OK – I’m going to admit I know nothing about Battlestar Galactica. But I am ninety percent sure this is a replica of what’s known as a Mark IV Fighter. There’s relatively little information available about the specific origins of this kit, but it seems like more than one fan of the show has built their own replica in the confines of a garage or barn. The seller of this example doesn’t elaborate on the history or whether he even had a hand in building it, but does spend most of the listing hamming it up about the firepower of this borderline high school shop project. Find it here on Facebook Marketplace with no price listed.
The seller jokes that “…the reactors are still active,” and that two of the three Star Drives are still operational. I’ll admit – not being an expert on the show -I had to take a step back and consider whether this thing had any actual active means of propulsion. Of course it doesn’t, but if I had a life-size replica of an airborne assault apparatus, it’d sure as hell have a means of actually firing up. The seller calls this Colonial Mark IV Viper a barn find, and I imagine it had to be among the very last things he was expecting upon opening the doors to the structure. If you’re a fan of the show, perhaps you can tell us: is this a high quality replica, and should it fly again?
Wow. I immediately recognized this ship so I give it a thumb’s up for accuracy. The details and scale look correct to me. It takes me back to my 9 – 10 year old self watching this show. I can’t recall much about it except the robot dog and the roaming eyes of the bad guys (Cylons – had to look that up), but I thought it was cool at the time as Star Wars mania was running high.
This is quite remarkable and must have been expensive to build. It should be in public view somewhere.
This is so cool a viper from Battlestar Galactica, was a huge fan of the show when I was a kid. If I had a place for it I’d get my geek on lol
i think the dog was from Buck Rogers in the 25th century
Incorrect. They were called daggits. A daggit is a canine-like animal used as a domesticated pet, watch animal, or tracker. Daggits were first seen in Battlestar Galactica .
No ‘dog’ in Buck Rogers. But, there was a cute robot named Twiki. He was originally voiced by Mel Blanc. I always thought Erin Grey and Col. Deering and Pamela Hensley and Princes Ardaala were hot.
thanks t-bone
i could’ve swore that twiki robot had a dog of his own, but i guess not
@douglas hunt maybe you’re confusing it with K-9 from Dr. Who? (I know, I’m a hopeless nerd.)
As a fan of both the original and modern BSGs, I’d love to have this thing! While the show is about the journey of the people aboard the Battlestar Galactica as they search for Earth and their run-ins with the Cylons, the squadron of Vipers and their pilots are the real focal point of the show. If you are a fan of Star Wars or Star Trek and haven’t seen the shows, I’d highly recommend watching them. The modern take is a very different show than the original, but the Viper is still the star of the show!
Besides imagining that you’re fighting off Cylon Raiders, I honestly don’t know what you’d do with this thing but it’s awesome.
Watching that show I often wondered how that “TURBO” button
works,as there’s no air in outer space.
@angliagt,
Don’t spoil the show by trying to “fact check” the script for scientific accuracy. LOL!
TURBO is just another word for “add speed”. We don’t need to know anymore than that! :-)
Except on old computers from about the mid ’90s-early 2000s, where the “TURBO” button slowed it down, for games that were dependent on CPU timing.
There was a “turbo” button on the NSEA Protector from Galaxy Quest too. You can’t hold it down, you use it for short bursts lest you damage the Beryllium sphere…
“No lowballers I know what I have.” Frack, what a load of felgercarb….
The original series was on when I was in middle school. I would have been all over this.
Wow this seems to have similar issues to the F-35A. Nice work though and very well thought out. As someone who used to collect WW2 trucks from fully restored to holy hell what have I done condition….I have a fear of large non running objects, coz they fast become a PITA with storage and moving the darn things. This would make a great attraction for a biz, theme park etc if the price reasonable.
I believe the easiest WORKING! sci fi prop to build is …
http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/sec-blog/2018/03/08/the-lost-in-space-chariot-last-seen-intact-40-years-ago/
If money was no object & I was Musk or Bezos, i would like to secretly build a working SSRN Seaview sub, take it out on the open sea & scare our navy – & enemy navys. lol
Visually, It would put even today’s most modern subs to shame, especially if it was the later version that carried the yellow flying sub.
Never understood why the Navy didn’t take a good hard look at the Seaview for their designs. Very ahead of its time and would be modern even today!
A bit off on the year.The original show was 1978-1979.Corny…yes but a lot more fun than the newer version.
Don’t forget about the short-lived sequel, Galactica 1980. This could have been hidden by the visitors.
Flew when parked.
Even the toy versions of this in the ’70s were dangerous. They shot little plastic missiles that, as the Mom in “A Christmas Story” famously said “would put your eye out.”
Located in Newtown, CT
Ooh I live in CT
Yard art
That would be Dirk Benedict. It was a good thing that the 2003 series was on at 10 on Friday night, because it had scenes that you’d be embarrassed to have to explain to your kids.
Now, if you could get a member of TOS to autograph it and take a few photos, you’d have something.
$123,467. Seriously??
Actually it’s $123,456. And that means he’s fishing.
Any possibility that this was (is) a prop or unfinished prop commissioned for the original show?
Regrettably, I believe this is a scam. Here’s the build log: https://projectviper.wordpress.com/
The build is taking place in Australia, being built by a gent by the name of Scott Stewart. See more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k6yi-J1XIU
Sorry to be a buzzkill.
I hope someone with a valid FB account reports it to FB.
I patiently waited and left this comment to much later in this comment section.
Did anyone consider dropping a sbc in it?
i sent this listing to my brother, he said put a cummins in it and fly it lol
Ok. I am just going to revert to my childhood and imagine it was all true and this is evidence that the Galactica found Earth (ignoring Galactica 1980). Now to get this bad boy up and running. I am a life long Trekkie, but the Viper was always my favorite single man fighting ship.
“Ran when parked.”
“sissy girl” you might want to re think that comment as a fan of the later version of BSG, Kate Sackoff would kick the crap out of pretty boy Dirk Benedict any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Does it have a title? :D
just a bill of sale, all the titles were lost when the cylons decimated Caprica
Sorry to say but it’s a MK 1 there was no MK 4 in the original show. It is based on the vipers from the original series and they have gone all out with cost as they are using metal for the skin when the actual props built for the show were made of wood ply with metal landing gear. If you look on the net you can find pics of the vipers from the show being built.