Commissioned model of the Cylon Raider.
About this creation
March 2005
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I built this model of the Cylon Raider from the original Battlestar Galactica series based on a public request put out by Jeff "BLASTERMAN" Byrd in summer 2004. Not many people jumped at the chance, but myself and at least one other builder took Jeff up on his challenge. I started rough work on a model, but eventually lost focus and interest, and moved on to other mocs.
Fast forward to the start of March of 05. Jeff gets back in contact with me and asks if I'm still interested in building the Raider. I hadn't thought about it for months, and in my preparations to leave for my missionary trip, it was probably the furthest thing from my mind. But my Lego collection had yet to be packed up, and always one for a challenge I took up the task of building a Cylon Raider within 2 weeks.
I had no time for Bricklink orders, and little room for error. I wish I had had a little more time to work on the moc and give it a little more polish but Jeff is pretty happy with the finished product, if my bank account is any proof.
Check out this pic of the original Raider model from the TV series.
I can freely admit that mine is not a perfectly accurate model by any means; because I had no time to buy new parts, I was forced to use the pieces I had on hand, which includes the numerous "xwing landing skid" pieces you see comprising the engines..making them ridiculously huge compared to the actual original model, but all I had to work with that would adequately resemble the original engines. The length between the front and back of the ship is far too compressed, because of the huge engines and a desire to keep the length from wing to wing at a manageable size. I think I came to a happy balance between conforming to the pieces I had and striving to be somewhat accurate.
If you know me, (or my mocs) I like playability, and this model was no different. I like when minifigs get to actually see through their windscreens, and I wanted this cockpit to open... but this presented me with problems. I finally decided on a combination of official lego windscreen and a brick-built solution. Using the Imperial Shuttle canopy (brasso'd, of course) and an overlayed frame of hinges and tiles, I think I achieved a practical viewport for the pilots inside, although it's not accurate in terms of the tiered, layered effect of the original. Mark Sandlin's Raider from a while back featured a tiled canopy which accurately reflected the original look that I could not achieve, but afforded the minifigs inside no real view, in addition to lacking the accurate striping. His model was one source of inspiration for me.
Last I heard, this moc would be on display at Brickfest 2005. You can go up to Jeff and ask him about it: I heard he's not that scary in real life. But you didn't hear that from me..
Okay, less talk, more moc:
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From above. It's a little longer from wing-to-wing than I would have liked, but I think it worked in the end.
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Laser. This is one of the first things I built for the model, just because I didn't want to tackle the cockpit first.
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I built the wing/laser assembly first, mostly because the rest of the model was such a daunting task.
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The underside of the moc is one of the things I regret not having more time to work on. It's just so blah.
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Comments
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I like it |
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January 28, 2009 |
Truly a mind-numbingly ACCURATE MOC! You put my Raptor to s.h.a.m.e.
GREAT job, and I hav to give you a score of 5 Cylon BaseStars for your superbly Snotty design! |
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I like it |
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December 17, 2008 |
i'm sure you hear this alot, but ... WOW ... that is REALLY cool ! ... personally, i like the old classic Battlestar Galactic TV series better than i do the new ones ... so once again - Awesome "classic" Cylon Raider ! |
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I like it |
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August 8, 2005 |
Wow. Very cool. I had toyed with the idea of doing a Cylon Raider a while back, but now that I have seen yours, I doubt I could do any better, so why bother? |
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I like it |
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August 6, 2005 |
I love Battlestar Galactica! Nice MOC, wonderfull detail. Great job! |
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