Battlestar Pegasus - Titan class

[Thom216]

This is just a place-holder post for a build that has been sitting idle for ten years now, pretty much because new products have come along, and what was driving it at first has long since passed into memory.

Just have to finish up my 1/48 Silver Girty in the Prototypes, Racers, Research, Record breakers, Special schemes mega GB, then I'll pull that one out of it hibernation.

😉

 

Thom

Edited December 30, 2022 by Thom216

[Thom216]

Dang, I need to get over this Mojo-slump! To that end, I am pulling this one off of Ye Old Dusty Shelf. Maybe shaking the dust off of it, will shake some of that Mojo loose.

 

What do you get when you take two Moebius 1/4150 Battlstar Pegasus models and bash them together. Why, one eight-deck Titan class Pegasus!

 

Not the best pic at the moment, than you Photosucket! I'll need to add some better ones. 

The model is in more pieces then that, as it was just fit together for the pic (about ten years ago...) Still toying with the notion of lengthening the engine block and nacelles. At this point, I may just want to get it together finally.

 

The idea came from this fan-short, as I think most four-pod battlestar variants all have come from now.

 

More to come! (hopefully...)

 

 

https://imgur.com/a/jL6opw5

Edited February 12, 2023 by Thom216

[Thom216]

Okay, here is a catch-up post. This work was done about ten years ago now, which dangit, doesn't feel that long ago!

 

Work started with the head. One thing I wanted to change was the mass of the head, so I decided to cut it down.

 

For the main body, I'll be using the bottom halves from both kits, and here was a quick profile check. I think I'll raise the head up a bit.

 

Next was skinning the top, which I did with blank styrene, after having repositioned the horizontal insert parts near the back there.

 

I then used the cut up old top to replace the detail panels, and then misc gundam parts and other 'stuff' to add more detail.

 

That was set aside, and I moved onto the next major rebuild, which was the upper flight decks. I could have just left them inverted, but I liked the look of them being in the same orientation as the lower set, so the cutters came out in all their energetic glory!

I separated the arms from the top decks.

 

And since I'm using the Paragraphix PE set for the interior, the inside plastic (much of it useless anyway) was all cut out.

 

In this one, you can see the greeble deck that I turned upside down to make a new auxiliary landing deck on the side of the flight pod. Much easier than cutting new plastic to right size. 

 

Another quick check to see how she looks.

 

And I decided to make a mold and a resin copy of the new head.

(yes, that is quite the lump of resin!)

 

And because the alterations actually narrowed the head as an unintended consequence, the mid-deck area needed to be spliced and squeezed in.

 

A good fit was achieved! (though I see this is not what the same piece as above...)

 

And since I wanted a cleaner look the head, I made some styrene covers for the inset bays.

 

Some more work on the aux landing decks, four of them, with blank styrene cut for the hangar doors.

 

And then the Paragraphix PE added for all eight of the flight decks,.

 

And then painted up with the decals in place.

 

Next was filling in the gaping holes in the pods. 

 

And seeing there are some gaps to fill in.

 

I ran scared from that task to creating a new FTL housing on what was previously a bottom hull. Drilled a hole and used a piece from (I think) a Lost In Space Robot kit.

 

That was then given a hubcap from a Capri Classic kit as a topper.

 

For the end caps, where all the piping goes, I decided to change that, like I did on my Galactica build just before this one. I took the same kits parts from both kits and put them together, changing the look subtly.

 

The one on the left is for Pegasus, while the one on the right was used on my new Galactica. You can see the shape difference.

 

And for the hole in the middle, I cut up a TIE wing from a prepainted kit.

 

And in place with some misc vents around it.

 

And that gets us up to date on where it is right now.

 

I think on Saturday, I'll take it back out of its box and get back to work!

 

Thom

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by Thom216

[Thom216]

And just for shats and gaggles, here's my Nu-Galactica that was built just before this one was started. 

