norm from canada Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 Anybody know how many Vipers and Raptors the Galactica & Pegasus each carry and how the launch tubes are placed? I read some where that the old battlestars and baseships carried 75 and 300 fighters respectively. With these new ships, I'm having difficulty figuring this out, even on pause. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 I do know the launch tubes are to the side, and not straight out to the front as many might expect...think there's a slightly forward angle to it. Are you trying to model the entire airwing with the battlestar? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
norm from canada Posted July 9, 2006 Author Share Posted July 9, 2006 I do know the launch tubes are to the side, and not straight out to the front as many might expect...think there's a slightly forward angle to it.Are you trying to model the entire airwing with the battlestar? No need to make them. Instead, I've been picking up the Die Cast Titanium Series of Vipers and Raiders. Yep, I'm lazy. But, if I was too put together an air wing, it'll not only be composed of vipers, but also Y-wing attack bombers and X-wing space/air superiority. Yep, mom's right.; I'll never grow up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Loggie Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 IIRC, from the original films (Battalestar Galactica & Mission Galactica), Galactica had 4 Squadrons of Vipers (Red, Blue & 2 more). Pegasus refered to only one (Silver Spar Sqn). Dunno how many vipers were in a Sqn. The Viper launch tubes appeared to be set at 45-degrees from the axis of the launch bay. I intend to build launching Vipers on my Battlestar model. Vipers and Y-Wings and X-Wings? I suspect that you are mixing your movies. X's & Y's (and A's & B's) are from Star Wars. George, out.............. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Lim Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 I remember an illustrated BSG novel from the 80s had a panel showing Vipers blasting off from angled tubes in the front section of the landing bay 'sponson' The Galactica model shows several groups of 5 angled insets down the whole length of the sponson which i take to be the launch tubes. Looks to be 15 a side. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RedHeadKevin Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 From what I can gather from the new series, the ships land in the long sponson landng bays, then ride the elevators down to the hangar bay. The Vipers are launched from below the level of the landing deck, and I think at right angles to the axis of the landing "runway." Raptors and shuttles just take off from inside the bay, as they're VTOL craft. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ckalina Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 Anybody know how many Vipers and Raptors the Galactica & Pegasus each carry and how the launch tubes are placed? I read some where that the old battlestars and baseships carried 75 and 300 fighters respectively. With these new ships, I'm having difficulty figuring this out, even on pause. One of the stock special effects shots (original show) was an overhead view of Vipers leaving the launch tubes. From this we know the tubes are angled forward. There's some kind of catapult mechanism which is activated using the "turbo" button in the cockpit, but the turbos themselves don't actually start until the Viper is leaving the launch tube. For what it's worth, Wikipedia says the original Battlestar Galactica carried "about 150" Vipers. Some were from its original fighter compliment, others were survivors it picked up from other Battlestars. We know there's a factory ship that services Vipers and, presumably, builds new ones ("Take the Celestra"). So 150 is probably the maximum number (assuming an allowance for shuttlecraft as well); the standard compliment during the war may have been the same or lower. Then again... They had enough hangar space to land (and store!) both the Terran Pumpkin Shuttle and the Eastern Alliance Destroyer. So they could probably have packed more Vipers on board. Maybe they found that having more than 150 caused deck crowding that reduced operational efficiency and the sortie rate. Or maybe the limit was the number of trained pilots available. (While the number of Vipers is never an issue, the shortage of pilots is referenced on screen a few times.) Of course, there's no reason they couldn't have based Vipers on other ships of the fleet. Or fitted some of the other ships with armament. And the Galactica should have been positioned not at the head of a line of ships, but at the middle of a sphere of them, to maximize the Vipers' response time in defending any part of the fleet from attack. And the front end of the hangar bays should have been open to allow for touch-and-go emergencies, and... (rant continues...) BTW, found this recently: http://www.lurexlounge.com/bsg/index.htm Ah, nostaliga... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f14peter Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 If we're referring to the new BSG, then remember that PEGASUS is much newer and much larger than GALACTICA. Presumably, PEGASUS would be capable of carrying more.. In BSG:TOS, GALACTICA and PEGASUS are of the same class. I'm trying to recall if there's even squadrons in the new series, I've only caught it off and on. TOS makes reference to other squadrons besides the ubiquous "Blue Squadron" but little canon evidence other than verbal references. And indeed in TOS the launch tubes are at an angle, in the new version I believe they're at right angles to the hull. THere may be some websites with references to actual series documentation about the technical aspects. A guide is usually created to assist writers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Felinoid Posted July 10, 2006 Share Posted July 10, 2006 Regarding the new BSG, has anyone besides myself noticed in the launch tube sequence the counterweight (or presumably something like it) that slides up the rails as the Viper shoots down the tube? Not a nitpick, just an interesting detail. Cool! :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BAM'n'IVM Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 Found something "semi-official" or at least plausible for you: http://www.battlestargalactica.com/battletech/tj_p8.jpg Apparently it was a supplement to a recent comic book series that attempted to solidify some systems and layout within the (original) Galactica. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ckalina Posted July 11, 2006 Share Posted July 11, 2006 I'm trying to recall if there's even squadrons in the new series, I've only caught it off and on. TOS makes reference to other squadrons besides the ubiquous "Blue Squadron" but little canon evidence other than verbal references. Canon (selah) BSG mentions three squadrons: Blue and Red from Galactica and "Silver Spar" squadron from the Pegasus. It also mentions specifically that they do NOT have squadrons named Purple or Orange. One cool detail from the original show: pilot's helmets were customized based on the parent Battlestar, with pilots from Galactica having a stylized Eagle and those from the Pegasus having a winged horse. Even though Galactica supposedly recovered pilots from other ships, we only see this fact when the Pegasus appears. (And even then, there are amusing continuity errors as the helmets switch from shot to shot...) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
