Here are a couple of “Babylon 5” ships I built. One is canon and the other is my design.
The non-canon one, the EAS Agincourt, is a largely scratchbuilt light cruiser based on the Omega-class destroyer. For the forward, midship and engine sections, I used Jaybats' Agememnon card model, but they were reduced to 75 percent and heavily modified. I used Jaybats' engine parts as templates to make my own pieces out of metallic paper. (I simplified the plumbing, too; why have all that exposed plumbing on a warship?)
Most everything else is scratchbuilt. The finished model is 11.75 inches (29.8 cm) long, and I compute the scale is 1/3828.
The canon ship is the Hyperion-class heavy cruiser EAS Jeanne d'Arc. (To my knowledge, that name was never used on the show. I just liked it better than Breheny, which is what the model comes as.) The model was designed by Diego Cortes Pardo.
I've always liked the look of the Hyperion-class; it seems a cross between a submarine and an old railroad bridge. I wanted to build it in the same scale as my Agincourt and after some online research and comparing various drawings, I concluded that if I copied Pardo's original design at 83 percent, it would work out to 1/3828. Or close.
I deviated from Cortes' model in a few areas, mostly in the interest of accuracy. I ditched his trusswork parts to make my own (and more accurate) out of a dark gray metallic cardstock that I laminated to increase the thickness. I used the same cardstock to make the external framework. I also didn't use his three engines; they are just wrong. Instead, I resized Alfonso X. Moreno's Shuttle engines to use as templates to make new engines and added additional detail. I added detail throughout by cutting out or adding panels. I used wood beads for the gun turrets because I didn't want to make all those turrets out of paper. There were a few accuracy issues I improved.
To add strength and insure that everything lined up straight, there is a small strip of basswood running the length of the ship, hidden under various papers. I bent pieces of solder for the various bits of plumbing. I also used short pieces of solder for the barrels on the turrets, except for the four big ones on front; they are silver paper that I rolled around a sewing needle. The various antennas and probes are made from copper wire or laminated cardstock.
The non-canon one, the EAS Agincourt, is a largely scratchbuilt light cruiser based on the Omega-class destroyer. For the forward, midship and engine sections, I used Jaybats' Agememnon card model, but they were reduced to 75 percent and heavily modified. I used Jaybats' engine parts as templates to make my own pieces out of metallic paper. (I simplified the plumbing, too; why have all that exposed plumbing on a warship?)
Most everything else is scratchbuilt. The finished model is 11.75 inches (29.8 cm) long, and I compute the scale is 1/3828.
The canon ship is the Hyperion-class heavy cruiser EAS Jeanne d'Arc. (To my knowledge, that name was never used on the show. I just liked it better than Breheny, which is what the model comes as.) The model was designed by Diego Cortes Pardo.
I've always liked the look of the Hyperion-class; it seems a cross between a submarine and an old railroad bridge. I wanted to build it in the same scale as my Agincourt and after some online research and comparing various drawings, I concluded that if I copied Pardo's original design at 83 percent, it would work out to 1/3828. Or close.
I deviated from Cortes' model in a few areas, mostly in the interest of accuracy. I ditched his trusswork parts to make my own (and more accurate) out of a dark gray metallic cardstock that I laminated to increase the thickness. I used the same cardstock to make the external framework. I also didn't use his three engines; they are just wrong. Instead, I resized Alfonso X. Moreno's Shuttle engines to use as templates to make new engines and added additional detail. I added detail throughout by cutting out or adding panels. I used wood beads for the gun turrets because I didn't want to make all those turrets out of paper. There were a few accuracy issues I improved.
To add strength and insure that everything lined up straight, there is a small strip of basswood running the length of the ship, hidden under various papers. I bent pieces of solder for the various bits of plumbing. I also used short pieces of solder for the barrels on the turrets, except for the four big ones on front; they are silver paper that I rolled around a sewing needle. The various antennas and probes are made from copper wire or laminated cardstock.