IT’S PAPER! That is the first reaction when I saw this model build by artist Joe Thornton! This is a full studio scale replica of the Battlestar Galactica WIP….. made of PAPER! Count me impressed! Great job “Uncle” Joe!

View more photos below…

Started in 1992, the model is 6feet long X 3 feet wide X 10 inches tall! It is an All Paper build and if you look closely you can see some of the parts are buttons! When painted they look like buildings But this is all hand cut, measured and scaled by me with no purchased part’s. It is entirely scratch.

The supports on the bays are all solid and the engine is supported from inside. The Engine weight itself is around 20 to 25 lbs., possibly a tad more! And it is getting heavier as I add to it!

The engine parts took me 4 weekends just to do the side areas. At the top of the engine, on the side, there’s over one hundred parts. There are also parts up under the ridges. It’s very strong and it has lasted the tests of time. If you look close you can see the newspaper ads (Yeah I’m a cheap skate…LOL). I started this model project after I was watching the “Living Legend “, with the scene where the Pegasus was attacking the two BaseStar’s! I thought “Man, that’s a very cool shot of the ship!”, so I began from there. I only had 6 pictures of the real ship when I started, but with the internet, and Kuhn Global/Modeler Magic’s public domain release of the studio model photos back in 1997-98 I have had to redo a lot of the detail! I don’t have the actual parts, but at least some of the markings are true to the real model.

On the bridge I used the actual shape of the Buildings to redo the “Head”, which is a lot of work. I have to again measure the parts to scale and place them down and pin them. I was going to place fiber
optics in it, but I was too far into the build for that, so I’ll have to do the lighting the old way.

When I’m down I’ll use the pins I used to hold parts down. The PINHEADS will reflect the lights, making it look as if there are real lights in the ship. They used to do this way back when with ship models in the movie’s with copper plates.

I believe this just may be the largest PAPER Battlestar build ever done. I have yet to view another.

THANK YOU FOR LOOKING!

“Uncle” Joe Thornton

Jesup, GA.