Colonial Viper MK.VII, 1:32nd scale Revell

[Smiffy]

Colonial Viper MK.VII

1:32nd Scale Revell

The Viper Mk.VII is the Colonial Fleet's state of the art, frontline superiority fighter. It is armed with 3 kinetic energy weapons, which have a superior rate of fire over earlier marks and also has a pair of underwing hard points for a variety of conventional or nuclear ordnance. Although primarily designed for space combat, the MK.VII is equally at home with atmospheric flight and the design of the triple engine exhausts hints at a thrust vectoring capability. The cockpit is fully digital, replacing the analogue displays seen in previous variants and the control column is mounted on the right hand side of the pilot, rather than the more traditional central stick. The flight controls are computer operated fly-by-wire systems, which result in superior agility.

The onboard computer is also connected to the Colonial defence network, supplying the fleet with real-time battlefield management information. When the Cylons launch a sudden attack on the 12 colonies, it is this networked computer system which becomes the downfall of the Colonial fleet, thanks to a fleet wide navigational upgrade designed by Dr Gaius Baltar, who has unwittingly allowed a Cylon agent access to the Colonial mainframe. A virus embedded within the upgrade allows Cylon craft to shut down any Colonial vessel or defence platform they encounter, simply by transmitting an activation signal. The majority of Galactica's MK.VII Vipers are destroyed within seconds of initial contact with a pair of Cylon Raiders.

Once the virus is detected, the remaining MK.VII's (estimated to be about 8) left aboard Galactica have the upgraded software removed and a simpler flight control package is installed. This makes them harder to handle however, so only the elite Viper Jockeys are given permission to pilot them. When a second Battlestar (Pegasus) later joins the fleet, the number of available MK.VII Vipers is bolstered and soon, new build MK.VII craft are being manufactured onboard the Pegasus. These MK.VIIE Vipers, as they are known, are visually distinguishable from the original variant by the shorter leading edge extensions (or chines ), additional air intakes on the undersides, as well as a larger, more rectangular nose.

The kit

As with the previous Galactica kit, the plastic components included in the Viper MK.VII originate from Moebius Models. Revell have included a new decal sheet and offer the kit at a far more attractive price for the European market. Inside the end opening box, we are supplied with 49 parts moulded in light grey styrene, 3 clear pieces and one sheet of decals. The plastic parts are cleanly moulded, with little sign of flash present. The large fuselage mouldings immediately grab your attention. It is split horizontally, with the wings integrally moulded with the upper fuselage half. The surface detailing is largely accomplished with recessed panel lines, which although a little heavy looking, are quite accurate to the on-screen appearance. The distinctive Reaction Control Thrusters which are dotted around the ship, are also recreated in relief. The surface of the plastic has a very slightly rough texture, although this shouldn't be too noticeable of the finished model. The CGI versions seen on the TV show quite often featured very heavily weathered and battle damaged matt finishes, anyway.

The instructions are your standard Revell fare. Construction is laid out in 25 clear steps, with colour call outs from their own paint range. They suggest the main exterior colour be created using 4 different colours, mixed in a certain ratio. It all sounds a bit of a faff to me and I'd probably go with a lightened USN Intermediate Blue or maybe one of the US Ghost Greys as a starting point. There were a few different shades seen on the CGI models, so you have options.

Before construction commences, you must decide whether you are going to build your Viper with the landing gear up or down. The instructions show you which steps you can skip for either choice. The first stages of assembly deal with the dorsal intake and vertical stabiliser. The 2 parts of the upper rear fuselage are cemented together first. The lengthwise join line here is largely hidden with the addition of the intake pieces over the top, which is handy. The 2 halves of the vertical fin are joined together next and there is a separate cannon which is inserted into the fairing on the leading edge. Once it's all dry, the fin just slots into the top of the completed intake assembly, with a nice secure location tab. The next 3 steps deal with the landing gear. Each leg is a simple 2 part affair, with the skids moulded attached. Detail here is somewhat minimal, but I do believe this is similar to how the studio props looked.

