Ron Moore’s reimagined Battlestar Galactica series has been a hit with sci-fi fans for over a decade. As with any series that takes place in space, the ships are just as important as any of the characters. The Cylon Raiders seen in this series are interesting because the ships are characters! Rather than being piloted by humanoid shaped Cylons, as seen in the 1970’s series, the new Raiders are, themselves, Cylons. The 1/32 scale Raider offered by Moebius has been very popular with modelers over the last couple of years, and now, Moebius is offering a 2-pack of these ships in 1/72 scale.

The Kit

The kit includes 2 complete Raiders, each of which has 11 parts, and 2 clear bases that consist of 2 parts each. Each ship and base is on its own individual sprue, which makes finding the parts, and keeping them separated easy. I was happy to see that all of the panel lines are recessed rather than raised. No decals are included, or needed, with this kit.

This is another excellent kit in the Hasegawa Machinen Krieger series. The kit is not too difficult to assemble, so beginners can enjoy the modeling experience. More advanced modelers will enjoy building another unique machine in this series, and the creativity allowed in finishing and weathering the machine.

Background

The Maschinen Krieger Story (excerpted from Wikipedia)

A nuclear World War IV in 2807 kills most of Earth's population and renders the planet uninhabitable. Fifty-two years after the war, an interstellar union called the Galactic Federation repopulates the planet and sends colonists to the surface.

Mike Mackowski has released a revised version of SIM #1.1 - The New Scale Spacecraft Primer. It is available in both hard copy and a color PDF digital version. Mackowski has retained some fourteen pages from the original edition with some of the older material having been updated, notably the Ariane, Mars Lander, and the Space Operations Center review. The remaining twenty-four pages are new or recycled from some of his old IPMS Journal columns (The View From Space City).

Since the original was published in 1990, this new version is essentially celebrating the 25th anniversary of the initiation of the SIM series. Notable new content includes the scratch-built Curiosity Mars rover that Mike took first in category at the 2014 Nationals. Also included are articles on updating the Revell Astronaut with MMU and the DC-X.

The Chapters include:

The Kit

This review covers the Battlestar Galactica Viper Mark II (2 Pack) 1:72 Scale Moebius Model Kit #957. A new release, this model should be readily available at most outlets. These are resized versions of the original 1:32 scale model. Moebius designates this as a Skill Level 3 kit for modelers 12 years and older. It includes two main trees containing most of parts for each craft. It is molded in white styrene with a transparent canopy, display stand, waterslide decals and an extensive instruction manual.

There are markings for different craft in the decal sheet. I have to give Moebius Models credit for releasing this model and to IPMS for providing the review sample.

Introduction

The original Star Trek TV series, in the 1960s, set the stage for TV science fiction drama in many, many ways - too many to go into here. Suffice it to say, that TV show, while great science fiction on the surface, hit all of the major political topics of the time including the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. In one particular episode “The Balance of Terror”, the crew of the Enterprise was forced to respond to attacks on Federation outposts along the Romulan neutral zone, made by a new and unseen enemy with sophisticated, as yet unknown weaponry. The enemy ship could electronically cloak itself from sensors and from being visibly seen. Because of the power required by the plasma weapon however, the ship had to un-cloak before they could fire. When the ship became visible, the image of a great orange bird of prey could be seen on the lower hull of the ship.