The emitters on the end of the barrel are painted in clear red with the engraved details to match. The kit flaunts its clear parts again with those bands around the muzzles, targeting sights, and additional clear parts on the turret body. Those I think are supposed to be windows for another cockpit, but the kit doesn't imply as such. I put some gold around the beveled end of the clear bands and the fluted details around the muzzles. The cannons are finished. Mounted! I can go back to working on the armor now, starting with the tail. The purple parts are primed for gold rails and silver bolts, and some red in place for running lights. The backsides of these panels are mostly painted with some touch ups to make. There are other cannons to build in the tail tip and around the mandibles. I can work on those once I get to their regions.
Spent all day in the hay field, so no major progress tonight. I did accent the panels for the tail and start painting these rings for the claws. They go around molded details that I'm painting to match the joint caps since they're over the joint for the opening claws, so these are painted to match the joint ring sprockets. It's a blend of Testors Warrior Purple and flat white. I cheated without primer but these will fill in on the next coats.
Multitasking on both ends of the Stinger. Up front at the giant claws, a second pan batch of Warrior Purple and flat white on the sprocket rings. I rearranged them on the popsicle stick with a ridge of double sided tape so to keep the paint from pooling up around the rings. Then the places they will go getting painted in gold and silver. Just for show, I was never going to stop adding metallic paint when the armor comes in. Back towards the tail end, I'm working on the armor for the tail itself. The vents that protrude through the keyways on the outer shell are sorted and cemented together (after taking this picture) with their corresponding panels. Flipped over, these opening panelsare getting some more gold paint before I finish filling in the silver details after using some panel accent.
Finished the gold and silver on the claws joint covers and fit on the pink sprocket rings. Mostly, there's a little work left to do on the lines and engraved gold painted details. Back on the tail panels, they're assembled and in the finishing stages of painting. The gold paint on the outside is taking longer than I wanted but they'll be okay after another coat of paint. The silver pipes need some touch ups too.
I finished up this thing finally. Baldurs gate 3, some sickness and a few other things delayed it a fair bit, but I am declaring this finished now. It really is such a serious beast. It is also a seriously solid kit.
Making up for the past couple of days. Armoring the tail. Painting the gold rails on the sides took more time and paint, and inking the details was delayed by the drying time. Attached, and opened to flaunt the paint. Coiling over. Working on the tip will take some more time with a paint brush on the cannons built into the armor. The remaining parts for the tail fit on the front facing area. One thing I really appreciate is everything I painted will still be exposed. The covering only shrouds so much. The tail cannons are next, but in the meantime I attached the leg armor. Those pink panels are hinged to fold outward to show off the faux pistons. Some minor detailing, and cemented in place. I'm not planning on stripping this kit down to its bare frame, and it keeps the moving parts secure. Since the parts for the shoulder armor are on the same runners as those for the legs, I attached them too. I painted those raised curves on the folded edges in my metallic gray mix. There are other spots it's recommended to paint like this.
Thanks! It's not a difficult build but the paint work takes the most time since I do it by hand. Building the tail tip cannons, it's the slow process of cementing them together and painting in stages. Paper binder clips are great for squeezing the halves together so I can fuse the barrels. The smaller cannons will fit into the larger cannons. So it makes painting them the way I intend to difficult were I to completely assemble both sets of cannons. I have to finish the smaller cannons before I build the larger set. Primed for gold and silver, and, I started adding the clear red to the engraved lines where needed. I just used a microbrush to roughly map the colors on the barrels. I will go over these again with the fine brush before the next step of assembly. I have the larger cannons loosely fit together so I can start their paint process as long as I don't go over the edges.
The inner cannons are painted and sandwiched in place. The larger ones are now cemented and drying. I can finish painting everything from here and attach the muzzle parts later. The coloring plan was to match the charged particle cannon. *I finally looked at the Zoids wiki, confirming the tail cannon's name -_-; Also!! Got my notice that a certain preordered Konig Wolf is now in stock, along with its double barreled sniper cannon. Now to hope Hurricane Idalia doesn't hurt USA Gundam Store , while I'm waiting to see what happens on the west side of its current projected path when it reaches Georgia.
A few hours later... The clips are off, the cement flashing is shaved off, and now I can go back to painting. Silver to paint in the bracket that links them together, barrels, framing around the vents on the back sides, and bolt marks. A little dab of panel line accent to start the detailing process but this is where I stopped for the night. In between working on the cannons, I painted details on the shell for the back. Those areas will be exposed thanks to the number of opening panels on this kit. There are missiles on this beast! Something completely different from the Kotobukiya model. I applied some clear red on those notches for added effect.
Spent most of the day watching the storms, and only did a little work on the "hood." Hood being the base shell for the back. I installed the rows of missiles and set on the small detailing bits on the back end. They were silver injection, now with some gold and clear red for the same effect as I did on the tail. I wanted to start fitting the scales down the center, but held off on that today. I thought I would clip them off the runners and number them according to their arrangement front to back.. but it turns out I don't need to. They actually did it that way, and engraved the numbers too.