The pilot is dealt with next. The legs are moulded in with the rear half of the torso and thanks to a novel little touch, we are given the choice of pilot gender, thanks to the optional male or female front torsos halves. The arms are single piece items, with the right arm having the control stick moulded into the hand. The head features the distinctive flight helmet as seen on the show and it's mounting peg allows a certain degree of animation, enabling your pilot to scan to either side or straight ahead. Once painted up, there are decals supplied for the flight patches and even optional Galactica or Pegasus logos for the left arm.

The instructions would have you add the landing gear to the lower fuselage half at this point, but needless to say you are better left leaving them until final assembly, to avoid damage. Obviously, if you are doing your Viper with skids up, then you can simply glue the gear doors in the closed position at this stage.

The cockpit is next up and it is a 4 part unit. The main bulk of the tub is a single piece, with a simple centre console and right hand side panel moulded in situ. A small instrument coming, a seat and the rear bulkhead complete the inventory. When Moebius released this kit, one of the criticisms many modellers had was the lack of detail in this area. To address this, Revell have supplied a good number more instrument panel and display screen decals than were found in the original Moebius release. In fact, there are 14 individual decals to apply in this area and they should dress the cockpit up quite nicely. To achieve a little more visual interest, it might be an idea to apply each decal to plastic card panels of varying thickness, then trim them to shape and glue them into the pit. This would give a much more pleasing 3-D effect to the panels. Once work in this area is complete, the finished pilot figure can be glued in place and the cockpit can be cemented to the upper fuselage half. It locates in place with 3 large pins which should provide a nice positive fit.

The engines are the next major sub-assembly to tackle. There is a small upper engine, centred above the 2 main lower engines. Each one is built up from 2 halves. The larger main engines each have 2 conduits added to their outer edges. These are quite fragile looking and in fact, 2 of them were already broken on my review sample. Fortunately, it shouldn't be too much of an issue to repair them. There are a couple more greebles which locate on the upper edges of the main engines, as well as 2 more tubing pieces which fit between the exhausts. The 3 engines locate together with a system of slots and tabs to form a solid unit which fits onto the aft end of the lower fuselage half.

There are a pair of inserts to be added for the nose and underside intakes, then the 2 fuselage halves can be joined. As mentioned previously, the main bulk of the wings are moulded with the upper hull half. On the underside, we have some tricky seams to clean up, however. The lower fuselage half includes half of the lower wing panels and the join goes right across a number of panel lines. A filler such as Miliput or Aves Apoxie Sculpt would prove useful here, as they can be smoothed out with a wet finger, reducing the amount of sanding necessary. With that tackled, the upper intake/fin assembly can then be added. Once again, there are some chunky locating pins to ensure a good, positive join. The last remaining items are the 2 wing mounted cannons and their lower fairing panels, plus the canopy. This is a single piece moulding, that looks impressively clear and distortion free. A clear 2 part stand completes the plastic components. It is in the familiar Moebius/Aurora style and features an engraved planet earth pattern on the base.

As eluded too earlier, the decal sheet is larger than the one supplied in the Moebius boxing. The same pilot options are given, with nametags for Narcho, Starbuck, Hot Dog, Apollo, Chuckles (although I'm pretty sure he never got the chance to fly a MK.VII) and Kat. A choice of badges and names enablling you to build a Viper from either the Galactica or Pegasus air-wings are also included, along with all the required stencilling and we even have a couple of rows of Cylon "Toaster" kill markings. The extras on the sheet are the aforementioned cockpit decals for the various Dradis screens and control panels. Plus we are supplied with a Galactica or Pegasus patch to add to the stand, along with the Battlestar Galactica Viper MK.VII legend. These are rather nice, being printed in gold and silver with a subtle metallic effect, which should set your finished base of nicely. The decal sheet is extremely well printed, with excellent colour and registry.

Conclusion

Aside from that underside seam, construction should be very straightforward and at just over 30cms in length, the completed model builds up into an impressive looking replica of it's on screen counterpart.

Revell's inclusion of those extra cockpit detailing decals is a very welcome addition and goes someway to improving one of the weaker areas of the original kit, possibly even negating the need for one of the available aftermarket sets. Taking this into account, it makes this already attractively priced Revell boxing, fantastic value for money.

Highly recommended.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

[Antony Robertson]

Great review, this is on my Christmas list so fingers crossed!

Antony

[SeanM]

Great review, thanks. This was my presie to myself!

[PoppaMoomin]

Excellent review, thank you.