# Anyone building the NuBSG Raptor yet?



## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

The much delayed and finally released kit is now on the shelves and all I hear is crickets. I did see one review where they were pointing out some parts fitting issues, but I thought after all the angst and frustration the forums would be covered up in posts of different builds.

Anybody have one on their workbench and what are your plans?


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## scooke123 (Apr 11, 2008)

I bought one and the armament kit - no time to build so will have to wait till winter.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Lotsa folks on facebook.


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

scooke123 said:


> I bought one and the armament kit - no time to build so will have to wait till winter.


How does the kit look to you?


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## scooke123 (Apr 11, 2008)

Didn't actually take any parts from their bags yet but looking at instructions it should be a straightforward build. If you use the armament set you have to decide before building so you can open holes for placement of parts. Instructions say it would be hard to retrofit the armament to an already built kit.


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## Warspite (Aug 3, 2013)

I have got my grubb mitts on a test shot of the kit and have my Raptor production kit as well. I carefully compared the two and have come to the conclusion that beyond one fill in mounting hole the two kits are identical. In other words, no changes were made to the test shot. 

There are a couple of areas that need extra work. Page 3 of the instruction show that there are no grills for the port and starboard cooling intakes on the booms. I have written Paul at Paragraphix and he said that he did not do them as they are easily scratchbuilt and they are. 









On page 11, there are two small scoops near the leading edge of each wing attached to the fuselage. There are no grills for these either. Without something there all you see is the fuelage inside. Paul didn't do these ones either. When you go looking for reference images, please remember that this version of the Raptor is from later in the series. There are some differences between the early one and this one.









The pilots are too small compared to the pilots for the Vipers. 









I will post more unce I have uploaded some more images.


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## f1steph (Jan 9, 2003)

Very interresting..... and once built, it should be around how many inches?


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## spock62 (Aug 13, 2003)

f1steph said:


> Very interresting..... and once built, it should be around how many inches?


12" long


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## Warspite (Aug 3, 2013)

f1steph said:


> Very interresting..... and once built, it should be around how many inches?


According to the various BSG sites the Raptor measures 8.53 m/27.9856 ft. In 1/32nd scale, it should measure 10.49 inches.


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## charonjr (Mar 27, 2000)

Been waiting for the Raptor for a long time! Thanks for letting me know it is out!


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## spock62 (Aug 13, 2003)

Warspite said:


> According to the various BSG sites the Raptor measures 8.53 m/27.9856 ft. In 1/32nd scale, it should measure 10.49 inches.


On the bottom of the box the kit comes in the stated length is 12".


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## Warspite (Aug 3, 2013)

spock62 said:


> On the bottom of the box the kit comes in the stated length is 12".


Just quoting the information given on the various BSG site for the dimensions of the Raptor. It could also be the once you add the forward antenna package and the trailing antennas on the vertical stabilizers the total length comes out to 12 inches. Brad Hair has built one and is in the process of building another. I can ask him what measurements he got.


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## Warspite (Aug 3, 2013)

Warspite said:


> Just quoting the information given on the various BSG site for the dimensions of the Raptor. It could also be the once you add the forward antenna package and the trailing antennas on the vertical stabilizers the total length comes out to 12 inches. Brad Hair has built one and is in the process of building another. I can ask him what measurements he got.



I asked Brad Hair if he could measure his Raptor from the front of the instrument package to the end of the trailing antenna and he said it is 12 inches so the kit box listing is correct, after a fashion, :wink2:


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## KUROK (Feb 2, 2004)

Got mine from CultTvMan just this weekend.
Interesting how undersized and crude the pilot figure compares


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## charonjr (Mar 27, 2000)

28 feet....And what was it Kirk said about a 25 foot long shuttlecraft, LOL!


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

KUROK said:


> Got mine from CultTvMan just this weekend.
> Interesting how undersized and crude the pilot figure compares


I was thinking that the figure was smaller to fudge the interior scale a bit but with the Raptor it was basically a cockpit set with an exterior wrapped around it (like the Proteus).


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

KUROK said:


> Got mine from CultTvMan just this weekend.
> Interesting how undersized and crude the pilot figure compares


If you got the viper MkII or VII built with gear down and you're not using the pilot figure for anything else then you could always use it for the Raptor.


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## Warspite (Aug 3, 2013)

irishtrek said:


> If you got the viper MkII or VII built with gear down and you're not using the pilot figure for anything else then you could always use it for the Raptor.


I'm afraid it isn't that easy. The seats will need to be adapted to accept the larger pilots from the Vipers. I am attaching three photos of my attempt to fit the styrene pilot from the Mark VII into a Raptor pilots seat.


