The tail guns are done. Just need to build the outer armor shell they attach to to mount on the tail itself. I have some paint started on those which I will get to later. The gold rings are probably the smallest parts in the whole kit. Speaking of micro sized parts, I built the smaller guns that go in its face. The four small muzzles have been floating around in the parts box for too long and I didn't want to lose them. I'm doing a little paint work on these as well because I can. I will come back around to these at the end. Back to the back! I knocked out the majority of the assembly. The movable spine scales down the center are painted, fitted with their red jewels and set. They get secured by the large shell pieces that run the length of the hood, save for the first one that gets sandwiched under the shoulder flaps. I hadn't noticed until they were arranged in order, the size of each plate corresponds with the shape of each segmented row of the purple shell. I nearly forgot to install those two pink scales on the hind end just as I cemented the purple shell pieces. Luckily nothing was ruined while making corrections. I stopped for the night after working on the shoulder flaps and the opening hatches for the missile chambers. Primed and painted the recessed gold rails and ring around the Zoid's patented joint caps. They will need a couple extra coats to blend in, as well as for the silver paint on the undersides.
The back shell is complete. Shoulder flaps and missile covers are painted, detailed, and set. The only area to get the undercoating treatment. All of the panels and scales opened. The missile chambers are doubly articulated to have clearance around the legs. Closed up and ready to mount on the back. Mounting it to the back was easier said than done. The hinge points didn't want to fit in place without a fight even by removing the tail section.
Hi, does anyone have a link for where I can find manual scans/instructions for Cyberdon (a.k.a: Gorhecks/Stego) online? Manuals – Zoids Warroom is usually my first bet for instructions but he's one of the few not on there for some reason ...
Had time today to work and now the tail and hind claws are complete. The few remaining clear parts are installed, and I painted a few details on the purple shell. Cleaned up and set to attach, I was amazed how the seams for the armor actually disappeared at the crease. So I didn't have to do any surface level cementing and sanding. Now for the tail tip cannons. I had to finish painting the armor that holds the guns to the tail. Metallic gray down the back end too and at the hinge points for the side guns to make it all look uniform with the frame. Lastly the outer shells that swing freely while opening out the cannons. My old Tomy Zoid actually has a feature where the side guns swing out, but it never had this range. Closed, and complete. That finishes off the rear end of the deadly sea scorpion. All that remains are the claws, forearms, and head. Meanwhile! The mail's here. Looking back at the original Tomy kit, I never did get to build its Sniper package. The plastic konig puppy is going to wait for a bit, I want to work on something with only two legs once I'm done with the Stinger.
Claw shells and the head are all that's left. The opening shell for the arms get set on first. Cement bonding to close the seam on the pink knuckle covers. The opening panels are sorted, partially painted, and need the usual patch up treatment to finish. I'm adding silver on the hinge points like I did the shoulder flaps. Leaving these alone for the rest of the night, and getting into the head armor with some minor backtracking. I dun gouf'd on two things. First mistake, the tie rods that lift and drop the armor down over the face needed to be installed after I built the cockpit. I'm glad I forgot to cement the posts that hold the top of the head down. Problem solved. There is enough give that I can pry them wider to fit in the part to secure it to the armor. As for the armor, I found my second mistake. I got so cavalier building the cannons I didn't read the manual. The guns are supposed to be installed in the shell and then connect the muzzles. I was able to squeeze them through the port holes, but slightly stressed the plastic around the gun barrels. I massaged the affected areas smooth and put a small dab of Tamiya cement over it to blend the stress marks back to the normal color. A cursory loose fit to see it rest in place and how those marks start to disappear. If you think I'm done painting.. who am I kidding. You know I'm not done yet. The moveable scale on the back of the head has so much detail packed into it, but the kit used up its supply of silver and gold coated pieces. So I'm making up for it on those vanes. This is where I'm stopping for the night, with one last shot of the build so far.
Spent half the day servicing farm equipment and so I only got a little work tonight on the Stinger. Final touches on the moving panels for the claws. Gold topped with accent for the engraved lines and a thin glazing of silver paint to smooth out the joints and broad painted details.
Paint on the moving panels' joints are fixed and the claws are done! The opening feature is difficult to picture when they're laying on the desk. Even attached and upright, I don't have enough elbow room to photograph them. Relaxed and in the normal position. All that's missing is the head to be finished another night. One last thing I did tonight just for the sake of it, I popped the joint caps off the hind claws so I could correct the paint for the rings around them. I didn't take a picture of them reassembled, but you can already see how it's going to blend into the color pattern with the sprocket rings through the rest of the body.
Here's a shot of the gold paint on the joint cap for the hind claw.. Back to the head. Still incomplete tonight. The sliding mechanism for lifting the armor is ready, and the mask is mostly built but need some paint. The moveable crest piece needs time to dry and touch ups after I applied some panel accent. It was after I took this picture.
