Over 10 years ago, I spent a few weeks putting together 6-view schematics of what is quite possibly my all-time favorite ship design in the pantheon of science fiction - the Galactica. At the time, there was very little knowledge of this thing called the internet and information was not quite so easily available as it has become today. Source material on the filming miniature was restricted to the occasional grainy photographs in vintage Starlog magazines and well-scrubbed VHS tapes of the show. The only overall framework I had to go on back then was this old Revell/Monogram model kit, which has been universally accepted in the Battlestar Galactica Community as woefully under-detailed and inaccurate. I remember painstakingly going through every episode, hitting pause and frame-advance on the remote to try to get some glimpse of detail on the massive ship to add to the schematics, in a somewhat feeble effort at accuracy. The result was one of the only existing schematics of the ship for about 10 years (that I am aware of):
Original Battlestar Galactica Schematics
Not long ago (March 2007, if I recall correctly), pictures emerged on the internet of someone who took a tour of the CIC set from the new show. The name of the person eludes me, as the pictures seem to have disappeared since that time. The photos were pretty technically interesting; then one picture appeared that could have knocked me over with a feather. There they were -- my schematics -- errors and all -- on the CIC of the new Galactica -- albeit really distorted! This was probably done before Zoic (the CG design house responsible for the visual effects for the pilot) settled on a final design for the new Galactica.
Battlestar Galactica Schematics on the CIC computer
I recognized my work anywhere, and then it hit me: these things were so horribly inaccurate, and I was convinced that nobody had taken the time to research the original filming model. I was positive of this, because if anyone had access to the complete source material and blueprints from the Apogee team who worked on the original series, it was these folks. I decided it was time for an update.
The first thing I had to do was track down new source material. The "Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Epic Series" DVD box set had been out for some time and served as a good bounce-off point, but really wasn't too much better than my old VHS tapes. An extensive web search found a few additional resources, including some original Apogee photos from Cloudster and photos from one of the first studio-scale replicas1 of the original filming model from Jim Creveling.
Using Jim's fairly detailed photos, I created a framework in which to fill the details, but I also continued the search for photos of the original. Eventually, while trolling through the various forums I frequent and posting my progress on this project, I was contacted by several people who were involved with the restoration of the filming model who were agreeable to volunteering some photographs that were taken when it was in their care. They recognized my serious interest in the subject and that I wasn't just some leech looking for a hand-out and offered these photos in exchange for my promise not to reveal them to the general public, an agreement to which I adhere to this day. I jumped on the chance to finally have access to photographs that only a handful of people had access to - and they answered a TON of questions I had about the model.
Several problems I had to overcome:
- General perspective distortion (called "foreshortening" in the art world). The model was so big (over 6 feet long, if I recall correctly), and lens/perspective distortion really played havoc with orthographically reconciling all 6 profiles.
- The asymmetrical nature of the hand-made original miniature made it literally impossible to perfectly reproduce in a digital medium.
- Conflicting reports and photographs from multiple sources having had access to the model.
- Thickness, position and dimensions of connecting pylons for the landing bays.
- Steepness of angle of the top of the "neck" and sides of the "head".
- Did the bottom of the "head", or "chin", hang below the hangar bays, was it at the same level or slightly above?
- Detailing of the underside was not well documented, particularly the "cap" that covered the ventral mounting point for the filming support armature.
- Detailing of the top of the "neck" was also quite sparse.
Battlestar Galactica Schematics (click image to open bigger file)
I'd like to thank the following people for their contributions and inspiration to this project:
- Glen Larson - The Creator.