I think it will take reshaping the seat as well as the Viper pilot to get them to fit. Reshaping the seat will be a bit of a problem as they fit rather snugly into the cockpit. Also, you'd need to change the legs as the Viper pilot will not fit into the leg/foot space in the cockpit.


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

That must be why the Raptor pilot figure is so small.


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

What strikes me as odd is that the Raptor is a physical prop that regular humans (and a couple of Cylon operatives) sat in and operated. It has well known physical dimensions and there was no problems having the actors sit in the seats. Now we have a scale model of it and the Raptor Model seems to be a different scale that the Viper model which is supposed to be the same scale. 
Is the Viper the one which is off and has pilots too large? 
Has anyone compared the Raptor and Viper pilots to another 1:32 scale figure yet?
If the kits are both true 1:32 then the pilots obviously should be the same size and interchangeable/compatible with each other and other 1:32 scale subjects (aside from pose)


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## JeffBond (Dec 9, 2013)

I wonder if it was just a matter of dealing with the standard thickness of plastic as far as fitting the cockpit tub and seats into the nose is concerned. On the full size prop the walls of the nose are probably aluminum or some other relatively thin material whereas the walls of the model kit are probably several inches thick in this scale. Not an issue with a single pilot but to get two side by side in this space was probably a bigger challenge.


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## spock62 (Aug 13, 2003)

Moebius used CGI for this kit and I assume the 2 Viper kits, I don't think they used the full sized props for dimensions. So, it might be the fault of the CGI files being off. After all, you wouldn't be able to tell if the CGI ships are scaled correctly when watching any given episode, so if the files were off by an inch here or there, it wouldn't be a big deal to production I would guess.


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

I wonder if the two Raptor Pilots were also CGI Imports- they are crude but for a rendered scene they would not need to have a lot of detail, just the basic mesh and a texture map.


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## Warspite (Aug 3, 2013)

spock62 said:


> Moebius used CGI for this kit and I assume the 2 Viper kits, I don't think they used the full sized props for dimensions. So, it might be the fault of the CGI files being off. After all, you wouldn't be able to tell if the CGI ships are scaled correctly when watching any given episode, so if the files were off by an inch here or there, it wouldn't be a big deal to production I would guess.


spock62,

There were two CGI versions of the Raptor and one full sized "Hero" version that was later adapted to the later version. The Moebius kit is based off of the later version. I do wonder if there were a few errors that crept in when the change was made. Could help explain the inconsistencies in the kit.


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## Warspite (Aug 3, 2013)

Richard Baker said:


> I wonder if the two Raptor Pilots were also CGI Imports- they are crude but for a rendered scene they would not need to have a lot of detail, just the basic mesh and a texture map.


Richard,

A friend was talking with Doug Drexeler who worked on the new BSG and Blood & Chrome, asking is there were any files that showed details of the fully plated belly of the Galactica. Doug said that you didn't see the area in the show, no detail has given. Given that, I think that for the medium and long shots of the Raptors and Vipers it would be pretty much like you have suggested. This way time and resources could be directed to where they were needed more. 

I like your idea of comparing the Viper pilots to some other 32nd scale pilots, thing is there aren't many examples that are done well enough to campare to. It seems like unless the pilot is outside the cockpit, no great effort has been made to do the pilots in the cockpit well, at least in 32nd scale.

My friend and I have both measured the Raptor and compared our results with dimensions given on various BSG sites. They list the Raptor as being 8.5, 8.53 or 8.6 meters (27.8871,27.9856 or 27.9856 feet) long. The kit is listed on the box as being 12 inches long and if you use the 8.53 meters as the basis and measure from the front tip of the instrument package to the end of the trailing antenna the kit is exactly 1/32nd scale. Thing is whether you measure from the front tip of the instrument package to the end of the trailing antenna or from the fornt of the fuselage to the tip of the tail boom. Not sure what is the proper method.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

I have started building my Raptor and I thought that you may be interested that I have added hinges to make the door open and close.

I noticed that there are some locating holes in the inside top of the door. Maybe Moebius originally had plans to make a hinge part but it was abandoned. You can see the holes in the first photo as I haven't filled them yet.

The door fits pretty snuggly so I sanded its edges to make fit more loosely. 
I made 'hinges' out of some 2mm thick styrene and glued a 2mm square piece to the Fuselage Top Panel (#18) between the hinges. I drilled small holes through the hinges into the ends of the 2mm square to allow styrene rod to be fed through to act as the hinge pins. (You can see the rod sticking out as I have not cut it off yet.)
I then used some brass tubing and rod to replace the Door Operating Cylinder (#49). I soldered a small piece of brass rod to the top of the rod that extends down the tube. This made a T shape that fitted into a hole that I drilled in one of the hinge pieces and another piece of 2mm styrene that I glued in.










