Alright Sci-Fi fans, let’s admit it; enough with the Star Wars sets. Time to move on. Put a fork in it. As much of a Star Wars Nerd as anybody, I’ll admit it, I watched the movie at least 12 times when it was released, then again in the 90’s with the remastered films. I can even do a pretty decent Yoda impression. And yes, I grabbed all of the LEGO sets when they came out back in 1999.

But before I was a Star Wars fan, I was a Star Trek fan, watching the reruns after dinner, mastering Shatner’s dramatic pauses, mid sentence. “Mom, can I have some… ice cream!” Followed by Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Archer, and now Burnham, Pike, and I lose track of the rest. Still, there’s a whole lotta stuff there to be built, from Constitution Class ships, to a D7 Battlecruiser, to the Galileo shuttle. We don’t need the eleventy-third AT-AT iteration.

After all of the Star Wars hyperventilating settled down, and the disappointment of the Star Wars Holiday Special, there was Battlestar Galactica (BSG). Offering many of the high quality effects, albeit recycled from episode to episode (Galactica banks right, Galactica banks left, and so on…) it scratched that Sci-Fi itch we desperately wanted. It was even good enough to draw the ire of George Lucas.

Yeah, that’s dirk benedict’s signature on my viper

Starbuck and Apollo were the duo to take on the whole Cylon Empire, with high-risk piloting maneuvers and snarky one-liners. It was frakin’ awesome!

Why Ben Cartwright was in command, I wasn’t quite sure, and what happened to Little Joe and Hoss, we may never know.

Kelso

Fast forward to 2003, the Re-Imagined Battlestar Galactica series. This is what actually got me back into MOCing, and discovering the online community. And who better tto start off with than Mark Kelso. MOCPages Admin, his builds garnered hundreds of smiley faces and comments. UCS Cylon Raider: Check!

Nearly a decade later, I asked Mark, as a fellow member of VLUG, to contribute to the BSG Collab for Brickworld 2018. My son even got to re-assemble the Viper that he shipped, since Mark was unable to attend in person. UCS Colonial Viper MKII: Check and Check!

2x4

Known for years as 2x4, Stefan Käsmayer was a prolific builder of all things BSG, both the Original Series and Re-Imagined variety. With meticulous detail and accuracy, Stefan really set a standard.

Here we’ve got a Colonial Shuttle, which appeared in both series.

I also found his Hangar Deck from the re-imagined series to be rather inspirational. Not long after I began building my own versions of various ships from the show, I started my own BSG comic series on MOCPages based on other AFOLs who frequented the site. And since many of the scenes on the TV show, as well as my comic were shot on the hangar deck, I needed to build one myself.

The main difference from Stefan’s build and mine would be that his is more of a tidy display model, whereas mine is more like a set for a TV show. And messy. Okay, lived in. Action Stations!

Garry King

Next up is my old pal, and self-described toaster lover, Garry King. He’s known worlds wide for his massive builds from a variety of themes, but we’ll just focus on his BSG creations.

Let’s start with his rendition of a Cylon Base Ship from the Re-imagined Series. A mysterious and ominous vessel, nobody really knows how the thing moves. The structural challenges in LEGO here are obvious.

Garry’s first MOC that caught my eye, though, was his original series Galactica, or as he affectionately refers to it: The Old Battle Wagon. At that time there was really nothing quite like it online, especially at that scale. In fact, there were few ships of any theme in that three to four foot range. So I decided to get started!!

Galactica

I began with research, naturally. ZOIC was my go-to source. This is where I had to do some maths to figure out ratios; length and width of the different sections, then translate that to studs. My son was in third grade at the time, so I had him check my work, just to be sure. Mixels joints hadn’t come out yet, so I had to come up with a solution to mimic all the compound curves. Thanks to feedback from Kelso, Garry, and Nannan Z, I also got into GIMP for some photo editing. My original shots were just on the floor in our TV room. That wasn’t going to suffice.

As much as I liked that MOC, the studs kinda bothered me, so I started collecting curved slopes. Lots of curved slopes. And tiles. It was a long term project that lingered in the back of my mind, when I wasn’t building SHIPtember ships or Mount Olympuses, that is.

Finally, in preparation for the Brickworld 2018 VLUG BSG collab, my second iteration of the Galactica became a reality! Similar in scale to the first, this one’s internal structure was significantly upgraded. Designed to be suspended, the Technic frame exhibits little to no bending or stresses, even from just a three point fishing line attachment to hold up more than 20lbs of LEGO.

The Epicness Continues!

But that’s enough about me. There have been several other notable re-imagined series Galacticas as well.

Brandon Griffith has an impressive build. Tommy even took a break from blogging Star Wars stuff to comment on this one!

Ruud Awater has, in my opinion, likely the most accurate rendition. It seems clear that we’re all highly influenced by the same source material. From the Zoic specifications to the renders that were frequently seen on the show, we seem to have our own take on the subject. But there are certainly more things in common than different.

Alright, BrickNerd fans, we’re going to call it a day. There are a ton more BSG MOCs out there, a rag-tag fleet, if you will.

From micro to massive scale, there are even custom kits and minifigs for sale. And of course, Chibi! Maybe someday in the not-so-distant future, LEGO will pick up the franchise for themselves!

For more LEGO BSG content, here’s a link to the LEGO Battlestar Galactica! group on Flickr. So Say We All!

Are you a fan of Battlestar Galactica? Do you know the difference between Pyramid and Triad? Let us know in the comments below!

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