As you might remember, earlier this year we shared the progress made by an Aussie who only goes by the name “Scott” on his homebuilt replica of a Battlestar Galactica fighter ship. And now Scott is building guns for it, because what good is a fighter ship without guns? Rhetorical.
The aircraft (spacecraft?) is a full-scale recreation of something that has never existed except in the minds of the creators of Battlestar Galactica and its millions of fans. Which raises the question of whether it’s a replica at all or just a prototype?
Whatever. The point is that Scott is building this using real aviation materials and construction methods, and the effect is phenomenal.
Why would anyone do this? Well, if you have to ask, you won’t believe the answer: Because it’s awesome, that’s why.
As far as the big gun is concerned, the big question we’ve been getting is whether it’s intended to really work, and the answer is, of course, yes, to work in one’s imagination. The effect is really cool, though we do think we spotted our Ikea flatware bin in there.
How did it all get started? Scott writes in his WordPress blog that he got into aviation as a kid and was initially inspired by World War II fighters (yup, us too), before getting hooked specifically on Spits and the Battle of Britain (fascinating stuff, agreed). That was, that is, until 1977, when a movie called Star Wars came out. You might have heard of it. Then a year later, there came Battlestar Galactica, a short-lived series from ’78 that had just 24 episodes, though a rabid fan base convinced the creators to crank out another 10 a year later. A follow-on series in 2005 continued the franchise.
The ship itself isn’t meant to fly, and while we’re still recovering emotionally from that news, it does make a lot of sense, what with the lack of FTL drives and the Tylium that fuels them. But for those who think it was meant to go to space, then we’ve got a Battlestar Galactica fighter we’d like to sell you!
Check out some more pics from Scott’s wonderful project.