 

This one also had the head cut down and I used a second kit to give it the same full size over/under main decks, as originally, the underside deck was smaller. And a hella lot more guns!🤪

 

In my fanfic version, the Pegasus was made before this Galactica, with four flight pods to help increase her fighter strength. It was a successful variant, working good in battle and able to swamp a Cylon Base Ship's own fighter strength. But it took a lot of material and time to build, when a simpler upgrade to the standard Mercury class, that being a doubled launch deck and full size flight pods as on the follow-up Galactica, would be a lot more efficient use of time and material during war time. It compromised with fewer Viper squadrons compared to Pegasus, but still almost tripled the standard Mercury compliment, so it was a good trade-off in the end.

 

Under Commander Helena Cain (this being a version closer to TOS than the insane version from NuBSG) Pegasus distinguished herself in combat again and again, up until the Battle of Molecay where it was believed destroyed along with the Fifth Fleet.

Edited December 30, 2022 by Thom216

[Pete in Lincs]

Some good looking kit bashing going on there. It looks like you're enjoying yourself.

[trickyrich]

I love this build soooo much!!!

 

Nice work on the "chop-n-change" and the additional detailing, she's going to be epic when completed!

 

..bugga, you've now made me want to pull out my Mobius Mk.II & Mk.VII Vipers and finish them......I can see this KUTA GB lasting forever at this rate!

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Also loving this one!

[Mjwomack]

On 12/30/2022 at 9:29 PM, trickyrich said:

I can see this KUTA GB lasting forever at this rate!

I believe The Eagles worked on a song they called, Hotel KUTAfornia, only one couplet survived to the recorded and renamed version...

You can check out anytime

But you can never leave 😉

 

I find the sheer diversity of KUTA inspiring, take this build for example- I've no idea what it's about but I'm loving it none the less, now how about trying my hand at sci-fi one day?

[Thom216]

Clean slate!

 

That was cathartic!

 

Now, I have decided to change the arrangement on the head piece, so the resin version in not being used on this. To that end of replacing it, I went to the original I made and decided to re-top it.

 

I tried to get the pieces off the stryene so I could just reuse that, but they were set down too good and ended up being destroyed anyway. So a new top of styrene has been laid down.

 

I tried to get it as close as possible in size and thought I had done a better job than I had getting it to size. Gluing it down now, I see it is still a little oversize, which will require some more sanding. Just par for course, I guess.

 

While that dries though, I started thinking about the ordnance for this piece, and I have decided on something missile heavy. The Galactica's head is clearly a HEW-turret forest so I think going the opposite way with the Peggy would be a nice change. And for that, there are some tiny wing parts from the Revell 1/50 TIE Interceptor that look perfect, and the Gal does have a pair of those as well. But while looking through the TIE Pile I couldn't find anymore.

 

I had used them all and, apparently, lost the resin mould I had made, as I still had some resin copies, though not enough. So, out with the resin supplies! Some Legos and a sheet of plastic, and then the resin parts glued down.

 

And then a nice bath of mould materials was mixed and flooded on.

 

Let that dry and, hopefully, I'll have plenty of those to play with.

 

And that's all for the nonce! Have a great New Year!!

 

Thom

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Thom216

[trickyrich]

I love all the casting stuff....been a while since I've done any of that stuff!

[Thom216]

2 hours ago, trickyrich said:

I love all the casting stuff....been a while since I've done any of that stuff!

 

Same here. I dabble enough to get by.😉

[Thom216]

When I bought my most recent supply, I ended up getting the clear, which is fine.

 

It dries pretty fast, usually only a couple of hours after mixing and pouring.

 

I've had three pulls already, with about only one loss in five, so pretty good so far!

 

Thom

[Thom216]

And that mold has suffered quick! There are only two that are any good anymore on that, as the parts are getting more voids and pegs. Good thing I got what I needed!

There are enough there for several on the head and six either side of the spine.

 

Also got the new skin 'fared' in and closed up the four bays on the sides. Yes, there are some gaps, but I'll be using PPP to close them up, and using little bits of plastic to texture them.

 

And the pieces from the old kit top that'll soon find their places on the new skin.

 

All for now. Ta!

 

Thom

 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by Thom216

[Thom216]

Please, forgive me, I do not know why I left the last post with 'Ta!' Totally weird and just not my thang.

