Modeling the Bucket ( Battlestar Galactica )

As a way to relax, I sometimes like to build models.  I don’t do it as often as I’d like so my skills are often rusty.  For my latest effort, I dove in and built the Moebius Models Battlestar Galactica.  Aside from a few issues adjusting the ‘head’ of the ship, it was a pretty easy build.  The parts fit together well, with the only bad seams inside the flight pod bays.  I filled those in with green putty and sanded them down.  That was a first for me, but it was easy and I liked the results a lot better than leaving the gaps!

The main part of building a kit like this is the painting.  In this case I build the ship in sub-assemblies.  I kept the main hull, engines and flight pods all separate.  I painted each section on its own.  I used Model Master Gunship Gray enamel as the base for all the parts.  Then I painted the armor sections with alternating Aggressor Gray and Neutral gray.  This added a poor man’s aztec pattern to the hull.  I like how it looks but the contrast is a bit higher than the ship normally looks.  Then I painted the guns and most hull details with a Dark Gray that was a bit darker then the Gunship Gray.  All the work was hand brushed.  I’ve been trying out the airbush on my cheaper kits, but for now I’m much better with brushes.

With the base paint job finished, I finished the assembly.  With all the parts together I applied the decals using a Micro Sol and Micro Set to fix them in place.  For the final touch I mixed black water color paint and a small amount of dish soap to break its surface tension.  This brought out the armor paint lines and some of the sub details.  It also helped dull the original paint to look a bit more weathered.

All in all I enjoyed building this Galactica kit and it has a nice place on my desk for the moment until I find a better home for it.  I’ve got the Battlestar Pegasus on pre-order and I’ll be happy to try my hand at it when it finally makes it out of the factory.