Moebius 1:32 Original Series Cylon Raider

[Madmonk]

TOS Cylon Raider Battlestar Galactica

1:32 Moebius Models

 

Battlestar Galactica first aired in September 1978 and at the time was one of the most spectacular television programmes produced. It was created by Glen A Larson, based on an idea he had in the 60s for a show called Ark, however it was not until the success of Star Wars in 1977 that interest in the show developed.

BSG is about the fight between two races, the Humans and the Cylons, the Cylons are robots built by the humans that have rebelled and formed a race in their own right. The humans have split in to 12 colonies having left earth centuries before. After the Cylons attack and destroy the 12 colonies a rag-tag band of Humans survive and in various ships come together to try and find the mythical home planet of Earth.

The Cylons follow the Human fleet in Basestar ships with the Raider ship used as the primary fighter craft. The Raider is crewed by three Centurions, two up front at the controls to pilot the craft and the third in a raised chair behind to co-ordinate and command. It is armed with two forward facing laser cannons and can also carry bombs in bays under the wing.

Oval in shape the Raider has two sub light engines and is both space and atmosphere capable. Its large size means it is often out outmatched by the Colonial Vipers of the Human fleet which are more manoeuvrable and piloted by the mor skilful Colonial Warriors like Apollo and Starbuck.

The original series still has a large fan base and this was added to when the series was re-imagined in 2004 with a 4 season TV run.

The Kit
Moebius have produced a monster of a kit, 44cm x 33cm, that is not apparent when you first get the box, which is the usual 2 part slide over type and 34cm x 26cm x 14cm in size. This boxing is also a commemorative one celebrating 35 years since the original series aired and comes with a limited edition print.

 

 

 

The parts count is fairly low for such large kit, just over 50 including the stand. The moulded detail of the parts however is excellent and the plastic is a light grey in colour. The main body parts, 10 in total are not on sprues but bagged separately. There are 6 sprues for the rest of the parts, 4 in the grey plastic and 2 clear providing engine and stand parts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction starts with the two engines which are built up of 4 parts, 3 plastic for the surround and fins and a clear part with two rings moulded in.

These are installed into the lower body section along with parts for the intakes before the top section of the main body is fitted.

The next 4 stages see engine fairings, housings and cockpit parts added as well as detail parts for these areas. The wings are up next consisting of an upper and lower section and detail parts. These are then fixed to the main body and the wing trench cannons added. The final stage is to add the 2 part stand.

There is no cockpit detail as this is behind a blacked out louvered type canopy and Moebius provide a grey plastic part for this.

 

 

 

The last 2 pages of the instructions contain the painting guide, the pictures are black and white and the only colours called out are Pale Grey, Cool Grey and Black, no reference numbers are given for any manufacturer and it would pay to do a little bit of research using your favourite Internet search engine.

The only decals provided are for the green pentagon markings on the upper surface of each wing. There are 2 large black stripes on each wing and Moebius provide a template for these within the instructions and with the detail parts on each wing this appears to be the best solution as decals would be difficult to get to sit down over all the compound surfaces.

 

 

 

 

Having previously built one of these it is an impressive model when built, the only construction issue is the large joint in each wing trench where the 2 main body sections meet but an ample supply of filler and sanding sticks will soon rectify it.

 

 

 

 

The 2 part stand is another issue, it is of the old Airfix style with a tab and slot connection to the model. Due to the size of the finished model it has insufficient contact area to keep the model steady and it reacts like a bobblehead when touched!

Conclusion

Overall this is a good kit and goes together well with few issues to produce a large scale replica of the Raider used in the original series. It cries out to be lit and there are several aftermarket lighting kits available as well as a cockpit kit which provides the 3 Centurions that crew it and a PE replacement cockpit louver.

If you are a fan of the original Battlestar Galactica series then this is a must have kit.

 

 

 

 

Review sample courtesy of
UK distributors for

 

 

[Mike]

Cool model, and you can really see some of the scabbed on kit parts in the moulds there, such as the track links, gun barrels, even part of the bogies that carried the Leopold rail gun, IIRC

[bigh827]

Great review if I can ever get the cash I want one if these.

 

Humans didn't build the Cylons in BSGTOS, a race of lizards called Cylons did. The robot Cylons killed thier builders and started enslaveing other races.

The humans didn't come from Earth, the 12 plus the people of Earth came from the home of the gods Colbal(SP).