 

Anyway, got a little more work done.

 

I got the bottom piece secured to the head, using some snipped runner, those three white spots, to act as stabilizing posts to keep it from flexing. Then I glued down some thin styrene strip because the seams around the edges were just nasty. And some thicker plastic to fill a gap between the bottom and the half-round barrel-like thingy near the bow.

 

Also around the outside edges. Not pictured, but I then took some cut down pieces and textured that.

 

Then I messed around with the placements of the HEW turrets and the missile arrays until I got something I liked. I was first going to them clustered, and it did look pretty good, but then I wan thinking about a 'lucky shot' that hits one missile array and takes out all the others, and the whole ship with it! So, I decided to move them a bit away from each other.

 

This was the best arrangement I liked. 9 arrays with 6 silos each... 54 missile silos on the head isn't too excessive is it..?

 

Liking that, I took a mech pencil and traced out some shapes for the gun decks right onto the plastic, then stuck down some matt scotch tape to transfer it to a thin piece of cardboard.

 

Those will then be cut out with an exacto knife and a straight edge to make the pattern, that will then be used to make the plastic parts.

 

So, moving along. Ta! 

 

 

[Thom216]

Didn't do much today, but I did get the new panels cut out and tested on the head with the rest to see how it looks.

 

Not too bad, if self thinks so. I'll need to detail the new panels to better match the old ones, but I think they look good.

 

Thom

[Thom216]

Alright, the top is (almost) done! It just needs a little clean-up and maybe some small stryene details, but I'm glad I finally got it finished. Mostly.

What I was mostly waiting for was an AMT/ERTL X-Wing to arrive with one little part that I wanted to put on this ship. It's the same piece that I put on my Galactica, and I wanted to show similarity in tech between the two, but I had not made a copy of it and so needed a new piece.😄

 

Unlike with the one on the Galactica, this time I made a resin copy.

 

The top copy will go back in the kit, while the shorter one will be used on the Pegasus.

I also redid the panels I had made previously, making new ones from thinner stock so they didn't stand too proud from the top. Then I raided a small TIE fighter kit for the blue bits, as well as the nine missile arrays, which are resin copies of some wing parts from the same TIE kit, and beige bits from the old top sprinkled on for detail.

 

The HEW turrets are just press-fit into drilled holes. With that done (mostly) I can turn to reattaching the arms to the flight pods.

 

Model on!

Thom

 

[Thom216]

Currently working on the arm 'faces.' When designed by Moebius, the sides of the arms were left blank, but Paragraphix came out with a PE set for it. Problem is I only have enough for one set of arms, and this has two sets. So, I'm backing the PE with plastic to thicken them up, as well as add a little more detail to the faces, and then I'll make enough copies for all 12 arms. After that I'll need to smooth over where the arms have been repositioned. Pics to follow!

[Thom216]

Update time!

First I needed to make sure I had all the arms in their correct positions,

 

Then the mating area was traced, scraped flat and glued.

 

They were glued up and some weight applied to help keep alignment.

 

Once the glue set, I drilled some holes and inserted plastic rod for extra strength, as butt-joins don't have much grab.

 

Now nice and secure, but with some gaps to fill...

 

Before the gaps though, I need to add the arm faces. As moulded by Moebius, they were left blank, which is odd, as just a few extra pieces would have finished them nicely. Thankfully, Paragraphix has a PE set for the Pegasus which supplies those. There is also a set on Shapeways, but though they are very nice, those are also pretty pricey. And the Paragraphixs, being PE, are pretty flat, so I decided to thicken them up by gluing styrene to backs of then, which will also help with casting.

 

Forgive the blurry pic. I must have deleted the better one.

 

I also added some misc pieces from some Gundam to give a little more dimension, and these were glued to thick piece of styrene for a base.

 

A little mould and resin 'magic' later and the first pull looks pretty good.

 

I'll need to sand the back-sides flat, but there are only a few air bubbles to contend with, and get the next set going.

 

Model on!

Thom

 

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by Thom216

[Tomcat101]

That's insane.  I love it!  What a project.