Here is the door in place. The friction between the brass rod and tube is enough to hold the door open. The door opens and closes very nicely.









I have not made a mount for the bottom of the brass tube into the floor (#4) yet. That is the next step.


I am also doing some modifications to the two crash test dummies (Sorry, Pilots) to make them look a bit less posed. Just turning their heads slightly makes a big difference. I wish Moebius used a round mounting lug, instead of square, for the pilots heads as this would make the posing much easier. 
Some bending of the arms also helps. I have got one of the pilots grabbing on to the Control Handle (#78). Putty is my best friend:laugh:

Alien


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## Warspite (Aug 3, 2013)

Alien said:


> I have started building my Raptor and I thought that you may be interested that I have added hinges to make the door open and close.
> 
> I noticed that there are some locating holes in the inside top of the door. Maybe Moebius originally had plans to make a hinge part but it was abandoned. You can see the holes in the first photo as I haven't filled them yet.
> 
> ...


Alien,

Lovely work sir, kudos to you. I saw the same holes as you did on the door including a rough area around them. I noticed that there were two pinholes on the opposite side of the roof piece that were pretty much directly across from where the door pin holes would be. I have highlighted the rough area in yellow and the pinholes in red in the attached photo. These lead me to think that the kit was rushed to market as this setion is only one of the unfinshed areas on the kit. I have tried to isolate images of the hinges from the show and I believe it is very likely some sort of piano hinged idea with the hinge being the width of the top of the door, I just can't confirm it visually. I like your hinge idea better, it looks more realistic.

As for your pilots, remember that all the suits had a metal collar attacthed to the suit when wearing the helmet. Cut a ring out of some styrene tubing, glue it to the top of the torso, round the mounting peg and away you go. See attached photos.

Don


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Don,

I agree with all your comments. I chose this kind of hinge mechanism as the door/hatch needs to lift up and away from the door frame.
If I was to use a tiny piano hinge arrangement then it would have to fit to the very top of the door and some of the area around the top of the door frame would have to be removed. I thought that my idea would be easier to implement and it is quite robust.

Just something else I thought I would add... for anyone interested.

I wish I could say that I discovered this through lots of experimentation, measurement and dry fitting, rather than it just worked out this way.

Hang on!!! This is the internet. I discovered this through lots of experimentation, measurement and dry fitting. :wink2:

If you assemble the two engines and then the rear parts of the Raptor (#14,34,45,33,19). You will find that the engines will just clip into their mounts very securely. No glue required.
And then you can easily glue on the tail booms to the above, once you have painted all the hard to reach areas.









And yes, I did fill the hollow pipes in #45.

Alien


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## Warspite (Aug 3, 2013)

Alien,

Very nice job on the engine lines. If it wasn't such a pain to remove them, I was thinking of replacing them with headphone wire from one of my daughters wrecked headsets. I'll probably go the same route as you and hollow them the best I can.

I also wanted to mention that the kit lacks parts to block two sections, the tail boom engine structures and the forward scoops beside the cockpit on the wing structures. You can scratch build something up quite easily or you could get the photoetch fret from Greenstrawberry. I mentioned those parts to Paul from Paragraphix but he said he was going to leave them out of his set.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Thanks Warspite,

I have dealt with the front of the Tail Boom side scoops with some scribed Evergreen styrene sheet as in this photo.

I have decided not to do anything at the rear as they are so dark and gloomy you don't see much from squinting down the end.

I am also going to ignore the front scoops too. Partly because you don't see much of their insides due to the shape and partly because I have already glued mine on, so it will be a real problem to install some sort of grills.

You may notice from the photo that I have also cut off the very thin 'antennas'? from the ends of the tail booms.
Moebius have done a great job making them really fine but they are a huge magnet for my chubby fingers. So I bent them more times than I care to admit. I have drilled into the ends and I will replace them with brass wire towards the end of the build.









Alien


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Just a quick tip..

I recommend that you trim all the decals that fit in the cockpit display screens as close as you can to the actual print.
The decals only have a tiny clear carrier surrounding them, but it makes more difficult to place them in the screen moldings as the screens have raised edges and the untrimmed decals will ride up over these edges.
At least all the display screens are rectangular so it is easy to do with ruler and sharp knife.

