by Patrick Riley

• Colonial Viper 1371KR
• Current Assignment: BS-47 Solaria
• Squadron: 13th "Sunswords"
• Pilot: Major Haleanar "Lea" Donovan
• Callsign: "Roguewing"

This model depicts the current craft flown by the CAG of the Battlestar Solaria, "Roguewing" Donovan. It is a Mk VII Viper, E variant.

This ship was assigned to the Solaria six months before the Fall of the Twelve Colonies as the Solaria's manufacturing facilities were updated to produce the new model. 1371KR was the number assigned to the first ship produced by said facilities and was given to Roguewing for testing before the rest of the Solaria's Viper group was to be updated.

With the fall of the Colonies, Roguewing now leads her squadrons with this ship.

Model Notes

Viper 1371KR was built from the 1/32 scale Viper MK7E produced by Timeslip Creations. The pilot figure was kitbashed from an MMI female Viper pilot head, and the body from one of Federation Models female Shuttlepod pilot figures.

To make her fit into the cockpit, her legs were separated and then warmed in hot water to allow them to be bent enough to fit around the console. Her head was modified from the "helmeted" Viper pilot head. This, I shaved with a hobby knife to approximate the shape of the helmets from the new series. The "flak jacket" on her flight suit was detailed using small strips of masking tape. The flight suit was painted in olive drab with black boots and gloves. Her helmet was also painted in olive drab with details added in copper. Her face was then painted flesh and Roguewing's signature tattoo was painted on in green. The patches on her shoulders were printed onto standard paper and then glued on with Elmers.'

For the ship itself, it was built pretty much straight out of the box.

Aside from cleaning up the few seams and little bit of flash, I didn't do a whole lot to her. I went in with a very sharp Exacto blade and drilled out the RCS thrusters and the gun barrels to make them stand out a bit more, but that's about all I changed.

For once, I had no trouble trimming the vacu-form canopy to fit.

I built the main body and the engines separate to aid in painting. The engines were primered in black and then painted steel before being given a black wash. The main body was primered in grey and then the guns were painted in steel. The custom "Solaria" markings and the red and gold striping were laid out on the computer before being printed out onto clear decal stock. The "no step" and "intake" markings came from the kit supplied decals. I ran into a problem with the Galactica insignia for the left wing folding up on me and rendering itself useless, hence the reason the Pegasus' emblem is on that wing in its place.

After sealing it all in, I weathered the ship with graphite instead of my normal heavy black washes. This was sealed with a light misting of Future.

The base was a moulding block I purchased from the local hardware store and then painted black. The "Solaria" and "Sunswords" insignias were printed onto plain paper and then glued on with Elmers. A coat of Elmers over the top sealed the base. The Viper is attached with a steel rod salvaged from a stiff coat hanger and cut to length.

Image: Front view

Image: Top

Image: Climbing

Image: Controls

Image: Cockpit, left

Image: Right

Image: Base

Image: Pilot, right

Image: Left