BSG style hopper

Hi all,
I have been fiddling with this during lunch break for about a week, based on a rough body I constructed last year and never did anything with. Here is the thinking behind the design:
1. Raptors in the new show are a great idea, a swiss army knife space craft that you just cant do without. I love the idea although I find the ship itself to be awkward and a bit ugly.
2. I fell that in style, Raptors are far closer to the Mk7 Viper than the Mk2 or even Mk1. As these ships are much older I surmised that there might have been a place for an older ship that could do some of what Raptors do, which is what this is basically.
3. This ship would need to hold passengers, but be as compact as possible to operate from older smaller ships. Stylistically it would need to be identifiably from the older Galactica world, ie a nose intake, big motors at the back, some cut away panels etc.
4. I wanted a "chopper" type feel to the ship to establisg its utility role. The landing skids will be semi retractable.

After weighing all this up I have got this far with the basic design. I'm hoping to make a physical model of this at some point, to go with a Revelle Mk1. Any c+cs' welcome,

Cheers everybody.

I like it a lot.
Hope to see more of it.
I can imagine it being used for a lot of things - It's a perfect landing party ship.

[evil_genius_180]

Dude, that's sweet so far. It looks like a cross between a classic Viper and shuttle.

Bingo! A cross between a classic viper and shuttle, exactly what I was hoping for. Thanks guys, glad you like it

Hi guys, been doing a little work on the hopper. I have put in my Mk1 Viper for size comparison. My Viper is a bit too pointy but the length is correct for scale with the Hopper. As this is intended to be machined for a physical model later I am working on this as a half model and keeping it solid.

Style wise I have gone on a bit of a flight of fancy here. I was thinking that this would make a really cool combat search and rescue ship for recovering pilots and special forces teams. I have added on the bits that current CSAR choppers have for this role, ie a sensor hump on top, long range equipment (a telescopic flight re-fuelling probe on the right wing and a drop tank) a weapon system (a rocket/missile pod and a gun on the left wing) and a rescue hoist.

While there is no evidence of this hardware on the show (apart from mention of flight refuelling Vipers when Starbuck goes missing in the new show), I think it all works and keeps with the "clunky" style of colonial engineering.

[gmd3d]

Fantastic vision and detail and scale .. inspiring work Brian

Thanks Ger,
Hows things in your real world?

[gmd3d]

Not bad .. My father is recovering in Hospital.. so thats good .. very little work around
and you..

[evil_genius_180]

Awesome work, Smallworld.