There was a very fancy Hollywood memorabilia auction in the United States this week, and an auction house called Profiles in History sold off a collection of 23 original filming miniatures from two 1970s science fiction television series, "Battlestar Galactica" (1978) and "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979). These scratchbuilt models are from the golden age of making models for movies and television, before CGI took over. I've always been in awe of the guys who built these original filming models. Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar and Buck Rogers were my favourite sci-fi treats growing up in the 1970s and 80s, and the spacecraft in them were just as integral as the heroes and villains. I won't talk much about the collection and how it was collected over the years by one person. I will say that is collection of 23 filming miniatures sold for US$1.8million. US$1.8million!!! Wow. I'll let the photos do the talking. Be inspired by the builds, by the modelling techniques involved. Imagine being given the concept sketches and told to make that happen using metal, wood, little lights and styrene. What a gig, what a challenge. I usually like to try to spot pieces of commercially available model kits on spaceship detailing. Did you know that there are 1/35 Tamiya Tiger tank engine grills on the original Millennium Falcon from Star Wars? Cool, huh? With these filming miniatures, I really struggled. There might be a tank drive wheel hull housing in one shot, maybe a Tirpitz funnel in another, that's about it. Impressive. So enjoy. Tell me if you spot any recognisable model kit pieces! All photos are from Profiles in History, I don't own copyright to any of these babies. If you want to read more about the collection and the original builders, I recommend you visit this site: Profiles in History - The Gary Cannavo Collection of Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers Filming Miniatures. Look at the size of that thing. Look at that detail! I think that modern commercial kits of the Viper actually are better than the original filming miniatures! These Cylon Raiders scared the pants off of me in 1979... This would be where I would expect to recognise commercial model kit pieces. I think in the foreground right there might be two American tank pieces, where drive wheels mount to the hull? Again, I'd expect to recognise some of the greebles here, but nope. Maybe there are two pieces from a Tirpitz or Bismark battleship, the tops of the funnels, one on either side of the detailed mechanical area??? What do you think? Good to see that 1920s Art Deco style fonts are still popular in the future... Great weathering for the Ragtag Fleet vehicles. I loved this spaceship as a kid. As an adult, meh, it doesn't do much for me. Weathering has come a long, long way since 1979. Funky, Seventies style. That's a pretty cool spaceship right there. And maybe those are missile launchers from a Soviet Hind helicopter? This is proof that not every spaceship design from the 1970s was cool. This is just very, very silly. I hope you enjoyed these. Cheers, Dave