by Daniel Cohn-Postar

• Crew: 1
• Armaments: 2X 30mm Kinetic Energy Weapons, 4 Internally-Carried Missiles.

At first appearing to be a smaller, less-streamlined version of the famous Viper Mk II, the original Viper, the progenitor of the illustrious craft in service with our fleet today was designed in a crash program as a general-purpose fighter for the newly united Colonies in the early days of the Cylon War, by Capricon Dynamics.

It is famous not only as a groundbreaking fighter but also for its short development time, going from the drawing board to a test flight in only four months, where it performed well, although was slightly underpowered.

Due to a shortage of available fighter craft early in the Gemenon Campaign, the prototype was rushed into full-scale production, and the fuselages were mated to modified Gemenese Hermes-type engines (formerly featured in prewar racing craft). The new Viper was maneuverable, and although it was a bit short-legged (less fuel carried in a smaller frame), pilots and knuckledraggers alike quickly fell in love with the deadly little package. 3000 of these served with the Fleet before being replaced by the even more famous Viper Mk II.

The one seen here was the fifth off the production line, and managed to survive the Gemenon Campaign (mostly) intact, restored by funds from the Veterans' Society.

(My backstory for the Viper Prototype was inspired by the development of the P-51 Mustang of World War II.)

This was my first time extensively modifying a fuselage piece of an aircraft. I had to plan my cuts and the fuselage build-up carefully to achive the look I was going for, a slightly unfinished and bulker version of the Viper, and a worthy progenitor to the Viper Mk II.

I used its nose and main fuselage section, cutting off the tail near the end of the cockpit to build up the tail section. The instruments on the sides of the fuselage were from my parts bin.

The cockpit canopy came off of a Mig-37 model, as did the pilot (slightly modified, of course.) The wings came off of the tail of a larger-scale F-18 model, as did the mounts for the cannons. The cannons themselves were built of unused landing gear from my parts bin. The side engine intakes were from a smaller-scale jet bomber, and the pieces covering them were from an A-10 Warthog engine cowling. The lower fuselage was built up using plastic sheeting, cut and measured to size. (retracted landing skids are also included-you can see them if you look closely at the belly shot.) The lower two engine exhausts are Super Glue container caps, I can't remember what I used for the top engine.

Colors: Insignia Red for the stripes, Regular White for the main body, Aluminum for the engine exhaust nozzles and guns, Gunship gray for fuselage details and canopy frame, Black for RCS Thrusters and minor details.

Image: Left/front view

Image: Right/front

Image: Shiny

Image: Museum piece

Image: Left side

Image: Top view

Image: Underneath