Battlestar Atlantia Wall Plaque (by Klaus Schaeftner)

Revell-Fan · Oct 27, 2014

Hi fans!

As some of you might know I am not only a faithful zealot member but also a member of a fantastic German modeling forum called "Phoxim". It is THE place to everything SciFi and Fantasy in Germany. The members produce and showcase mind-blowing models which often rival (and surpass) the wildest creations by famous Hollywood artists.

One of the best artists is Klaus Schaeftner. Recently he built one of the new Moebius TOS Cylon Raiders and came up with a great idea. Instead of using the (rather boring) base that came with the kit he built a custom base resembling the name plate of the Battlestar Atlantia - shortly after her destruction.

When I saw what he was doing I immediately contacted him and asked him for the dimensions and a straight-on view of the finished base so that I could turn it into a wall plaque made of paper and card. Klaus liked the idea and supplied me with the necessary information - and a highly professional picture. Many thanks for that!

This is the link to Klaus' original thread:
http://www.phoxim.de/forum/index.php?topic=10602.0

And here comes my re-creation of card and paper; I hope you like it, too.

First of all I corrected some minor distortion in the image using a program called "ShiftN". Then the picture was loaded into Gimp. I made extensive use of layer masks to define the different layers which later will be cut out, laminated to corrugated card and stacked on top of each other.

This is the first layer:

the second:

the name plate

the letters, already layed-out on letter-size paper (

)

the top strip

the clamps

and the plates

The clamps and the Moerser Karl parts will be re-created in SketchUp.

For the record: There is nothing wrong with your screen; the images have a white background and I haven't cropped them.

Stay tuned and have fun and enjoy!

Rhaven Blaack · Oct 27, 2014

This is a GREAT IDEA!!!
I am looking forward to seeing how it will turn out!!!
I am following this thread!

Cybergrinder · Oct 27, 2014

This is going to look really, really cool when done

Danscrew · Oct 29, 2014

Woooow.....that's cool !Claphands

Revell-Fan · Oct 29, 2014

Thank you all for your kind comments!

A closer inspection reveals some deviations from the original filming model (which was the Galactica model with just another name plate attached). These deviations make the whole thing unique. If you look at the Pegasus landing bay (which also was the Galactica filming miniature) you see A LOT of different panel lines (drawn with ruler and pencil). This indicates that the Battlestars did not look the same. I have always thought of the Atlantia having the Phoenix symbol painted on top of the council's chamber, BTW (this could be possible indeed because you never see the chamber from above in the series, so there is nothing proving the opposite

). With all these thoughts in mind Klaus has presented a much more believable version of the Atlantia bay piece (even though it is not necessarily canon).

Rhaven Blaack · Oct 29, 2014

Either way (canon or not), this stand is a GREAT way to display the Cylon Raider.
I am really looking forward to seeing how your version of it will turn out.

Revell-Fan · Nov 3, 2014

Work on the Moerser Karl parts has begun.

Revell-Fan · Nov 4, 2014

Modeling and unfolding of the parts is complete and I have begun test-building. First I am tackling the big Moerser Karl wheel.

The dome was assembled witout flaps. I used paper strips and glued it together on the back side.

The outer frame:

The main piece is finished. Now on to the detailing. A ring is glued to the center. I could have gone the easy way and made it using a rolled up strip of paper. However, the thickness of the part makes it possible to build everything "the traditional way".