f14peter Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 Regarding the new BSG, has anyone besides myself noticed in the launch tube sequence the counterweight (or presumably something like it) that slides up the rails as the Viper shoots down the tube? Not a nitpick, just an interesting detail. Cool! I've seen it, actually a nice visual effect as it adds some counter motion and implies that there's some sort of mechanical element to the launch sequence. The new BSG has gone a bit retro, if you will. No "Laser" weapons, all are either projectile or missile based, don't think there's any video-based communication, or boutonniere-style communicators. That was an intentional move, carried through with the corded phones, paperwork, that sort of thing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 One cool detail from the original show: pilot's helmets were customized based on the parent Battlestar, with pilots from Galactica having a stylized Eagle and those from the Pegasus having a winged horse. Man...the things you miss when you think you know the shows you even have on tape! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BAM'n'IVM Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 Man...the things you miss when you think you know the shows you even have on tape! :o I only noticed it when the Sci Fi channel re-ran "The Living Legend" a couple of months ago. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 (edited) I only noticed it when the Sci Fi channel re-ran "The Living Legend" a couple of months ago. Yeah, but I actually own it on VHS...what's my excuse? Oh, yeah, I'm always working on a model when I pop stuff in the VCR ;) Edited July 12, 2006 by Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ckalina Posted July 12, 2006 Share Posted July 12, 2006 Yeah, but I actually own it on VHS...what's my excuse? Oh, yeah, I'm always working on a model when I pop stuff in the VCR ;) Years before I bought the DVD set, all I had was the two quasi-movies on VHS. The second one was "Living Legend" with bits of "Fire in Space" mashed onto the end for no apparent reason. Since they were all I had for years, I got to noticing things like the helmets. And the fact that nobody seemed to be checking for continuity. It's mainly a problem for Sheba, even in later episodes, since they recycled stock footage of her in the cockpit. Now that I have the DVDs I've been able to check on all those amusing little mistakes that I've hitherto only read about. The plot holes are trivial compared to things like the hollow framework of the full-size Viper mockup being clearly visible in-shot. But then this was an age before obsessives like me could freeze-frame everything. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 But then this was an age before obsessives like me could freeze-frame everything. ...and still you have time to build models!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ckalina Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 ...and still you have time to build models!!! :D Says who? My New Year's resolution was a model a month this year. So far I haven't finished a single one (although two are probably within range given a solid afternoon's work). One of the ones I wanted to finish was the Monogram VIPER (1997 reissue), which I got from a friend who had started and then abandoned it. The stand is gone, but it wasn't that good anyway, and I found a scan of the instructions and decal sheet on a fan website. Now I'm trying to figure out how to match the paint -- the original Vipers weren't pure white like the new series Viper Mk.2, but kind of a very light grey... Then again, if I'm going to go to the effort, maybe I should say the heck with it and get the studio scale Viper they have at starshipmodeller... hmm... The next thing I want to find on the DVDs is the obscenity that's spelled out in the lights of Caprica, which I've never noticed but have read about. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 The next thing I want to find on the DVDs is the obscenity that's spelled out in the lights of Caprica, which I've never noticed but have read about. :D OMG....News to me!!! :lol: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BAM'n'IVM Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 Yeah, apparently in a scene where three Cylon raiders swoop down on Caprica (I know - that really narrows it down), as the third raider crosses the center of the screen the lights of the city spell "F--- OFF" And no, it's not "FRAK". Some day I hope to witness this phenomenon. The screencap apparently made it into a "photonovel" of the episode. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 Is that only visible on the DVD's, then? B/C I have the VHS.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BAM'n'IVM Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 It's probably only visible frame-by-frame, with a really good stable picture. How good's your VCR? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 Good question...no idea how it compares to others. It works, I can see what I wanna see as far as I know...lol...I'm afraid I'm no expert on quality other than obvious things, though.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 (edited) Well, I went over and over the scene in question....and after several runs of it in slow motion, frame by frame, I DO finally see an area where someone would wonder if it really spells something out. I've stared and stared and have come to the conclusion that it probably doesn't, even if you can almost make out some block letters...call me ignorant but it just doesn't seem to be blatant enough to me. Once you finally see it, it DOES command attention and make you wonder, but I just can't see anything definitive at all...and it looks like that in every frame, not like I picked one of the lesser images. It's the blocky cluster of lights to the right of the fighter...what do you think? Edited July 14, 2006 by Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Lim Posted July 15, 2006 Share Posted July 15, 2006 Here's a Wiki ref with a picture of the .. message. Click Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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