I always wanted to own a model of a Whitestar since I saw this ship(class) in Babylon 5, but the available resinkits have been out of my price range. Well, a while ago Gizmotron`s 1:2500 Whitestar kit (available through Federation Models) came to make this dream come true: A nice and handy living ship with a very complete decal sheet. So let the build begin...

The instructions suggest to paint the parts before assembly, but I choose to build it first. The parts fit was good, just the wings of the upper fuselage needed a bit trimming in warm water to form the correct shape. I used a light grey as the basecolor (again I didn`t follow the instructions which mentioned a silver here), followed by a gloss clear coat as a base for all those beautiful decals. These will cover nearly every part of the surface - there are places where a decal should be but isn`t, and I really thought about painting the „skin“ there, but finally I didn`t. The model looks fine as it is, and I was afraid to ruin it while not being able to match the color of the decals. A few details were painted: the guns, engine exhausts, the rim underneath the bow and a few mysterious yellow glowing areas (bussard scoops?).

Time to get out the magnifier to cut the decals. I started with the lower wings, working upwards from there so that I`ld always have areas I could touch without damaging the already applied decals. The use of a good solvent solution is a must on the rounded parts, the bow for example. I made a picture before and after the use of decal solve in this area. See by yourself, it tells more than a thousand words. Patience was necessary to let everything dry long enough before putting the final, semigloss clear coat onto it to protect the decaled skin. I needed three days with 3-4 working hours to put them all on the model.

The displaybase is taken from a Konami trading kit Eagle, on which I placed an offset-printed B5 shield logo. I attached the Whitestar with a clear acrylic rod with 2mm diameter in a dynamic angle. Now it is sitting close to some Agents of Gaming miniatures of other B5 ships (Sharlin-class, Omega-class, shadow mothership) in my living room showcase.

Image: Model and base

Image: Left/front view

Image: Fore

Image: Port side

Image: Left/rear view

Image: Starboard side

Image: Closeup

Image: Right/rear

Image: Overhead

Image: Primed

Image: Decals make it come alive

Image: Decals before solvent ....

Image: ... and after