Alien


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## Warspite (Aug 3, 2013)

To go along with what Alien said, I'd also suggest giving the decals a couple of coats of decal film to strengthen them before you try doing the trimming.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

That is a very sensible idea Warspite.
I did not do that and have not had any problems so far, but it does pay to be extra careful with decals.

Talking of decals. There is an error in the Moebius instructions. They identify the two pilot arm patches as #62 (Right shoulder) and #61 (left shoulder). They should be #61 and #60 respectively. (There isn't a #62 on the decal sheet!)

Alien


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## Lou Dalmaso (Jul 13, 2004)

Warspite said:


> Alien,
> 
> Lovely work sir, kudos to you. I saw the same holes as you did on the door including a rough area around them. I noticed that there were two pinholes on the opposite side of the roof piece that were pretty much directly across from where the door pin holes would be. I have highlighted the rough area in yellow and the pinholes in red in the attached photo. These lead me to think that the kit was rushed to market as this setion is only one of the unfinshed areas on the kit. I have tried to isolate images of the hinges from the show and I believe it is very likely some sort of piano hinged idea with the hinge being the width of the top of the door, I just can't confirm it visually. I like your hinge idea better, it looks more realistic.
> 
> ...


those holes are to accommodate the weapons pods if you choose to add them


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

The build is going pretty well... until Murphy struck the other night.
I need to recount my story and you guys have drawn the short straw. 

I had started applying the decals below the cockpit canopy and all was looking great until a stray piece of masking tape pulled off about a third of one of the white triangular decals.
Of course I had not clear coated anything yet and even low tack masking tape stuck to the decal like sh!t to a blanket. I only noticed what had happened the following day, so it was time to hunt through my rubbish bin (AKA trash can. We seldom use the word 'trash' in New Zealand.) and carefully go through all the scrunched up pieces of mashing tape. 
A miracle! I found the decal third.
After testing a spare decal in some turpentine to make sure it wouldn't dissolve, I soaked the masking tape in the turps to dissolve the tapes glue and free the decal. 
To my surprise, it worked. Those Moebius decals are made of sturdy stuff. Go Moebius! A quick wash and it was reapplied to the Raptor and you can hardly see the join.

BTW. There is a slang term in this part of the world.. "On the turps" It means that someone is drinking a lot. Alcohol that is!
I had not been drinking. Especially not Turpentine.

But staying on the subject of decals..
As we all know, you never apply decals to a matt paint finish as minuscule trapped air will cause 'silvering'. Always apply decals to a gloss coat and apply a clear matt finish to seal the decal and make the model matt again..

Have you heard of Humbrol's DecalFix? Humbrol are a UK model paint manufacturer (Owned by Hornby, who also own Airfix) I am not sure if Humbrol is that common in the US.
DecalFix is a decal softener, like Micro Sol or Solvaset, but it has a very dilute clear coat mixed in with it. It means that you can use it to apply decals over a matt painted surface and it actually works well.
And yes I was a doubter before I tried it.
Have a look at this video from Humbrol: 




Always wash out the brush you have used with the DecalFix otherwise it will go hard.

Alien


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Nice! But what's a "dekkel"?


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Zombie_61 said:


> Nice! But what's a "dekkel"?


Zombie,

I am not sure what part of England the video narrator is from but maybe not the best choice for a worldwide audience.
Most people in Aussie or NZ are of English descent and, although we talk funny, we pronounce 'decal' properly. 

Alien


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

I've seen many online videos in which people from all over the world pronounce it just as the narrator of that video does, so at this point I think either pronunciation is acceptable. But every modeler I've ever spoken with here in the U.S. pronounces it "dee-kal" with two syllables, hence my dumb joke.


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Well, I am done. All finished.
I made my usual model base out of a rectangle of 18mm (3/4") MDF painted black. In this case I cut off the corners to make it more in tune with the BSG hexagon shapes that you see on printouts etc.
I used a piece of aluminium (Or aluminum, depending where you live) tube to mount the Raptor on.









The pilots got a bit of a rework to position them slightly more realistically. The pilot has hands on the controls and the co-pilot is leaning forward with a stretched sprue finger added. No not that finger!! A pointy finger to look like he is about to press a button on one of the panels.
I also made some seat belts out of painted masking tape (With the glue removed) and super glued them on.

The space suits turned out a little too green. Who does make a metallic green of a suitable colour?










And here is the Raptor lifting off from my back yard. The sun was a bit bright. (It is summer Downunder.) so the underside is a bit dim.










Alien


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## fluke (Feb 27, 2001)

Very nice work indeed ! Bravo! :thumbsup:


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## Alien (Sep 5, 2001)

Thanks Fluke, I very much appreciate your kind words,

Aien


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