by April Welles

This is the Colonial destroyer Hawkwind. She is one of the few Colonial navy ships that survived the destruction of the 12 Colonies by the Cylons. They had been scheduled to meet with the 24th Fleet (her designated Fleet, hence the yellow stripes) and patrol for anything untoward that might hinder the Peace Conference - any militant groups who didn't want the peace to occur and rabble such as that.

After a “Divine Accident” with their navigational computer caused them to be late to their rendezvous (many of her crew believe that it was the Lords of Kobol that were protecting them), they arrived to see that the fleet was virtually decimated. They fought off the remaining Raiders and destroyed two of their refueling ships that were nearby as well as a few transports. They received a few distress calls and soon they were able to rescue about 2000 personnel-out of 12,000-from the remains. Also rescued were six Vipers and their pilots. Unfortunately, two of those pilots died from their wounds. The Hawkwind heard a call from another battlestar that survived the genocide and was rendezvousing at Virgon. They met the Olympia, as well as the light battlestar Vuldex, and assisted them, plus 120 other civilian ships, with repairs and replenishment before leaving the Colonies in search of a new home.

She is shown here about 8 quatrons later (approximately 8 months). She has received some damage, and the most severe (actual hull penetrations) have been patched up. She now has six Vipers as her standard compliment as well as four shuttles. Though she has no Viper launch facilities, they take off from the main entrance. Not as fast as from a battlestar, but they are still used for support.

The Model

I built this from a Revell/Monogram kit. Essentially, I removed the middle section and attached the 'head' and 'tail' to each other. I used SMT resin detail pieces that I had gotten a few years ago. Using sheet styrene I covered over the large hole remaining underneath facing aft (where the yellow stripe in the mid-section underneath is). That became my Landing Bay. I was dissatisfied with my first effort and stripped it down, re-worked it and added new things.

And then I tried my hand at a new- to me- technique of 'Pre-shading'. I like how it turned out.

I also wanted to add some guns to it. I had some 1/700 Hasagawa Models Japanese aircraft carrier guns, that I placed on what I felt were strategic locations. It has 5 high volume Anti-fighter guns, each with a total of 8 barrels (4 on the mid section. two upper and two lower. And one on the lower aft section). It also has 8 twin-barrel medium Anti-fighter/ship guns (See if you can find them all!) plus 2 twin-barrel heavy anti-ship guns on the bow.

She is painted in Light Gray, with the guns being Light Ghost Gray and Dark Ghost Gray. I painted the battle damaged sections using Black with an old drybrush. For the sections that received “repairs” I cut small squares from Tamiya Tape and placed them on the hull. Then I used the Black and drybrushed over the tape, with the darkest part being on the tape itself. I then used some graphite and another old brush and scrubbed it onto all of the damaged areas. Once I removed the tape I had 'repaired hull sections'.

One section, behind the Bridge, has a repair over a repair. It's mostly a dirtier panel next to a clean one. The engines were done using Bright White with a blending of Clear Blue along the edges, and Red for the Sub-light engine. The windows were painted using Bright White.

This was also my first use of Future as a gloss coat. The decals are a custom set made by JTGraphics (thanks Jeff). Once I finished, I sprayed Future over the decals to prevent 'yellowing' and well as 'silvering'. Then I sprayed the entire model with dull coat to protect it and remove the high gloss shine.

Now I am happy with how she looks. I am very much more pleased with the final look.

Image: Aft view

Image: Stingers (upper)

Image: Lower

Image: Bow guns

Image: Head-on

Image: Bridge

Image: Head (topside)

Image: Underneath

Image: Engine detail

Image: Midship

Image: Top view

Image: Underneath

Image: Port side

Image: Patches

Image: Close-up