Colonial Viper, MK II

Mark Kelso’s back with a modified version of his Viper built for the VirtuaLUG Battlestar Galactica display at Brickworld 2018. He’s got all sorts of nifty custom decals, including some convincing score marks, and of course his call sign; Pookie Muffin. He also admits to modifying several parts- egad! But that’s artistic license, and it’s paid off nicely! So Say We All!

Editor’s Note: As Mark was unable to attend Brickworld that year, my son was lucky enough to reassemble it for the display, where it was positioned front and center, the sharp point of the Colonial Fleet. We also got to swoosh it around!

Leading A Ragtag Fugitive Fleet

Check out the latest from Brandon Griffith! The Galactica here is built from over 29K bricks, is 47” long, has custom printed bricks, custom lighting and took over 300 hours to build. I had the distinct honor of lighting and photographing this baby late last month and it’s a wonder to behold in person. Brandon and I spent several happy hours and used practically every light in the studio. It was like living in the pictures from Apogee I stared at for hours as a kid. It took great restraint to not break out the green screen and motion control equipment and get some spectacular space shots, but our time was limited. Click through for many more pics of this sci-fi legend.

Battlestar Galactica

Following the premiere of Star Wars way back in the 70's there was a sudden and prolific flood of sci-fi, most of which was pretty bad. But there was one shining star (pun intended), Battlestar Galactica. It's the only one with any staying power, enough so to build a loyal fan base. Fast forward a few decades and that same fan base was capable of spurring a reboot, expanding the universe and bringing it to a new generation of fans. One long time fan is BrickNerd's own El Barto, who has constructed this beautiful beast. She's 140 studs long and weighs almost 30 pounds. Check out the contours and complex compound curves on this, it's a true labor of love.

UCS Cylon Raider

If you've got good guy ships, naturally you need bad guy ships, otherwise who are you going to swoosh against? Builder Davdup follows up his brilliant UCS Colonial Viper with another stunning creation, the Cylon Raider. And soon we'll all be able to build our own, because instructions will be available on February 2nd!

Tiny Viper

It's really too bad there's never been any official Battlestar Galactica sets from LEGO, there's so many cool opportunities. Luckily the fans have been there to fill the void, sometimes big, sometimes small. Builder Davdup has built at many scales, this is the latest, a tiny Viper that's as cute as it is cool. 

Colonial Viper

When I was about 10 years old, the Sears Wishbook came out and some noob had labeled the Colonial Viper and Cylon Raider Revell model kits backwards. Well, I wasn't going to stand for that and wrote them a letter. To my surprise several weeks later I got a letter back from someone at Sears. He expressed his regret for the error, and explained that clearly someone at the catalog department wasn't as big of a science fiction fan as me and him. In addition to his kind letter he sent me both models as a thank you for spotting the error! Yes, that has very little to do with this jaw-dropping UCS scale rendition of a Viper MKII (I mean, it's not even from the same series) by builder Davdup but every time I see a Viper or Raider, that fond childhood memory is always the first thing I think of.

Sci-Fi Evenings Of My Youth

Along with a absolute glut of movie cash grabs in post Star Wars 1970's, there was quite a bit of sic-fi on television too. But these two shows captured our imaginations and eyeballs for a couple hours a week. They were no Millennium Falcon, but the ships of Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers kept us happy (and so did Wilma). These versions by SPARKART make me happy too, I just wanna swoosh them.

Colonial Mining Ship

My good friend and fellow Battlestar Galactica fanatic, Garry King, has outdone himself with this colossal Colonial Mining Ship.  It was featured in the 2003 re-imagined series as well as the original 1970's show, with only brief appearances outside the standard Fleet shots.  However, the scale, at twelve feet, yeah, you read that right, and jaw dropping attention to detail, this SHIP is the star of the show!  So Say We All!

Here she is on public display in Tasmania, a Bricknerd exclusive!

Cylon Raider

My US contemporaries will remember the Sears Wishbook. That venerable catalog of all things Christmas that we waited for every year and wore out well before the holiday ever came. Well, when I was about 10 years old I noticed an error in the wishbook, they had accidentally swapped the name of the Cylon Raider, as seen here in this marvelous MOC by builder 2 x 4, and the Colonial Viper model kits. Well, I wasn't going to stand for that and wrote a letter to Sears. Flash forward a few months and I got a package in the mail along with a nice letter. I can't remember all the details, but an executive from Sears explained that clearly some of the staff wasn't as big of a fan of Battlestar Galactica as he and I were, and to enjoy both the models for free. I was very happy.

Battlestar Menoetius

Like builder Tim C76 I grew up watching sci-fi. After Star Wars erupted on the scene all the studios and every TV network scrambled to get in on some of that hype. As a result we were flooded with the likes of Buck Rogers, Laserblast, Battle Beyond The Stars and Battlestar Galactica. I did watch BG, mostly just to see space battles, and Daggett, I loved Daggett. This excellent interpretation of a Battlestar is inspired by both the classic series and the reboot, and in my opinion melds the best both had to offer.

Colonial Gunstar

Here's a heaping dose of interstellar awesome from BrickNerd's own El Barto. Built during the first Cylon war to provide tactical support to the Battlestar groups, the Colonial Gunstars were faster and more maneuverable than their Battlestar big brothers. 

Battlestar Galactica

Following the epic box-office success of Star Wars, there was what can only be described as a glut of science fiction shows and movies, trying to capitalize on the momentum. Most of the shows were crap, but we did enjoy Battlestar Galactica. It helped that the visual effects were done by Star Wars alumni John Dykstra and his company Apogee.  It would appear Lego Admiral was a fan too, judging by his faithful and excellent Cylon Raider and Colonial Viper.

Viper

I don't know why, but I found myself reminiscing about classic Battlestar Galactica this morning. Yes, it was pretty bad, but it was a heck of a lot better than Buck Rogers (except perhaps for Colonel Deering, rawr) and I always thought Daggit was cool. I never watched the new series, but I like the ships. This Viper by onesendai2600 is one of my favorites.