{"id":10163,"date":"2026-03-31T15:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T20:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/?page_id=10163"},"modified":"2026-03-31T15:56:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T20:56:05","slug":"cylon-raider","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/devinjpoore.com\/?page_id=10163","title":{"rendered":"Cylon Raider"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When I heard that the Sci-Fi channel (now SyFy) was doing a remake of the old Battlestar Galactica series, I couldn’t stop laughing. I was 7 or 8 years old when the original came out, and even at that age I knew it was cheesy! The new series kicked off with a mini-series that happened to coincide with the end of a bad week at work for me, so I sat down with a beer or two and tuned in so that I could have a laugh. After the first few minutes it was obvious this wasn’t the old school cheese of my childhood, and I was hooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the rest of the hardware in Battlestar, the Cylon Raider was updated. The Fantastic Plastic kit captures the new sweeping curves and slender lines of the fighter. I initially put this kit aside for a while, as that’s what I generally do out of habit, and also because I had notions of lighting the “eye” and the engines of the model. Finally, I decided to just build it, as it’s a simple kit and I needed a break from a 16 month long ironclad build.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Paints Used<\/strong>
* Mr. Surfacer primer
* Vallejo Black 859 for Alcad undercoat
* Vallejo Black-Gray 862 for guns, exhausts, staining
* Tamiya Smoke for effects
* Alclad Chrome Silver, Gun Metal and Chrome applied in layers for overall body colors<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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There were issues with the kit. The lower engine shrouds didn’t fit well, so out came the files and the Aves putty. The head is a bit misshapen when looked at from directly forward; short of re-sculpting a new one there wasn’t much I could do about that, so I left it. The kit-supplied guns were distorted, so I replaced them with telescoping brass rod. I think I mounted the guns in reverse order, the big ones should be on the top, the little ones on the bottom. A mistake I can live with, and, besides, it looks more symmetrical this way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I used a lot of Alclad paint on this. A base coat of Airframe Aluminum, and then I went at it with an airbrush and Chrome and Burnt Metal, freehand, misting it in following the contours until I liked the result. Decals came with the model, but I didn’t use any of them as I liked the clean look without.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall a successful project and a lot of fun. This model took a Third Place at JerseyCon in 2009, and has since been sold to a collector<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~October 2010<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n