redone the Viper. To my delight not only was the answer yes, but to quote form the email:

I hope to have cockpits ready to ship this weekend, and landing gear by the end of next week (Feb 29).

Not sure about the 2 place pit, but that may be in the offing also.

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Well, he does (or at least did) have some masters and test moldings for the two seat Viper. I know that as I was able to sweet talk him into selling me one many moons ago. It was a pre-production sample and wasn't ready for sale since it didn't have the ability to vacuform the canopy like he did with his single seat Viper pits (the main reason why he stopped cockpit production was he lost his vac supplier). But he did supply templates to make the two seater canopy from strip styrene. So one of my Vipers is earmarked for that conversion in the not too distant future. BTW, if you look at the box art for MMI's landing gear, you will note that the builtup model he uses has the two seater pit as well. I would say don't pester him to get him to sell you one. Just say that you are interested in a two seat pit if he ever considers putting it into production. That will probably help the cause more then anything.

BTW, if you do add the aftermarket pit to the new Viper, be aware that Revell filled the hole for the missile firing trigger in the bottom of the model (the previous issues all have that hole). Reason I mention that is the hole was used as a guide to align the cockpit properly. So a new hole will need to be added in addition to other modifications to the kit.

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he didn't happen to let you know the price of the landing gear set?

According to his web site, John doesn't do individual sales, just retail to distributors.

He is in the process of shipping the sets to Federation Models and Starship Modeler.

Federation Models lists the Landing Gear set at $45.00 US and the cockpit set at $25.00 U.S. Starship Modeler does not have any listings posted yet.

could you send the link to the site,I can't remember it. Thanks

Links to the websites:

Millennia Models International http://www.coldnorth.com/millennia_models/index.html

Federation Models http://www.federationmodels.com

Starship Modeler http://www.starshipmodeler.com/

Edited to fix MMI URL: Link works now.

Edited by BrockyTaz
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Got the feeling more thought was just given to this subject in this thread than was done by the special effects guys on the original show!

You probably hit the nail on the head, Matt!

Visual effects were hard to come by in those days, and any personal or unit insignia would have confounded the BSG penchant for using them over and over again, and again, and again, and again, and (ad infinitum).

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