The battlestar thermopylae was one of A hand full of nova class battlestars in service with the colonial fleet just before the second cylon invasion;The Nova class was an upgrade from the mercury class;It survived the cylon onslaught probably because it's commander chose not to activate the new CNP program,which the cylons exploited throughout the fleet.

The thermopylae joined with other  surviving colonial fleet elements,and maintained subspace silence in case the cylons were  listening in on normal communications;They did however intercept  transmissions ;First, from the galactica,who was leading A fleet of civilian ships to A safe haven outside the system;Then,from the raven battle group,who was set to engage A large cylon group,led by cylon model zero, at the Omari nebula.

The thermopylaye,along with other surviving colonial fleet groups,went to the assistance of of the raven battle group,and was part of the colonial fleet's victory at the omari nebula.

THE MODEL KIT

This resin model kit of the nova class battlestar was supplied by Jack Burgin jr.,of the facebook group Colonial Fleet Shipyards:

The kit is about 22 inches long assembled,and consists of heavy resin parts; It is hollow cast,in case one wants to install lighting;Even though super glue,better known as 'CY',is generally recommended,For the major subassembly attachments,The best choice is to use standard gorilla glue(the foaming kind) for strength;Of course,read the directions.

Sometimes,resin parts  do warp,so, in this case,A good supply of carpentry C clamps is advisable.

The only mod I made to the kit was to it's stern section,around the FTL drive,which looked A little 'naked' to me;I actually had a spare pegasus kit in my stash,So, I armored up the rear superstructure to make it look closer to the more recognized version of A nova;Basically,you can call it A nova variant.

As for painting: After priming and an initial wash,I applied A first coat of model master AMC grey;Then,thinning out canada voodoo grey,and turning down the pressure on my airbrush,I went after the individual panel lines;A final dark wash and dullcote finished the ship.

The stand started as A wood plaque from A.C. moore;The columns were grecian columns from amazon,normally used to decorate fancy cakes,and attached to A specially cut piece of PVC pipe,to support the ship; The logos,made by my trireme XO,'bunny' nonemaker,were printed out,laminated,and applied to the base;These pictures were taken at A model club meeting  the previous evening by club president mike kloppenburg.

CONCLUSION

This kit was enjoyable to say the least;Now,as far As I know,It is still for sale at the group page,along with other BSG related kits,including the classic eastern alliance destroyers,cylon guardian basestars,cylon tankers,and assorted classes of colonial fleet ships.

At this time,I also have on order an ARES CLASS WARSTAR;This is simular to the monster titan class,except with the addition of two extra flight pods! According to info,It's at least  another size larger that the nova I just built;Very much anticipating the arrival of that beast!

If you are interested in adding one of these rare jewels,contact jack through the FB group 'colonial fleet shipyards';However,as far as I know, he also sells them on Ebay;Everything he produces is consistently in scale with the moebius galactica and pegasus kits;So, this could be an opportunity for one to build up A fleet of his/her own!

The caveat is this: After you order,It may take up to A year or beyond for it to ship;It's obvious that resin models,especially large ones, can't be produced overnight,especially when the caster has other commitments;However,If you have A sizable well of patience,the results will be indeed worth it!